In Memory of Ariel Button – One of the first people to encourage us. I wish you got to meet him.

Time for a long-overdue “Dog Bet” Update!

Okay, this post is seriously, way overdue…though, really, I like taking my time on official posts like these. Gotta pass the 3 days, 3 weeks, and 3-month test, but also, he’s been in at least one blog post so far, though I feel bad, now realizing I had never properly introduced him here. But for those of you following along on all the Ello Felicia on social media, this is also much less of a surprise.

But after a year, we have officially won the bet! Not only won, but scored the best pup for our family!

Everyone, this is Dexter! Our 1-year-old, German Shepherd/Golden Rottweiler Mix, Service Pup in Training. (Okay, we’re still playing “Guess my breed” but one day we’ll get one of those pup DNA tests.)

We were so fortunate to have found him. We had been applying to every San Diego rescue organization out there, but being very specific in our needs, which I highly recommend. You don’t want to hurry through the process, you want the furry kid to be a permanent family member and this helps big time. In our case, we wanted to make sure to be the right fit for our newest member of the family, and a lot of the dogs we had seen needed another doggo friend, things we couldn’t give them. And along came this guy! We actually applied for a totally different pup! But Robert at Rescuing Cujo was so spot on when recommending this guy.

It was like he was born just to learn. His trainer likes to remind us how lucky we are too. He definitely is a star student, even if he can get lazy from time to time. But, he does take his “work-mode” time seriously and has already been a huge help. I’m still always surprised how fast he catches onto things.

He’s still a puppy and a smart puppy at that. Sometimes he can get stubborn or test his limits, but “he’s the baby!” as everyone in this house says. And boy, does he know it. He works hard and plays hard. Super spoiled and super loved. Bark Box days are the most fun. He loves getting mail, it’s absolutely the cutest thing ever. We all just adore him, he was that missing piece to our family for sure. The human kid is actually dying to get a budget like Rocky Kanaka and do one of those “Buy Everything the Dog Touches” trips to a pet store. I have a feeling that will be one costly day! In the meantime, he’ll settle for some “pup-cups” or “puppachinos” (If you watch Rocky’s Youtube, you get it.)

We are really just so lucky with our not so little rescued pup. But this leads me to say this, with the holidays rapidly approaching, I hope this post inspires your family to look into adoption too if you are looking to add some paws into the family.

The best thing you can do is “Adopt, Not Shop!” Don’t let anyone say, “well, you can’t get one trainable…,” or a “…but you never can find a puppy,“…etc. I’m seeing lots of puppies being born in rescues right now. And Dex is a great example of what they can learn! Frosted Faces also does wonders for senior pups. Just have patience and the right furry kid will find you! Dexter was absolutely worth the wait! We are so thankful every day.

Btw, I know a lot of people have questions on the “service dog” end. I totally plan to explain in a future post, so please, drop your questions in the comments below. I look forward to answering them or hearing your fur baby rescue story.