Introducing Mr. Boots

Good Morning Lovelies : )

So, I thought it was finally time to introduce my amazing, sweet, cuddly dog, Boots.

We retrieved Boots from the SPCA last year in the month of March, 2010. My fiance & I moved into our very first home 10 months prior to this date. Over the 10 months, I constantly begged Mr. RJ and told him that we needed, was a cute little puppy. He, of course, reminded me of how much work pups can be & nevertheless, I still desperately wanted a pup of my own.
 

One day over March Break (the week off from our students), we decided to go take a look at the SPCA to see what they had. We had been researching various dogs online to see what we liked and we had a hard time deciding between a small dog and a big one. We are both very active people, so we thought it was only natural to go with a large dog and one that required some exercise.

Upon our arrival, the sight was actually devastating. This was my first visit to a SPCA and to look around at the dogs in those small little cages, crying and whining ... my heart was broken instantly. If my fiance and I had a house and yard large enough, I would have taken all of them home. We walked around the cages and looked at all of the dogs with despair. Finally, we came upon Boots' cage. He was the only dog that was not barking hysterically and was laying down on his back with his head against the cage. We decided, "That's the one we would like to walk!"

We took him for a little stroll and instantly fell in love. As soon as you pet him, he falls on his back and lifts his paws up which is apparently a submission act. This told us that he was easily trainable. The SPCA worker told us that the one thing that would be a challenge for him was with food around the house. He would often grab his food out of a person's hand or plate and this would have to be watched. (This hasn't been an issue in our home whatsoever!)

So, we filled out the paperwork & in about 3 hours the SPCA called us to come pick up this adorable little pup.

Boots is a mix breed of Rottie, Retriever & believe or not - Chow Chow! Although, the SPCA could not really be sure of this, as Boots was brought in to them from someone who was not his owner. He was found running the streets of the Native American Reserve Big Cove at the young age of 5 months. He was probably running from one house to the next to try and get any food scraps that he could, poor thing!

So that is the story of our Mr. Boots. He is precious, cuddles with us in bed and is a joy to have in our home. We really lucked out with this guy as I have heard many horror stories with SPCA dogs, just because some of them have been abused so badly they need some serious re-training which can be difficult to do unless you have experience. I would definitely recommend taking a look around the SPCA, walking a few of them to see how they would react to you, if they bark a lot or have too much energy... that sort of thing. Then you really get a sense of how they are going to be at home.

Our spontaneous visit to the SPCA has been extremely rewarding & I am so grateful!

Sheila xox