Hi There! I’m Bug!
I know that this is hard for you to believe, but just a few months ago, I was a shelter dog myself. Crazy, huh? SPOILER ALERT!: I found my forever home! I made this website to try and help out some of my friends that are still at the shelter waiting for a family. I’ll tell you my story so you know where I’m coming from.
I don’t really remember a whole lot before the shelter. I was pretty young then. Not the mature 11 month old that you see before you now! I know I had a home and somehow I wound up on the streets of Phoenix. That’s when some nice officer found me and brought me to the shelter. I was pretty scared. I felt really alone. I waited and waited for my humans to come pick me up… but they never came.
I was so sad 😞 😔 😢 .
The nice workers and all the volunteers at the shelter took really good care of me. They brought me out for walks, fed me twice a day, gave me fresh water, and a lot of them fed me treats. They introduced me to a lot of the other dogs there as well and we got to play together sometimes. After five days of waiting for the humans that never came, the folks at the shelter thought it was time that I look for a forever home.
Now I don’t want to sound conceited or anything, but I guess I’m a pretty beautiful girl. At least that’s what a lot of people were saying about me when they were looking at me in my kennel. There was actually a line of people that were waiting to bring me home! All this fuss over me?! I really didn’t understand it because there were so many other dogs that had been there so much longer than me.
Well, a couple of humans took me out to play for a little bit and then decided that they wanted to bring me home with them! I was so excited! I got to go into their car and we rode to their house. I had never lived in an apartment before, but it seemed like a really nice place. We weren’t there all that long when they said we were going someplace they called the groomers? Did I say that right?
These groomers got me all nice and clean and gave me a pedicure and brushed my hair. I looked beautiful and smelled so nice! Then I went back to my new home and my humans spent all weekend with me, petting me, walking me, and playing some games. It was so nice. I knew I found my forever home!
Then Monday came, and they went off to something called work. I didn’t know what that was, but I knew I didn’t want them to leave. But they walked out and closed the door. I tried to get them to come back. I scratched at the door. I barked as loud as I could. I spun around in circles. Nothing worked. They were gone… and I was so scared. I don’t like to be alone at all.
While they were away, I guess some of the things I did made them very angry. When they came home, they yelled at me. It made me really sad. Then the next day, the same thing happened. And the day after that. That’s when they brought me back to the shelter.
I just wanted to cry. And on top of that, I was starting to catch a cold. The doctor at the shelter came by and gave me some medicine. Luckily though, I wasn’t at the shelter all that long. This time a whole family of humans was there and they wanted to bring me home. The nice people at the shelter talked to them about me and told them that I really didn’t like to be alone, and that I had ate my last families living room. 😳😳 They said that there would almost always be someone home so that shouldn’t be a problem. And off we went!
Once again, I was filled with joy! They spent the next 3 days spoiling me. I loved it. But then Monday came… and this time… not only did the older ones have that work thing… but the kids had to go to someplace called school?!? And I was all alone again. I tried my best to be brave, but I was just so scared and all alone! When they came home and saw the mess I had made… well, they brought me back the next day.
To make matters worse, I was coughing and sneezing really bad now, my eyes were all drippy and I had some really bad stuff going on in my tummy. I was beginning to lose hope. Then, there was this human that the others were calling a foster.
I didn’t really know what was, but there was this nice Australian cattle dog in the kennel next to me that explained it. You know what’s weird, though? It didn’t sound like he had an accent! Oh well…
Sometimes, when a dog is having problems at the shelter, a human will take them home and help them get better. Sometimes it’s recovering from a cold, or sometimes just helping relieve the stress of being in the shelter. Some fosters just take you out for the day to go hiking or to go to a party where they have humans looking for dogs. They call those adoption events. Sometimes you even get to sleep over at their house! Sometimes they just bring you out for a cheeseburger. Ohhhhhh! Cheeseburgers!!! Yumm!!!! Then there’s also the fosters that take you home with them and let you stay there until they can find you a forever home!
There was this one foster who came by and was giving me treats. I was really embarras
sed though, because I sneezed on him really bad and made a mess of his sweatshirt. He didn’t seem to mind though. I could hear him talking to one of the workers asking about me. They told him that I was sick and that I had something called separation anxiety and that I had been returned for destructive behavior? I still don’t really know what that means, but it sounds pretty bad.
This foster human had another dog with him, too. His own dog, named Smith. She was really cool! They brought me out to the yard at the shelter where I got to meet Smith and play with her. So Smith was a lot older than me, but we still got along really well. Anytime I’d get a little too energetic for her, she’d let me know and I’d knock it off. She didn’t really like when I would herd her. Oh, yeah… so I’m part Australian Shepard 🐶 and they herd sheep 🐑 and even other dogs 🐕 . I guess it’s in something they called my DNA? But anyway, this foster human decided to bring me home with him and Smith so I could get better and hopefully find my forever home.
He brought me to his house and we went inside. It was really nice! There was a back yard 🌺 for me to do my business and a door in the wall that was made for just me and Smith!!! Have you ever heard of such a thing?!?! He gave me a nice bed to sleep on, and some toys of my own, but of course I shared them with my new friend Smithy!
I’ll tell you, having Smith there was so great. I never got lonely. Sure, when my foster would leave, I would get scared, but Smith would calm me down and let me know that he was always going to come back. I was such a good girl! I didn’t destroy anything while he was out… well… except… there was this food that was on the counter in the kitchen… I had bananas and two loaves of bread, some hot dog buns, a bag of goldfish crackers and half a jar of peanut butter. It was delicious!
Have you ever had peanut butter??? Well, I guess my foster really liked peanut butter too, because he wasn’t very happy when he came home. I knew right away that I had done something wrong, but I just couldn’t help myself. I went to the corner in the kitchen. He came and stood over me. I really didn’t want to have to go back to the shelter again… He knelt down next to me and asked me if I liked it then he said “I guess I’m going to have to make some adjustments!”
The next day, he pushed everything that was on the counter back further so it was against the wall. I don’t know if you noticed, but I’m a pretty big girl. And I’ve got reach! I managed to get the cereal, bagels, tortilla chips, and a couple apples… but I really liked the blueberry muffin best!
My foster kept trying to outsmart me! He started putting the food on top of things on the counter. Didn’t work. Then he started putting things I wouldn’t like in front of the stuff I would like to try and throw me off the scent. It took me a couple of days to figure it out… but figure it out I did! I even figured out how to open the pantry if it wasn’t closed completely. Oh, the treats in there! It was a Smörgåsbord!
Even through all of this, my foster human never once said he was going to take me back. Instead he just looked at me and said “I guess I just can’t leave ANYTHING out on the counters with you… and I have to buy a lock for the pantry!” I only wish that he kept cheeseburgers in the pantry! They’re amazzzzzing!
Oh yeah, but anyway… at some point he came to me and asked me if I just wanted to stay with him and Smith forever. I said yes! Sure, we’ve had some ups and downs since then. Every so often, when I’ve been good for a week or so, he forgets and leaves something delicious out on the counter. Have you ever had a donut 🍩? Did you know that they come in boxes 📦 of twelve?!? That’s called a dozen! Have you ever had a dozen donuts? I have! ☺️☺️
Like I said, sometimes I just can’t control myself! My human is very patient with me. He treats me so good and is very kind and understanding. He brings Smith and Me to the park down the street so we can play with the other dogs. I even met a boy there that I knew from the shelter, King! He told me he was really happy with his new humans, too!! Then King tried to do something that I won’t talk about, but it was really embarrassing! Boys, right?!?
Last week, my human brought us up to the mountains so we could play in this stuff he called snow. O.M.G. I love snow!!! I had never seen it before, but it was soooooooo much fun. Smith told me that once it gets warmer, he’s going to take us camping. That’s where you go someplace out in the woods and you live in a portable house and get nice and dirty and smelly! Smith also told me there’s a lake nearby so we get to go swimming!
Anyway, that’s pretty much my story. Now that I’m all settled in and really feel at home, I want to try and do my part to help other dogs find their forever homes. There’s so many awesome pups at the shelter! If you ever see one you want to meet on my page, just send me a message and I’ll talk to my human who can help set that up! Thanks for listening!
– Bug
