I am going to spend this wonderful, somewhat sunny, Easter Sunday morning to write about our two little monsters, Benny + Bear.
I've had Bear (the St. Bernard on the left) since a puppy. Basically a DAY after moving out of my parents house I found the ad for St. Bernard Puppies, picked her out at 4 weeks old and picked her up 4 weeks later. That was back when she was still a tiny little ball of fluff, with a splotch of black fur on her snout that made her look like she had half a mustache... Now she's two and a half years old, 120 lbs, and sheds enough fur in a day to fill up an entire grocery bag. She has the funniest personality in a dog i've ever seen - she's overly loving, doesn't know the meaning of personal space, and thinks everyone's MUCH happier when she's sitting on your lap crushing you (she's convinced she's a lapdog) and licking you until you're covered in slobber. Although she is a giant goofball, she definitely has her tender moments - and many clutsy moments as well (I'm convinced she got her clutsiness from me). She's pretty lazy and sleepy for the majority of the day, but in the flip of a switch she gets her crazy-eyes on and starts running and flopping all over the place!
She's quite hilarious, and I am so thankful I have this giant, sloppy dog in my life.
Now Benny (the mutt on the right) came into our lives about six months ago...
I was on my way to the bus stop one morning, when I saw him running around frantically, clearly confused and lost. I tried to get him to come over to me, but he was far too scared and bolted. I told Jeff about him so that he could keep an eye out, and soon enough, Benny showed up a little while later in our neighbors yard. Jeff went out to try to catch him, but just like me, he had no such luck! So Jeff called Animal Control in the hopes that they could find him and get him inside before the snow came.
Two days had gone by, and then one Sunday morning we were woken up by a knock at the door.
I opened the door only to see Benny on our front steps. A lady who lives a couple blocks down from us was out walking her dog that morning, when Benny came along and latched onto them. She noticed his colourings and assumed he was Bear, so she brought him over to us. Now obviously he wasn't Bear, but we told her we would look after him for the night until Animal Control opened the next morning.
We kept him in our yard for about two hours, and I stayed out with him trying to calm him down and wait for him to warm up to me. He was in such a panic for the first hour, but soon after that he started to get comfortable around me, and eventually started cuddling with me on the cold ground outside. While we were outside, Jeff was on the computer inside making Facebook posts, lost dog ads, and posting to PetLynx in the hopes of reaching out to his owners.
This day was the first snowfall of the winter in October and it was FREEZING outside so we eventually brought Benny in after he had calmed down.
It was a long, stressful night of trying keep Benny relaxed -- and trying to stop him from continually trying to hump Bear as his little man parts were still intact...
The next morning we brought Benny to Animal Control where we found out he unfortunately wasn't microchipped, so there was no way to contact his owners. He was so freaked out when they took him away from us, whining and crying and trying to resist being pulled away...It was so hard to see him go. But we knew before bringing him in that if his owners didn't come to claim him, we wanted to have Special Consideration once he was up for adoption, meaning we would get first dibs on adopting him if the chance arose.
We ended up having to wait for around two weeks before he was up for adoption. And in the meantime our Facebook ad recieved SO much attention and so many shares that Benny's owners neighbors actually saw the ad and contacted us. Sadly, they were contacting us to inform us that his owners weren't looking for him. We were told that Benny's owners kept him as an outdoor dog 24/7, and he was pretty neglected so he was constantly digging out of the yard, running away, and getting put into the pound where his owners would eventually retrieve him. Poor Benny never had a collar, no tags, no shots - no nothing! Eventually the couple split up, got evicted, and moved away, leaving Benny in their yard, and visiting him only every so often to give him some food and water. The neighbors, knowing this was going on, would check up on him and started trying to find him a good home. And that's when Benny escaped for the last time...
We've had Benny for about five months now, and although he is still adjusting, and still has some issues stemming from his unfair past, he is such a delight to have around! Benny and Bear are best friends - they play together so well and keep eachother company ♡ We love him OH-SO much! Jeff always says that "Benny found us", and I believe it! He is an adorable, loving, cuddly pup that DEFINATELY deserves the best home ever, and we are so glad that we were finally able to provide him with the loving home that he deserves!
If you want to see some photos of Benny from the first day he was dropped off to us before having to take him to Animal Control, click HERE.