Woman's Best Friend

I grew up around animals. We constantly had pets in our house and I have a knack for finding strays. So being without a furry companion for the last few months was odd but refreshing. I had no one to worry about but myself. For a while, I reveled in that fact. I did what I wanted when I wanted to. But the loneliness began to eat at me. But I live on the road in a small RV. To bring a dog into this wouldn’t be fair I felt. That was until I was sitting on the floor of my RV at night with the door open just staring at the stars convincing myself to keep trying. I thought of how nice it would be to have a warm furry head in my lap trying to comfort me. Trying to save me.

So I went looking. I applied at different rescues and all the dogs I was interested in were already claimed. So I ended up at an adoption event 2 hours away just wandering around. The dog I had come to see was sweet but much too timid to thrive in the life I live. After spending far too much money on locally made goods at the market I decided to make one more lap around.

I have an affinity for bully breeds having raised a pitbull from the time she was a puppy. She was a foster fail for my family back when I was in my senior year of high school. In fact, we had a girl come to the house interested in adopting her, but after she left we all looked at each other and agreed no way in hell were we losing her. She was registered as an American Bulldog mix and that’s what we thought she was. Turns out she was rescued from a fighting ring. Her mom was a bait dog and she would have suffered the same fate. She was the best girl. We named her Baileys after the coffee cream liquor since she was brindle and white (We named all the dogs we fostered after alcohol, it made it easier and we are weird). She had this brindle spot on the top of her head on her white strip I used to kiss all the time. She was the best girl and was part of my family from a few weeks old till she passed away last year from cancer when she was 15.

So there I was sipping on my iced tea walking around the event looking at all of the dogs, and I saw the classic pittie blockhead looking back at me over her shoulder. When she turned around I began to choke up. She was nearly identical to Baileys. I asked if I could take her out of the cage and for a little walk and I fell in love. But I was still nervous to subject a dog to this life. I don’t have a big house or a backyard. I’m honestly a lazy sot most days and I constantly travel. But walking away from her and seeing Baileys look-a-like locked in a cage broke me. I thought about it over the week and decided I had to. She was a 5-year-old pittie who had been with her foster parents for 2 years. Prior to that, she had been saved off the kill list at a shelter. Her name was Georgia but to me she’s Gigi. She’s smaller than her predecessor and we have a lot of trust left to build but she’s a doll. I felt so bad for adopting a dog in the hopes they could help save me, but now I feel like we are just saving each other. Both of us beat the odds to be here.

So I would like to officially introduce my furry partner in crime: Gigi

(and yes she has the same spot on her head just on the opposite side)