Happy Anniversary Allan!

On this day last year Allan came home from the Humane Society!  He was kind of a surprise...Justin had planned on bringing him home (it was a Thursday) without me knowing ahead of time but on Wednesday I was talking about going out the Buffalo Wild Wings on Thursday evening so he had to tell me!  I was so excited  when he pulled into the driveway!  Allan was so little compared to now (he was 4 months old)!  For the first few weeks he followed us everywhere we went around the house and he was always plastered to my side when I was on the couch.  Soon, his trust and confidence started to build and one afternoon I was watching TV and I realized I didn't know where he was!  I found him in the basement on a makeshift bed (this was before hte basement was finished.  We had not even been living in here a full month yet so there were a bunch of plastic boxes stacked down there.  I had made a little obstacle course for him to jump around on with a blanket on the top of a stack).  He just chilling out up there and I knew he was a big boy now! 

I can't believe we've had him a year.  We still think of the brother he was "rooming" with at the Humane Society and sometimes feel bad about not adopting him too (I watched the website and his brother and sister both found homes soon after he did.  The brother was solid orange and the sister was orange and white and looked alot like Al.  They had a sister who was solid black who was adopted first).  He has almost doubled in weight (he was 6 pounds when he arrived and now he is around 11 according to my unscientific method of holding him while weighing us both and then subtracting my weight.  I recall the vet in Portland using that method to weigh our farm dogs and eventually or retreiver, Penny, got so big he didn't even bother anymore for his own safety.  She was a fata$$). 

Speaking of the Humane Society, the local one here just rescuted almost 100 dogs from a puppy mill.  33 others went to Jamestown's shelter.  The dogs were in filthy cages without food or water dishes and they were breeding with no control.  Apparently, a dog gave birth to puppies when it was being trasported from the facility to the shelter.  Many of the dogs were within days of starving to death.  The shelter close for the week so they could get the situation under control and start helping the dogs recover.  The breeds included German Shepherds, Border Collies, and St. Bernards.  I believe the woman was mix breeding and marketing them as "designer breeds".  This is very dissapointing to me.  Over 100 dogs with no homes (yet).  I can't imagine the overpopulation taking place around the U.S.  These faclilties are all over the place.  I get the local Humane Society's newsletter and know that it is always at capacity (it is a no kill shelter so they don't euthanize unless the animal is dangerous or has prohibitive medical issues). And now, because of some irresponsible and cruel breeder they are taking on even more than they can handle running on only donations.  Let me tell you...if I ever win the Powerball jackpot (any day now!) these Humane Societies can expect a big contribution!

Well, that story was sad so back to the happy topic. Happy Anniversary Allan!  We look forward to many more years!

A few photos: 

I have had this on here before, but I couldn't resist...this is the photo from the website!  I never actually saw him like this.  He was just a baby!

This was the first night he was here.  I had a feeling plants on the floor might not work out anymore!

He got comfortable pretty quick!

I took this last night as he was in his favorite spot.  He is gazing at the sunset!  Haha, so cute.