I Adopted a Pitbull Sight Unseen from TX and This is What Happened

PART ONE

Okay, that may sound a little impulsive, but hear me out. Being pet oriented, I do follow other people in my pet niche on social media. I regularly follow a girl who runs a volunteer group in the Houston TX area. In case you don’t know, there is a dog crisis down there. You cannot ride down the street without seeing 5-10 stray dogs. People dump their dogs anywhere and spay/neuter is not the most popular thing. There are several groups trying to get the dogs in the shelters adopted and out of state adoption is possible.  

                                                                                                       Shelter Picture

One particular evening, my granddaughter expressed interest in a blue gray mini-pittie with blue eyes. This dog was on the euthanasia list and the volunteer group was going live on social media the next day trying to get adopters and fosters. My granddaughter is away at college, I am sitting in my living room the following day, and we are both watching the live. (Side note: I sent in an application the previous day to a rescue that assists with out of state adoptions and had already been approved). One of the first things they announce is the dog we were interested in had been adopted locally earlier in the day. We were disappointed but continued to watch. The dogs on the list were getting applications but it was down to the last 30 minutes and two dogs did not have applications. My heart broke for them. They were on the euthanasia list because the shelter was full, not because they did anything wrong.    

My granddaughter and I were texting back and forth ‘What should we do?’ While we did want to save a dog, we also had to be practical. I have other dogs here and I needed one that would be a good fit, if only on paper. We anxiously read the notes on each dog, and one stood out. Right size, right temperament, and got along well with other dogs. With minutes to spare, I texted the woman at the rescue and told her we wanted Layla, the mini-pittie. We did it; but what exactly had we gotten ourselves into? 

                                                                                                         At the Foster's Home

Layla was pulled from the shelter the following day and taken to a foster. They sent pictures during her stay, which was nice. We had to wait while they arranged transport and in TX, a pet must get a health certificate before leaving the state. She was there one and half weeks waiting for all that to take place.  We went out and bought collars, a harness, leash, and a name tag. Everything was purple because we are Baltimore Ravens fans. We were excited but nervous. By this time, we had five dogs here and we were worried that everyone might not get along. Plus, she had never properly been cat tested and we have a boatload of cats here. All we knew was she was a shelter staff favorite and seemed to get along with all people and animals she met.  

When we finally got our transport instructions, she was coming at two o’clock in the morning!! In fairness to the transport people, they were going across the south, to New England and upper New York before they got to us (we were the last stop). We anxiously waited. 

Stay Tune for Part Two: Layla makes it to her forever home.