3/1/15|Submitted by Kristen

Ella and Stevie's Story

My husband and I had been married for a few years, always wanting a dog, but we were concerned about having the time and expense to devote to one. We were considering buying a purebred, due to our reservations about getting a rescue with a "history." Well, my husband happened to be walking by our local rescue, as we often do, and there was this wonderful black lab mix, named Sunflower. At 11 months, she was a skinny pup with hair loss and just wanted someone to love her. We fostered her for a week, getting to know each other. Her only "history" was a fear of umbrellas (I wear a raincoats on our walks:) and a questionable name that the rescue gave her. That was it! Sunflower, now Ella, loves children, adores our umbrella-free walks, has an obsessive addiction to chasing tennis balls and is both our protector and friend. We also now have Stevie, a beagle mix, we adopted at 6 months old from the same shelter. He came with lacerations on his face had legs, perhaps from having been used as a "bait" dog. Also...worms. Stevie's worm friends are gone and his lacerations have healed. He's an absolute goofball, though he cannot be trusted with new shoes, he's the most wonderful snuggler. Ella and Stevie are best friends, are inseparable, and have been such a wonderful addition to our home. Rescue shelters don't always know their dogs stories, but having gotten to know two of them myself, my dogs just want to have a home and someone to love and care for them. No regrets, just wagging tails when I come home from work , to play with, to love. They give me so much more than I could ever give them.