PAWS: Animal Tales

Samara

Hello,

I would like to participate in Animal Tales by sending in this story and two photographs about our dog Samara, whom we adopted from PAWS in October 2003.

My husband and I spent a lot of time thinking about the age, size, and type of dog we wanted to adopt—we are two young professionals, and it was my husband’s first dog. We decided that we definitely wanted a dog older than one year, etc., etc., etc. Then we came into PAWS and saw “Snuggy,” a 6 month old lab mix girl. She was quite timid and submissive, and very afraid of men. No one knows what she experienced before her stay at PAWS, but clearly she hadn’t been treated with the love and respect every creature deserves. Underneath her hesitance and fear, though, it was obvious that this little girl had a lot of love to give and craved and needed loving attention herself. We couldn’t help but take her home with us, and we have never regretted it. We housetrained her, took her to obedience school, and have showered her with love (we call her the Love Sponge—she can’t get enough).

We named her Samara (after a region in Russia) and she quickly adapted to our home. She has absolutely blossomed and become the treasure of our lives. A few months after adopting her, we had the opportunity to live in Belgium for a few months, and we took her with us despite concerns over airline travel. She was so wonderful and was such a trooper! She loved dog-friendly Belgium and became a pro at riding the subway. Having said that, she was delighted to return home to Seattle and her favorite dog park, of course!

I’m so grateful to PAWS for taking care of Samara when she came in at three months old with her litter mates. She then spent three months at PAWS, the last of her family to be adopted. Samara needed unconditional love and a commitment to proper training and boundaries. With that she gained confidence and charm. She has gained twenty pounds (healthy weight) and at just over a year old, has grown into a beautiful little lady. Thank you PAWS!

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