Brown and white dog laying on the couch outside

We had to let go of our Sweet Girl today (February 6, 2024). Jess came to us as a rescue pup 12 years ago. We had just lost our first family dog, Sammy, and could not bear not having a dog in the house.

We found @fdnewlife Family Dog New Life shelter and decided to take a look at a new dog. When we went to the shelter, we had a certain puppy in mind along with a couple other young adult dogs. As we waited to meet the puppy, a family with two little boys came in. The only dog they wanted was the puppy we were first in line for.

I saw those boys faces and how excited they were for that puppy, my heart just melted listening to them. As a mom of two boys…I knew how disappointed they would be if that puppy didn’t go home with them. We decided to let them have the puppy and we would check out the other dogs.

We got called back to a room to meet a dog. There was Jess…a one year old pup who had been found as a stray in Yakima, WA and was sent to this shelter in Portland. She was scared and skinny, but beautiful. We decided to bring her home without seeing any other dogs.

Rescue dogs are never easy. It took us 3 weeks to get her to let us touch her. But, once we earned her trust…she became the most amazing member of our family. She was sweet, strong, so fast, so funny, and astonishingly expressive. She loved running at the dog park, she hated squirrels, and she loved our family. She was our treasure. We will miss her terribly.