Adopting Penny Dee

It's been almost a year since my husband Alex and I adopted Penny—time flies when you're in love with your pup!

We had wanted a dog for years, but apartment living in Chicago + long hours at work were not an environment that we wanted to provide for a dog. Since I opened the shop in 2015, I knew that I finally had a space that worked well for bringing a dog to work every day and once we had a home, it would be much better. 

In May of 2017, my husband and I found our dream home, a cabin–like home set back on the property with a lofty pine tree in the front yard. We got settled in quickly and began looking online through various animal shelters in search of a dog. We used PetFinder to search the Chicago area for a small dog and after a short time, came across Penny's adoption picture.

You've seen her right? Hard to not fall in love with that face! And we did. We filled out an application and began calling the shelter (maybe too many times) and left several messages about our interest in Penny Dee. The shelter called back and connected us with her foster mom, Laura.

We had immense good luck. Penny was being fostered and was on a medical hold (her recent spaying caused her body to experience a false pregnancy). She was adopted a couple days before I called and then returned the next day;the people who had adopted her had another dog and their dog and Penny didn't get along. I was so sad for her to go through that experience, but thankful that because of it, we had the opportunity to adopt her. Because of the transition from Penny being adopted and then returned, the applications for Penny were put on hold and our application made it to the front. A bit of persistence and good timing definitely paid off!

Before Penny was brought to Chicago for adoption, she lived in Alabama with 3 other dogs. The owners were evicted from their home and Penny and her dog siblings were abandoned. A neighbor shot and killed one of the dogs before another neighbor called animal control to pick up the dogs. Penny was underfed and had mothered many litters of puppies. Somehow she is incredibly lovable with people and learned to trust us immediately. The day we met her at her foster home, she was in her little bed with 3 "babies" who she was licking and trying to nurse. These "babies" were her stuffed animals that she thought were her real babies. After she was spayed, her body released hormones that acted like pregnancy hormones. She was lactating and trying to nurse her "babies" and protect them. We approached her quietly with treats and she climbed right into my lap and began kissing me. I fell in love immediately. Alex and I took Penny on a little walk around the neighborhood and laughed as we watched Penny's wiggly little body. We agreed that she was the one and made plans to come back a couple days later fill out the formal adoption paperwork.

From the moment we took her home, it's been a whirlwind of love, kisses, and so many cute shenanigans. I can't even imagine that we spent all of these years without her, she is truly a magical unicorn that loves with every ounce of her tiny body. As I write this, she's curled up next to me snoring away!

I will be back to share a bit more here and there about Penny and I will also be sharing about her medical story as well. Adopting a dog isn't perfect or easy and there's so much that you don't know about them or their previous life, but it's such a wonderful journey. Here you think you are making a home for a dog in need, but they're really making a home in your heart.

xo Theresa