Silly Lilly, the pit bull pup

Brace yourselves: Lilly is going to steal your hearts and you can't have her.  She lives with Mark and Janelle now.  Here she is on the day they brought her home, at 8 weeks old.

 

 

 

See? You want her now, don't you? Too bad, she found her furever home. She had a few other stops along the way though. 

 

 Lilly's story begins like many puppies; she was a surprise gift for someone who wasn't up to the challenge of caring for a puppy, an 80 year old woman who wasn't even looking for a dog. So, lesson one, dogs shouldn't be surprise gifts to other households. Becoming a dog owner is a pretty personal decision, and when we try to surprise people, even though we mean well, a lot of dogs find themselves in Lilly's position: on the way to a shelter because she wasn't the right match.

However, Lilly had a few things working in her favor, not the least of which was Christmas spirit.  You see, Mark and Janelle went to her grandmother's on Christmas Day for lunch, fell in love with this puppy, and then found out she was headed to a shelter. 

 

I'll have to let Mark explain how that worked out: "We weren't planning on a dog. At all. Like it wasn't even a topic of conversation that we would consider one at any point in the near future. We have a 3 and a half year old cat, but that's it. But right as her aunt said they were going to take her to a shelter, we looked at the dog, and she looked right at us, and that was basically it. We went to her grandmother's expecting lunch and left with a 8-week old pit bull."

 Well, look at her. She certainly has the puppy dog eyes working in her favor. Mark and Janelle said she is everything they could have hoped for in a puppy. She is 99% house-trained, sleeps through the night, is good with their cat Lexi, and loves everyone she meets. 

Here she is interacting with some house guests she had just met. Isn't she vicious?

Mark and Janelle are looking forward to a lot of memories with "Silly Lilly" and "Sexy Lexi." They feel they are up for the challenge of the energetic outbursts followed by lots of lazy time recharging the batteries. What a happy and blessed Christmas for Lilly, Mark, and Janelle!

See that look? It says "Yeah, I have it good. So what? I deserve it."

Mark and Janelle's story, and thus Lilly's, exemplify this Thom Jones quote quite well.  "Dogs have a way of finding the people who need them,  filling an emptiness we don't even know we have." How did your dog find you?  Please share your story.