I have exciting news to announce! October is Adopt-A-Shelter-Dog Month and Malcolm and I did just that — adopt a shelter dog!
Meet the one and only Abby, the newest contributor to The Cheerful Times.
Abby is a five-year-old chubby wubby Puggle (that’s a beagle and a pug mix), and is the absolute best, cutest little princess.
Abby likes:
- Snuggling humans
- Snuggling cats
- Burping
- Showing her pudgy belly for scratchies
- Making cute faces
- Her two stuffed toys/dolls
- Sleeping on items that are neither of her two beds
- Forcibly suggesting you pet her
- Soaring through the air onto the couch
- Snoozing on the couch
- 4:30 a.m. sneezing fits
- Falling asleep as you scratch the top of her head, behind her ears, on her chest, tummy, neck…
- Licking the foundation off my nose to reveal its true Rudolph-like complexion
- Frolicking up every driveway and walkway we come across in the neighborhood
- Meeting new people
- Helping put on her martingale for walkies
Abby dislikes:
- Closet doors — those sneaky things look just like a front door, so she waits next to them when she has to go potty
- Berkley, the hound dog at her shelter who ate her favorite toy
Abby is unsure about:
- Whistling (insert 90-degree head tilt here)
We adopted our munchkin from a local shelter called Save The Animals Rescue Team II (S.T.A.R.T. II), in Englewood, New Jersey. It was love at first sight!
We originally had an appointment to meet another dog, but she was on her walk when we arrived. To pass time, the volunteers gave us a tour of the shelter and other pups available for adoption. When we saw little snuggle bug Abby, it was game over. We could already tell she was such a love and the perfect dog for us.
This was solidified when we finally met the dog we originally came to see. She was cute and lovely, but she was also very adventurous and agile — perfect for a family with a spacious house and large backyard. It wouldn’t have been fair to her if we adopted her into a one bedroom apartment with no freedom to voyage. Abby, on the other hand, is content to cuddle on the couch for as long as our Bob’s Burgers marathons last.
S.T.A.R.T. II had taken Abby in from a shelter in Virginia, but that’s the extent of her known backstory. We’re not sure how she ended up in the Virginia shelter’s care.
What we do know is that Abby’s previous owners did not take very good care of her — she broke her leg and they didn’t bring her to the vet for medical treatment! Instead they left it to heal on its own, giving her what the shelter volunteers referred to as a “frozen leg” (and what we lovingly refer to as her “peg leg”).
She can move it as a whole, but she can’t bend it or use her little dog knee. Luckily her peg leg doesn’t hurt her, it just gives her a little extra skip and wiggle in her step. In our opinion, it makes her that much more adorable!
Adopting shelter dogs is incredibly rewarding. Not only are you saving their lives, but they’re saving yours too. If you’re thinking about rescuing, let me know and please feel free to reach out to me with any questions! Abby is my third rescue pup, and I worked at a shelter for about a year. I’m incredibly happy to help guide anyone who wants to adopt, not shop 🙂
I hope you’re ready to see Abby’s cute face grace every post from here on out!
The Cheerful Times 
My husband and I adopted two shelter dogs this year after our other two dogs passed, and those boogers have been the light if our lives! One is a chug (pug/chihuahua and looks like Abby a bit) and the other is a terrier mix. They are amazing! Great post!
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Aww, they sound adorable!! I’m so glad you’re having such a great experience with them. I wish we could have more than one too but we have to follow apartment rules for now. Something to look forward to in the future! Right now Abby is all that we need 🙂 So happy that you rescued your little boogers!
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