She dreams & wishes on things: Ellie-Mae's Adoption Story

We are madly in love were our puppy Ellie-Mae. I thought that I would share our story of how she became ours as her 1St birthday is approaching this Valentine's day. For two years I begged Patrick for a puppy. I really wanted to adopt, so I searched petfinder.com literally every day for two years. About once a week, I would e-mail pictures of puppies that were available to Patrick. He never responded to my puppy e-mails :( Then one day over the 4Th of July weekend while Patrick was home I came across Ellie-Mae. Her bio was perfect, she already had my last name, and her pictures were simply irresistible. It was love at 1St sight. I called Patrick over to the computer to show him her page. I saw in his eyes that we had won him over. I asked "can we please go see her" to my surprise he instantly said YES. I couldn't believe it. I jumped up and said, "lets go". I knew that if I didn't act fast he was likely to change his mind.

We jumped in the car and drove out to A.D.O.P.T the shelter where Ellie was at in Naperville, IL. It seemed like it took forever to get there. I was so excited. As soon as we walked in, I saw an employee take Ellie out back to play. We asked the front desk if we could meet Ellie-Mae. They told us that there has to be a counselor on site for us to even just meet her. Since Ellie was out back with staff in a fenced in area, we were able to go out back and see her. I was afraid that the staff was going to yell at me if I got to close to the fence, but Patrick put his hand up to the fence and Ellie ran right over to him. SOLD!!!! She is a smart girl. Ellie won his heart instantly. She was so sweet and oh so adorable.

We asked if we could fill out an adoption form and they told us that we could, but we would have to bring it back in when a counselor was working which would only be on Tuesday from 5-7. They also informed us that a man and his son where there just before us looking at Ellie. This was our dog and one way or another I was going to make sure that she was coming home with us.

I was so sad as we drove home without her. The minuet we walked in the door I filled out an online adoption form for Ellie. To go along with the adoption form, I typed out a 3 page letter with information on Patrick and I, our love story, our dog history, and everything that we promised to provide Ellie. I of course was booked with clients during the 2 hr. time span that the counselor was going to be available. In the rules for adoption, it clearly states that both parents must be on site during the counseling session for adoption approval. My husband is a real charmer, so I was pretty confident that if the counselor was a women, he would win her over.

On that Tuesday, Patrick raced from downtown Chicago to Naperville to be the 1St in line for Ellie. He arrived at 4 and patiently waited for the counselor. He had our adoption form, and my 3 page typed letter on hand. The counselor came to greet him and they went back to see Ellie-Mae. As Patrick interacted with Ellie, the counselor sat back and read my forever long detailed letter. As she finished the letter she looked at Patrick and said, "she's yours". Meanwhile, I'm finishing up at work and Patrick calls to tell me the great news. I didn't even believe him. I thought he was playing tricks on me. Ellie was going to be spayed on Wednesday, and we were picking her up on Thursday. I was bursting with excitement!

We spent the next couple of days preparing for Ellie-Mae. We went Shopping!!! She had new toys, blankies and all the essentials ready for her arrival. We definitely went overboard, and to this day I still have to ration Patrick's visits to the puppy boutique. Every time he goes for more food, he can't help but buy her another $30 toy. Speaking of food, Patrick is obsessed with feeding her the very best. He researches all the best brands, and makes sure she only gets holistic food with a 5 star rating. If you have a dog, watch out for Patrick. He will talk your ear off about what you are feeding your dog. I love that he loves her so much.