Our Year of Thursdays :: Welcoming Chilli

So I hinted at it in last Thursday’s post and no doubt, if you follow my Instagram and Facebook, you have seen Chilli!

Our adventure for Thursday was to welcome into our home this tiny little dog. It was totally out of the blue, but at the same time not that big of a surprise. Well, except maybe for Alec who was in Brisbane for work and came home to our new family member. We have discussed getting a dog for a while now. We wanted the kids to all be old enough to share in the work that was required as well as enjoy the love that was the reward. We were thinking next year would be good as I will be a Primary School empty nester with the twins in Prep, but sometimes things just happen. Chilli is one of those things. While Alec and I are no strangers to the responsibilities of adopting a rescued dog, Gemma was just a baby when we had to leave MacGyver and Ozzie (our dogs in America) and the twins never got to even meet them before both doggies had passed away. I wanted to make sure that we were clear with the kids about how much our lives would change. We read up on dog care and had lots of great talks. The only thing left to do was meet the dog and see if we were a good fit for each other. That is what we did on Thursday. Chilli’s foster human guardian angel brought her to our house to see where we lived and ensure that we were the right family in this situation. We all played in the back yard and listened to the details of Chilli’s sad story. The twins were a bit shy at first, but they did not fear her like they have every other dog they have ever met. I knew that things were clicking into place.

Chilli is a rescue dog, saved by the sister of a friend.  A beautiful soul who recognized a dog in need and could not let her just slowly die there all alone. She is now Chilli’s godmother.  Without too much detail on the lead up to getting her out of her terrible situation, for us, it all started with a post on Facebook. A post with a photo of this little dog who needed a home. A photo that Alec “liked” before I did, I shall point out.  A few emails and a handful of texts later and we have a dog. A dog who spent at least the last 18 months fending for herself under a house abandoned by her former owners. She existed on weekly drops of some dry dog food that was way too big for her to eat and stagnant water. Someone didn’t want her to die, but she was no longer loved. I have no idea how her spirit survived, but it did and she is a sweet little dog. The hard times did not turn her to aggression. Those lonely and horrible months did not break her trust in people. She does need to learn that it is safe to drink water offered to her in our home. She seemingly waits for permission to eat the food we put down. We are teaching her how to play. One thing she does not need instruction nor encouragement to do though is love. She literally shakes with excitement when we even look her way. The kids all have turns walking and petting and playing with Chilli. They just want to make her happy. Kiki has explained in no uncertain cat terms that she is the boss animal around here and Chilli seems to have processed that information quite quickly. I do believe that Kiki will hold a small grudge for some time, but I am plying her with treats and scratches. I could have sworn I heard her curse me under her breath the other morning though.

We know that owning a dog is not an experiment. This is not a stunt for the Year of Thursdays (we did not even plan for that to be the day she arrived). Chilli completes our little family. We were ready for her and she was desperate to find us.

Every day she grows a bit more confident in our love and I can assure you that this little dog will never go a day again without lots and lots of affection.

By the way, if you had not figured it out, each Thursday adventure on the blog is one week behind so I have time to write it all up and get the photos edited! Should be pretty obvious this week!

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