chiuaua – meet the butters

I honestly can’t believe it. Tomorrow our baby has been with us for 3 years! Time definitely flies – it seems like just yesterday he put his sweet arms around my neck for the first time (read his adoption story here).

Some things to know about Dobby:

Since Bella joined our family, he has become more welcoming to people that aren’t mom and dad. He used to shake with fear and run for the other room, but now he might even go up sniff them!
He loves to be in charge. When playing with his cousins Ella & Hazel, he has his own way of letting the group know he is the alpha. By the end of each play date they are all following him around.
He enjoys being held. Try picking up Bella and she’ll squirm until you stop, but Dobby will hold still, keep his arms around your neck or even nuzzle your chest.
He loves his kennel. Every morning before I leave for work he knows it is coming, and even waits by his crate if I’m not moving fast enough. He has his favorite stuffed animal (a purple bunny) that he’s had forever to snuggle inside, and I think it makes him feel safe.
He LOVES to swim. If we take him over to my parents’ house he will spend hours jumping in, swimming back to the steps, hopping out and repeating. If someone is swimming laps he will try to swim right along with them, and he loves to fetch in the water.

The other day my sister reminded me of a Dobby story from when she and Brian were dog sitting, and I think it describes him well:

When Shani and Brian had first moved back to Arizona, they dog sat for us while we made a quick California trip. They had Ella (way bigger than Dobby), and she liked to play on the porch of their 1st floor apartment. As I dropped off Dobby to them, I mentioned the half-wall on the porch might be low enough for Dobby to jump. Ella had never tried this, so we all figured it would be fine.

Fast forward to the next afternoon, when I call to check on Dobby:

Me: How’s he doing?

Shani: Do you want the truth or a lie?

It turns out that when Brian got home from work the day before, he tried to go say hi to Dobby. Being the timid dog he is, Dobby freaked out and hopped their wall, forcing Brian to chase him (at full speed) around the entire apartment complex until finally cornering him on a 2nd floor landing. But that’s Dobby – unsure of people, fast and determined!

I’ll close this post out by trying to emphasize how much this fur baby has changed my life. He has seriously brought out the mama bear in me and I don’t know how I would survive anything without his snuggles and affection. I love my mama’s boy! Oh – and Andrew loves him, too 🙂

–Jory

Meet our our fur babies. They are crazy, energetic, cuddly terrors that we couldn’t live our lives without. First came Dobby, then came Bella…

Dobby

Dobby “Dobster” Butters, pit bull-Chihuahua mix, was adopted into the family on September 11, 2014. Shortly before his adoption, we had to put down a beautiful, independent, one-of-a-kind mini schnauzer named Daisy. Andrew and I were coping with the loss in different ways. He needed another pup in his life, but I was skeptic and thought it would make everything worse. Eventually I agreed to go visit a dog of his liking that had just been rescued by a veterinarian’s wife in Scottsdale.

As we drove to meet Dobby, I did not think we’d bring home a dog that night. I thought we’d just window shop and head home. Boy was I wrong! As we walked through the door, the lady put Dobby in my arms and he immediately hugged my neck. In that moment, even though there were 10+ other dogs around me barking, I fell in love with him and knew we would be going home one family member larger.

We brought him home that night and he was terrified. We had learned that he had been left outside an abandoned house tied up with no food or water. Neighbors shooed away anyone trying to help the dog in hopes that he’d get so bad animal control would stop by. The veterinarian’s wife had gotten a tip about him and saved his life. He didn’t like the leash around his neck, he didn’t move from the kitchen, and he didn’t eat much. He was all skin and bones, so much so that he looked like Dobby the House Elf from Harry Potter (the rescue named him, and it just stuck).

A week or so later he made some progress. We had left for dinner and somehow our back gate got left open. As we returned I began to panic, that maybe Dobby had gotten out! We walked inside and he was not in his kitchen spot (where he NEVER moved from). As we walked into the front room it took a moment, for he blended in, but he was eventually spotted in the corner of the couch! He had felt comfortable enough to move rooms and strong enough to jump on the couch.

After two years he is still anxious and weary of new people, but Bella is certainly helping. He is a definite mama’s boy when it comes to snuggling and has taught me so much about unconditional, overflowing love. He is smart, fast, loves to be chased, good at fetch and knows how to sit, lay down and stay. He’s already around three years old and time needs to stop!

Bella

Bella “Boo” Butters is our nine month old pit bull-boxer mix named after our wedding venue, Tre Bella. She was adopted on June 19, 2016 thanks to “Uncle Brian” Gaarde. Andrew and I had been talking about possibly getting another dog to keep Dobby company, since our roommates were moving out and Dobby loved their dog so much. On their move out date Andrew got a call from Brian, who had just visited Lost Our Home Animal Shelter to return some cat items. He saw a cute little pup around three months old that we just HAD to go see. I happened to be a little dog-crazy at the time, so when Andrew then called me I rushed home from Big Lots to go see this mystery dog.

As we had been talking about another dog, our list included a house-trained, older, smaller dog. Not exactly what Bella turned out to be! We walked into the shelter with Dobby in tow, looked through the window at “Pippa” and were sold. She came out to play with Dobby, they got along great and we were even more sold. The non-house-trained, destined-to-be-big baby girl came home with us that day.

Within the past six months she has become such an integral part of the family. She loves to lick, play, and stare out the window. She follows Dobby around and vies for his attention. You’ll always find her curled up next to him, whether he likes it or not. She loves everyone, and everyone loves her!

These fur babies make each day even better. We love them like crazy!

–Jory

Tag: chiuaua

Dobby’s Adopt-a-versary!

Meet the Pups