A Life of Words

Everyone please say howdy to our adorable new family member Win, a nearly 4-month-old Wheaten terrier!! Isn’t she the most precious puppy ever?!?

As many of you know, we said an emotional goodbye to our wonderful nearly 18-year-old rescue terrier mix Maisy a few weeks ago. Kay and I have talked about not waiting too long to bring a new pup into our family, because we cherish dogs and the special kind of love and companionship they bring to a home. We’ve spent time recently looking at numerous websites and visited shelters in Dallas and Fort Worth, where we saw several dogs we really liked.

But we had a frustrating experience this week in Dallas when, while we waited in the shelter lobby to meet and spend time with a couple of sweet smaller dogs, rescue groups adopted them online before our name was even called. We left feeling a tad bitter (OK, a lot) about how these groups can quickly grab dogs so they can adopt them out for hundreds of dollars (with stringent adoption processes), even as average folks are at the shelters waiting and eager to adopt them for a small fraction of that cost and provide loving homes.

So then we said we’d stick to shelters … but we didn’t after all. We found Winnah and her brother online with Lost Paws Rescue of Texas, along with a couple of cute Corgi mixes we’d seen earlier. We filled out an online application for Winnah and her sibling Friday night and also learned Winnah was going to be at an adoption event Saturday morning in Southlake, about a 40-minute drive from our home in SW Arlington. Kay and I decided we’d get up and drive through the rain – what ended up being pretty much an all-day downpour – to see her.

It didn’t take long after Kay laid eyes on Winnah inside her little cage on the floor of PetSmart for her to say she was “the one.” We got Winnah out and spent time with her and were beyond smitten. But we know how most rescue groups work – checking every last detail about the adopting family and making home visits – so we didn’t think there was any way we’d be bringing Winnah home Saturday. But after receiving our application Friday night, Lost Paws had already checked us out, and after signing a contract, we really were able to take her home. No home visit will be required.

So we have a beautiful addition to our family who weighs about 12 pounds now but could reach 30 to 35 when she’s full-grown. We’ve almost always had a dog, and we also have our rescue cat Teena, whom we adopted at about 6 months in 2012. She wasted no time hissing and batting at Win when they met Saturday. That will probably never end, since that’s how Teena often treated Maisy too.

Even though she came to us as Winnah, we are naming our new puppy Win, because she is a Win for our family. (We’ll also call her Win-Win.) She’s listed on the adoption paperwork as a New Year’s Day baby. And in an amazing coincidence, Win and her brother were rescued from a small community in the Rio Grande Valley called Palm Valley in Harlingen, the city where Kay was born (she grew up in Mercedes and McAllen).

Win has seemed very comfortable and laid-back on her first day in our home, mostly lounging with us on the couch, playing with toys and braving the rain to do her business in the backyard. The rescue group had Win and some of their other dogs staying on a ranch in the Celina area north of Dallas-Fort Worth, so she had to get up early in the morning to head to Southlake for her first adoption event.

We’re so excited and lucky to have this sweet little ball of fur (or more precisely, non-shedding hair, from what we’ve read about this breed) to love and be loved by. Welcome to your new home, Win-Win!!! ❤️