If you follow me on Instagram and Facebook, you see Ivy’s ???? picture a lot.  I mean… who doesn’t have 14,000 pictures of their dog on their phone doing nothing but sleeping?  ????????‍♀️

I shared about Ivy’s Rescue on my Instagram stories and had several of you want to replay them.  But, as you know, the stories disappear after 24 hours.  So what better than to blog about but my little Ivy girl!

Ivy’s Rescue Story

It took me six months to get over the passing of my little Maltese, Bob’s death.  When I say “get over”… I’m really meaning, stop blubbering and crying.  Does one ever really get over a pet’s death.  It still makes me cry if I think about it.

Me:  “I think I’m ready for another dog.

Deb:  ????

Deb grew up on a farm, so animals were basically around to eat.  They weren’t there to socialize with, pet, laugh at, walk, cuddle… you know…all of the stuff I do with an animal.

She agreed to it but we had a few qualifications that were a must:

It had to be a Rescue

IT CANNOT BE A PUPPY – 2-3 years old would be ideal

Female

Medium-sized

Once that list was made, the phone call was, too.  Immediately!  Shelter Lady,  in our small town, told us there were no dogs that matched that description but to call back periodically.

That Same Day…

An hour after that phone call, we left for a routine doctor’s appointment.  The nurse put us in the room and as she was leaving, she popped her head in the door and said, “You girls aren’t looking for a dog, are you?  One walked through our motion sensor door.  I took the last one home and I’m not taking another one.”

Our faces looked like this:  ????

When we were finished, of course, we had to go meet the “puppy”.  ????  I walked into the room she was in and sat down on the chair.  She ran to me and jumped on my lap.  ????  She was very skinny, had an umbilical hernia, a big bite mark from another dog on her behind, and a little bloody area on each hip.

Front Desk Girl said that the puppy hung out in the room next to her the entire morning and didn’t make a peep.   They were in contact with all of the neighbors in the area and were waiting on one to get back with her.  No one else was missing a puppy.  If no one claimed her by 5pm, she was off to the pound.

Deb said, “I will run and get the car while you finishing making out with the puppy.” ????

I wrote my number down and gave it to Front Desk Girl and said, “If no one claims her, just call me.  I will work on Deb.”

No chance it was a coincidence

We both believe that God, or the Universe, or whatever you believe in, gives us all signs to follow for a very happy life.  If we think we have received a sign, we wait for awhile to see what happens next.  If it’s blatant, we follow it.  If nothing comes of it, it probably wasn’t supposed to happen.    During that day, I didn’t say much about the puppy.  (I was giving Deb time to think. ????)

I finally said, “Do you think it’s a coincidence that THE VERY DAY we decide we want a dog, one is in front of our face at the doctor’s office.    We both agreed this was NOT a coincidence.  She said, “Maybe you should call the office and see if anyone claimed her.”  I then admitted that I gave the girl my number.  ????  We both also agreed that if she didn’t call, that wasn’t the one for us. If she did, we needed to take her.  And if she didn’t work out for us, we would find her a good home.  I received the call at 4:50pm.  All of the neighbors had confirmed.

The Next Day

I called our vet immediately the next morning for her to get checked out.  The doctor said she was approximately four months old and 4-5 pounds underweight.  After a full check up and an x-ray to see what the bloody areas were, she was found to be filled with worms and each hip contained a BB from a BB gun.  The doctor said, “Puppies are to be de-wormed at 6 months.  With her current weight, whoever had this puppy is very, very neglectful.”

We paid the $350 vet bill, bought her a crate, a collar and a leash, and of course, a little pink coat because she was always cold.  ????  She was so calm and followed me around everywhere.  She would just sit and stare at me.   So, of course, I would snuggle her like a little baby.   We had already fallen in love with this little puppy that we named Ivy Rose.   ❤️

A Stranger Enters the Picture

We owned a storefront in our small town at the time.  I took her to the shop with me each day because I didn’t want her to be afraid to be home alone.  ????    A few days after that initial vet visit, one of our daughters, who worked for us, said she was going to take Ivy out the back door to potty.  As soon as that back door shut, the front door opened.

A lady I’ve never seen before came up to me and said, “Is there a Danielle that works here?”  I introduced myself as “Danelle.”

Lady:  “You have my dog and I want her back.  It was my grand daughters dog that she picked out of my whole litter.  She escaped the fence.”

Me:  “How do you know I have YOUR dog?”

At this point, my anxiety level was SKY HIGH.  I was standing there praying that our daughter wouldn’t walk in the back door with the Ivy.  My mind was racing on what to say to her.  A MILLION scenarios played out in my head in a split second.

Lady:  “Didn’t you just get a dog?”

Me:  “Yes, but how do you know it’s your dog?”

Lady:  “Is she here with you?”

Me:  “No…”

Lady:  “My dog has a bite mark on her butt from one of the older dogs we have.”

Me:  “Ohhhhhhhhh…. Well, MY dog has a bullet wound on each hip.”

Lady:  “BULLET WOUNDS?  Well, the neighbor must be shooting at my dogs again.”

Still praying and in a panic thinking of Ivy walking in the back door and being ripped away from me by Neglectful Lady.  I couldn’t imagine this calm, sweet puppy being thrown back into that situation.

I heard the back door open but all the while kept my eyes locked with hers, so she wouldn’t look back there.

Me staring intently:  “Oh ya…. and I took MY dog to the vet.  She said that whoever had this puppy was very neglectful and shouldn’t even be allowed to have dogs.  Mine was very underweight and filled with worms that should have been taken care of several months ago.  I bought her de-worming meds and got her all up to date on everything.”

NEGLECTFUL LADY:  “I know you have my dog and I want her back.  Here is my phone number.”  She walked out.

I was a nervous wreck and couldn’t figure out how in the hell that just happened.  How did she not see them walk in the back door?  Come to find out, our daughter opened the back door and heard some of the conversation.  She picked Ivy up, crouched down really low behind some furniture, slipped into the bathroom and locked the door.

I never heard from Neglectful lady again.  That was approximately 6 years ago.

She’s a Sweetie Pie

The vet believes Ivy is part Pitbull and part Boxer.  She is still, to this day, so calm and stares at us a lot.  ????  Her favorite place to be is home.  She gets a little anxious in new surroundings unless we are there.  She is THE BEST dog EVER!!!!!

P.S.  I cry just talking about her story.   Because, in all reality, we weren’t the ones looking.  She was!

Danelle