I love my bitches so much!

Having dogs can be a lot of work, but the amount of love and joy they bring is immeasurable.

The first thing my son does when he wakes up in the morning is enter the bedroom and proceed directly to the dog bed to give each of our girls a good morning kiss and cuddle. If I’m lucky, I’ll get a kiss too.

Seriously though, having the girls is a joy.

They are a part of our family. We are a pack.

Both of our bitches are rescue dogs. We adopted Nom-Nom first; she came from an unwanted litter of puppies. A local dog rescue helped find homes for the pups. We were so happy to have her! My husband and I both grew up with dogs, and couldn’t wait to finally have a dog of our own.  Our son was ecstatic as well.

Every boy (and girl!) should grow up with a dog.

We decided that Nom-Nom needed a companion, so we adopted Lucy.

Lucy is the real deal when it comes to a rescue dog. She was literally in the shelter and her time was up. She was to be euthanized the next day if nobody took her, but an awesome rescue saved her, and placed her in foster care while they searched for the right “forever home.” Lucy had been surrendered to the shelter by a someone who said, “She’s too much work.”  Poor thing! How scary to have a home and people you know, only to be given away to strangers and placed in a small, unfamiliar kennel.

Lucy is a big dog, and she can look and sound pretty intimidating! But she is truly a gentle giant – a sweetie, who just  loves to be petted and touched.  There are so many dogs like this in shelters. Sweet dogs that are just given up or given away by people who don’t understand that it takes a bit of time and effort to keep a dog as pet.

And unfortunately, so many animals are not spayed or neutered. They continue to reproduce, resulting in hundreds of unwanted animals.

This is why we choose to adopt. There are so many good dogs that need homes, there is no reason to buy a dog from a pet store. Especially when most pet store pooches come from puppy mills that have horrible living conditions and treat the animals cruelly.

So adopt! Don’t buy!

I love that I’ve seen other articles on ej promoting adoption of animals, especially this time of year—don’t be tempted to buy a pet as a gift. Be sure that wherever that pup is going, he is truly wanted and will be well taken care of. And when a dog is wanted, please consider adopting one of the many pooches out there that desperately need a loving home.

Need another good reason why? Watch the video below.

Warning: Hearts will be wrenched.

It just goes to show how far a little love can go.

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Editor: Bryonie Wise