This is a good old-fashioned story of girl meets dog and it all started about 6 years ago. I’ve always been a dog person. We had a few dogs growing up but I had never had one of my very own and I was so excited to start looking. I wanted to adopt a medium size, female dog that was black & white. She was going to have a red rhinestone collar and her name would be Roxi. I had it all planned out; I just needed to find the perfect dog.

After months of searching, I finally found her! Her name was Sue and she was at the local humane society. Later that week, a few friends and I went to meet her and I was devastated to find she had been adopted the day before. Since we were already there, my friends convinced me to look around at the other dogs. I walked past the line of kennels outside and the first dog was a big fluffy husky that was jumping from the floor, up on the doghouse, off the wall and back to the floor. I remember laughing and thinking to myself, “Good luck to the person brave enough to take that crazy dog home”. After making the rounds, I had given up. Sure there were plenty of great dogs but none of them were my Roxi.

Just as I was ready to leave, my friend Katie said what about this one and pointed at the hyper active husky I laughed at earlier. I told her that there was no way I could handle a dog that big and hectic but she convinced me to take him for a walk anyways. As soon as he was on the leash, we were off. He haphazardly pulled me for a while until we got to a bench where I sat down to rest. All the girls gathered around and pet him as he frantically jumped around, soaking up all of the attention. Then I went to pet him and he instantly mellowed out long enough to place his paw on my leg and turn his head to the side when I said hi. In that one moment, he had completely melted my heart and I knew my search was over. I brought him home, gave him a red collar with studs and named him Rocko.

Rocko is such a weird, hyper, happy little goofball and the sweetest dog I’ve ever met. I can’t imagine my life without him. He lies outside the bathroom as I get ready in the morning, greets me with his fluffy wagging tail every night and cuddles all day with me anytime I’m sick. He’s still hyper and runs around like a crazy dog but almost daily, he will stop, reach out his paw to me and turn his head to the side reminding me of the very second I knew he was mine. I’m not one to believe in fate but there is no doubt in my mind that he was meant to be my dog.