A tribute to the best dog in the world

I used to be a cat-person. I grew up with cats for 12 years before we got Nikita, our 1st family dog. She was a wolf-husky, and she was beautiful. She had 2 babies, Dunga & Chloe, who were awesome. Those 3 dogs converted me, fully, into a dog-person. I still love cats. I am sweet to cats. But I have this connection to dogs like most people have to each other. I love dogs unconditionally, because that's how they love.



Today is a very special day for me, because, well, October 29 was Nikita's birthday. I will never forget that. As I said before, she was our 1st family dog (belonging to my mom, dad, brother and me). But October 29 is also special because that is the day (4 years ago), that Solon and I decided to bring Forrest into our lives.

We had only been married 7 months, but we had been looking for and contemplating having a dog for a while. We had tortured ourselves for months, going to those pet stores in the mall, and looking at all the overpriced dogs behind the windows... and it was so hard to leave that place without rescuing each of them. But then one day, Lisa, my mother-in-law, called us from the pumpkin patch. The lady operating the donkey rides was selling her dog's litter of lab-husky puppies for $25 each. What a bargain! Lisa called us because she knew that labs and huskies were my favorite types of dogs, and here they were as a combo! Solon and I immediately got in the car, still unsure if we were going to get one or not, but there was something pulling us there with such force, that it seemed like we couldn't get there fast enough. We deliberated the whole way there, the pros and cons of being dog owners. But we knew as soon as we got out of the car at Tolmachoff Farms, that we were leaving that day with a new member to our new family.

When we got there, all the female pups were gone, which made me sad. I always thought I wanted a girl dog. There were only 2 boys in the whole litter - one was white with blue eyes, and the other was pretty dirty looking with green eyes. Solon was drawn to the white one, and picked him up first - but then quickly noticed how crazy and rambunctious he was. I said, "What about this little guy? He's just chillin' in the corner." I picked the dirty one up and he looked right into my eyes. Solon asked, "How are we going to decide?" And I replied, "Whichever one shows us love first." Right then, almost as if on cue, Forrest licked my chin. It melted my heart. Solon's too. He said, "All right, looks like he's the one." Then the donkey ride lady tried to offer us 2 for $40, but we said no.

That was an awesome day for us. Much to our surprise, when we got home to give him a bath, it turned out he wasn't just dirty after all. He had the most beautiful markings on his coat! Forrest has been the most wonderful, sweet, loving, chill, handsome, half-human dog, and he has always been treated like more than a dog. He makes us laugh out loud at his peculiarities, brings us so much joy daily, and just loves everyone. We love our fur-son so much. We honestly cannot imagine our lives without him. And he is such a great big brother to Quincy!

So here's a little tribute to Forrest a.k.a Forresito a.k.a Daddy-Boy a.k.a Thripty-Thrip a.k.a. Big Brother (Yes, we have a million nicknames for him, and he responds to every one!) It was 4 years ago today that we brought you home, and we are so thankful that we did!