Shortly after putting my Rottweiler mix down I realized that I couldn’t spend another weekend at home with out a dog. So I walked into Helping Paws and told the receptionist that I was looking for a new bed partner. Without missing a beat she asked: What language would your bed partner speak. Answer: Woof. I was led into the kennels. As I walked the aisles looking at the hopeful dogs doing their best to stand out among their competition thoughts my crossed mind. Too little, too big, too much like my last dog… Then I rounded the corner and Patti’s eyes met mine. She was laying at the front her cage with sad eyes that said ‘another one that won’t want me.’ I walked past her but felt her eyes follow me. I finished walking the kennel and passed her cage again. She hadn’t moved and her eyes continued to follow me. It finally dawned on me that I had been chosen. So the decision was made and the paperwork filled out. I still had the 24 hour wait. So I went shopping: new food bowl, new water bowl, new cage, new treats, new leash, and a new name tag that proudly boasted that I was owned by Patti. After 26 hours I broke down and called Helping Paws to let them know that I was coming to get Patti. She had been in the shelter for a year and half (with one failed adoption) and no one wanted to see her leave. They tried to talk me out of taking her and I finally said that if they did not want her in a real home they should not have been showing her for adoption. Finally I received, and paid, the bill. Then Patti and I were off to learn to live together. In a matter of 3 days she taught me to close my bedroom closet door (several chewed socks and a mad dash in the backyard trying to save a sweater was all it took). In the same amount of time she learned that I got into bed first and she must wait to be called (I was sick of falling off the edge of the bed). She was a little standoffish but we played, we snuggled, I petted, she put up with it all. It took about 6 months before she was reliable about going outside to take care of her ‘business’, trustworthy with open closets, and free with her kisses. We have finally found the trust that we both so badly needed.