It was a cold day in late January 2024 and I talked my husband into going with me to HSHV to look at dogs. We were down to one dog and he seemed lonely after losing his buddies over the years. We didn’t plan to go home with a dog that day (or my husband didn’t), but that’s not how things played out.

I was out “test driving” another dog and my husband was back in the kennel. When I came back in, he said, “I found our dog.” Apparently, as my husband knelt down next to the kennel, Nigel (shelter name was Toad), came over and put his paw on my husband’s shoulder. That’s all it took. I took him for a little walk, and we loaded him up and brought him home. All we knew about him was that he was about two years old, he’d been found as a stray in Ypsilanti and had been at the shelter for around three weeks.

Nigel wasn’t our first rescue, but he was our first adult dog rescue. It didn’t take him long to decompress from the shelter and make himself right at home. He and our other dog, Gonzo, were almost immediate besties. We have six dog beds in the house and they regularly sleep on the same one! Nigel is smart, silly and oh, so sensitive. He loves naps, walks, playing keep away (he doesn’t really fetch), snugs and snacks. We couldn’t imagine life without him. Happy Gotcha Day, Nigel, and thank you HSHV for all that you do!

 

Toad now Nigel