I have this problem.

If I go to the pound and see thousands of well-adjusted, perfectly groomed, behaved dogs, I just keep walking.  But show me one dog that is deemed “unadoptable”, and dude, I’M SO THERE.

(I am not this way with cats, by the way.)

I adopted Mabel after she was returned the pound twice for “behavioral issues”, and had one more chance before being put down.  Turns out, she wasn’t badly behaved.. she was deaf.  It’s really hard to learn “NO” when you can’t hear it.  Friday came into Bryan’s world when someone left him in an abandoned apartment.  His old owner got him high all the time and repeatedly beat him in the head.  The cat still flinches when you move quickly.  Charlie found us bloody-pawed, malnourished, and dehydrated with (understandable) aggression issues.  Through the years, he’s become the biggest teddy bear of them all.

I started in on a puppy fix awhile back.  I have usually had three dogs in my household, and it feels empty with just two.  That and Charlie, while very sweet and loving, is a bit too rambunctious for Mabel, who is now starting to show her age a bit.   

And when I saw a one-eyed dog up for adoption, well.. who can pass up a one-eyed dog?!  Not me, that’s for damn sure.

So, for Mother’s Day, I received Willie, a tri-color terrier mix with one very specific trait:

I haven’t visited him yet (he’s still at The Ark.. God love that place!), but Bryan’s gone and played with him for the last two days.  We’ll be picking him up tomorrow and integrating him into the pack this weekend.  If all goes well.  Bryan says he’s pretty skittish — losing an eye from abuse will do that to you — so it will be some work to make a happy family again.  But we enjoy that kind of work.

My mom says, “We need love most when we are most unloveable.”  I think the same holds true with animals.