Cisco
Bad Reputation
While visiting her local humane society to find a dog for her daughter, Sylvia Baker unexpectedly fell in love with her dog, Cisco. She shared her pet adoption story with us.
My 19-year-old daughter’s dog died this fall. She doesn’t have memories of life without Mari and misses him terribly. My daughter begged for help to find a dog that would keep her company in her first apartment. She was lonely, so I finally relented.
I had never been to an animal shelter before, and it was heartbreaking to see all of the dogs and cats throughout the building. After stopping and considering every dog, Olivia connected with and chose a beautiful brown hound mix. She was in love!
As we were waiting to complete the paperwork, I spied a tiny black-and-white terrier behind the counter. He walked around like he owned the place, and I was intrigued by his attitude.
“What about that puppy?” I asked the staff member assisting us. She frowned and told me he was not ready for adoption. At all of four pounds, this dog had earned a bad reputation at the shelter. I asked to hold him, and she hesitated before giving me directions and making sure that I was willing to accept what may happen. I agreed. As he calmly sat in my arms looking up at me, my husband and I both fell in love with this little bundle of joy!
Even though we were not there to adopt a dog for ourselves, we asked for permission to take him home and foster him for the weekend. They wouldn’t allow us to adopt the dog and assured us we could bring him back immediately if we needed to.
We happily left with our “foster puppy,” but before we got home, we turned around and convinced the staff that we were willing to take full responsibility for him.
The pooch with the bad reputation now goes by the name of Cisco, and in the last two months, has brought more laughter and happiness into our home than we ever could have imagined. Now that I know him, I am sure that given the opportunity, Cisco would smile and tell you that he behaved badly so that no one would adopt him—he was waiting for us.