Conway's 2 Year Adoptaversary

Our sweet girl Conway has warmed our home for two years to the date today. We're also celebrating her turning four today! We're not totally sure when her birthday is but we know its around October/November so celebrating both occasions at once seems fitting.

I thought I'd share a bit of her story and her adoption journey here. Because well, she's a big part of our life and brings so much happiness to our life and our home. It may sound odd but she literally inspires us! She overcame so much in her first few years of life and it's humbling. It's one of our greatest joys to give her loads of love and a safe home every day.

Derek and I knew we wanted to get a dog of our own before we even lived together. Though we knew we wanted to wait until the right time despite how much patience and will power it took. To be honest, it was one of the many reasons we chose to buy a house after only a little over a year of renting together. What can I say, we love dogs. We both grew up with them and our families treat them like family members!

We would check the available dogs on the Cape Ann Animal Aid website weekly, even when we lived in our condo. I would try to convince Derek that we could talk our landlord into allowing us to have a dog but... yeah, no. But we looked and looked. In the grander scheme of things, timing is everything.

So, we bought a house but it needed a whole bunch of renovations so we agreed to wait until at least the walls were painted, new floors were installed and all of our furniture was moved in. Per usual, during the home stretch of the renovations, I was still browsing the site to see if our dog was out there. It was then that I saw this curious face that seemed to be begging for nothing more than a comfy place to rest her head on the available dogs list.

The timing wasn't great as we were heading into winter and still had some work to do on the new house. But we'd waited so long and I was so certain she was what we had been holding out for.

I kid you not, the very day after Derek finished installing the floors... we adopted Conway.

I planned to go see her that day and then re-visit with Derek a few days later to possibly take her home with us. However, the shelter could not guarantee she'd still be there. So we decided I'd go, send photos to Derek and use my dog-whisperer gut and go from there.

Well, I'll never forget when I rounded the corner and Conway (then named, Cayenne) jumped up on her hind legs and reached her paws up onto the wire front wall of the pen she was living in at the time. This moment sticks with me mostly because I try to imagine what a relief that must have been for her in that moment, that she was going home. Finally. Never knowing before that moment whether or not a loving home was in her future. To this day, she shows such gratitude in her behavior through how loving and down right loyal she is.

When the shelter volunteer let Conway out of her pen and into the play area so I could meet her, she was eager to play and go go go! It was chaotic in the shelter at that moment as there was a group of pups going out for a group walk, but I could tell that she was smart and loving and would therefor be just great.

After filling Derek in, we made the final decision to make it official. It was time to adopt her! After signing all of the papers I walked out of the shelter a dog-mom and it was the best feeling. I couldn't believe how quickly she settled right down in the front seat of my car as we drove home for good.

When Derek arrived home from work later that evening it was quite surreal. He walked in and saw her and I was like, "Look! That's our dog!!". It was history from there with those two. Conway is so protective of Derek, in the sweetest way.

She was definitely timid with us for the first few months. Rightfully so. She'd been through quite a lot leading up to meeting us.

Conway was originally rescued as a homeless dog from the streets in Georgia. She was pregnant and so lucky to be taken in at a shelter down there and later a foster home to eventually birth her six pups. She even took on two more pups from another dog's litter who were not being fed by their own mother. So at just a little over a year old, she had was rearing eight puppies of her own. Amazing!

I just empathize with the amount of strength it must have taken a little creature like her to persevere without any reassurance of what her future held.

We're so glad that we were able to connect with the foster care she came from before heading up to Gloucester in an effort to truly appreciate all that she is and the life she's walked leading up to this chapter. She is the snuggliest, spunkiest and down right sweetest dog. She makes the tougher days a little funnier with her antics. And she completes our little family right now.

After bath swaddles are my favorite times with her. She just totally absorbs all the snuggles we have for her and it's just so darn heart warming.

She's adventurous and always eager to explore new places. She loves the boat, other dogs, the park!, walking trails, car rides and curling up on her perch on the couch to watch the birds outside.

We love her a lot. And she couldn't have been more "meant to be". We got her a special stuffed squirrel toy to celebrate since she's recently learned to not completely tear plush toys apart in the first ten minutes of having them. So there's bound to be lots of squeaking and fetching today!

And because I couldn't pick just the right amount of photos for this post, here are more because you can never scroll through enough pictures of cute pups :)

There are so many dogs, like Conway, who are in need of a safe and loving home. She's gold and I'm so glad we chose to go the adoption route for her. I encourage you to reach out to your local shelter if you're considering adding a fuzzy family member to your home soon! They may just end up being the perfect fit for not only your household but more importantly, your heart.