Luna: A Rescue Story

First of all, welcome to our little page. Luna and I are pleased to meet you and hope you enjoy your stay. If she could, Luna would snuggle and love on every one of you. But you'll get acquainted with that lovable personality soon enough. For now, let me tell you about where our adventure started...

It was nearly six years ago, in the chilly weeks of October, when I decided I needed to begin the search for a new companion. I had just lost a dear little puppy that my family had rescued from the shelter, and she had died after five days due to a horrible disease they failed to inform us of upon adoption. Between that and some other pent up life stresses I had been harboring, I was sent spiraling into depression.

Family and my doctor agreed that I needed something to brighten my life back up, and to focus on. Essentially, I needed a reason to get up in the morning. I was about to turn 18 in the next few months, and I had always wanted a Siberian husky puppy ever since the one we had when I was a young child died. So I was promised that if I could find one, I could get my husky puppy for my birthday. The search was on.

I searched everywhere. You could name any website and I guarantee I had searched there for husky puppies for sale. The amount of scams I was coming across was disheartening, and I was getting discouraged. Then an ad drifted across my Facebook. "Six Akita Puppies in Need of Homes!" My attention was immediately captured, especially when I caught site of the adorable picture attached to the ad. It was basically a fluff ball with a curly tail. During the week that followed my discovery, I sent out an array of emails and made way too many phone calls to the owner of the rescue. Finally, I was set up to meet him and the puppies.

It was freezing when I got to the house where the puppies were being fostered. The wind was blowing viciously and everything about the atmosphere gave off an unfriendly vibe that had me on edge; until I reached the gate. The soft thunder of puppy paws rushed across the wood of the deck as an army of fluff and curly tails raced out to greet me. I could have exploded on the spot from the sheer amount of cuteness before me. As I was let in the gate and exchanged introductions with the foster mother and owner of the house, the puppies swarmed me in a horde of tail-wagging, pawing, whimpering, grumbling, and clumsy excitement. It was hard to not simply drop to the ground and roll around with them.

Finally, I was able to stop being polite and took the opportunity to drop to the ground with the pups and snuggle every single one that I could get my hands on. It didn't take long to start noticing subtle personalities from each of them. One was considerably larger than the rest, the males were all more rowdy than their sisters, one only wanted to hide under a nearby bench, and one was absolutely demanding my attention. A little female with white paws and a tiny white patch on her face that set her apart from her siblings. I scooped her up into my arms and happily held her, taking delight in the fact that she immediately snuggled in close to me and made herself comfortable. Wanting to keep an open mind about all the puppies still, I tried to put her down so that I could give attention to the others, but she just kept demanding my attention and crying every time I put her down. When I walked away, she followed (with that adorable, off-balance, puppy waddle). And when I would pick her back up she would just snuggle up right into my arms and wag her little curl of a tail. I soon learned that, fittingly, her foster mother had been calling her "Cuddles".

Amongst the puppies, the birth momma dog (Tori) was also wandering around and keeping a close eye on her puppies. It was easy to see that she was a very good mother just by watching her, but proof of this was fact when the puppies had been found and there was evidence that the mother had been hunting rabbits and small critters to provide for herself and them.

As the day progressed, I kept in constant contact with Cuddles. Her siblings began to ignore me after a while, as if they could see that I had been claimed, and Tori came by periodically to make sure her puppy was okay. When the man (Zach) in charge of the rescue and puppies arrived at the house, I helped him give all of the puppies their first shots. They were all so well behaved, but grew sleepy afterwards, which signaled my time to leave and let them rest up with their mom. I was surprised at how hard it felt in that moment to give up Cuddles and let her return to the heap of sleepy puppies now huddled with their mother. But in that moment, as the realization hit that I had already formed an attachment, my decision was all too clear. I was going to adopt that puppy.

It was only a few days later when I made the drive back up to the house. It was snowing now, but that certainly wasn't going to stand in my way. Most of the puppies had already been taken when I got there, and Tori didn't seem to understand why all of her babies were being taken away. I apologized to her, thanked her for being such a good momma, and promised that I would take good care of her puppy. Cuddles was eagerly waiting for me when I opened the gate to retrieve her. She slept happily curled up to my chest the whole car ride home, and I fell more and more in love with every passing second.

A meeting with Zach allowed me to sign the adoption application and make it official, and when I got to the line upon which I had to write her name, I did not put "Cuddles". In fact, Zach joked that the terms of the adoption agreement were that I had to give her a real name. I already knew what her name was though. On the line I wrote "Luna". My beautiful moon dog; my guardian, companion, amusement, love, cuddle buddy, and reason to get up in the morning. And from the moment I brought her home, we formed a bond that continues to grow to this day.

Now it is six years later, Luna has gone through extensive training and is now my licensed service dog, and I have since rescued two other Akitas. People question me about it all the time. The honest truth about it is that Luna is the one who rescued me. Yes, I chose to take her in and adopt her, but she is the one who has built me up and looks after me on a daily basis-and inspired me to continue on and take in two more Akitas in need of homes.