Buddy Bo Murphy

There is a lot to catch up with since we moved to Oklahoma in July, but I will start with the biggest change to our lives and officially introduce you to Buddy. His full name is Buddy Bo Murphy, I'll go into that at the end. First, let me tell you how we came to adopt him.

My job working at the vet school is 99.9% working with shelter animals (dogs and cats... the occasional rabbit). This means everyday I see animals in need of a loving home. I had been at my job almost a month before meeting Buddy and I felt confident I could resist any animal that came through the door. I knew that before I would allow myself to own a pet I would have to be able to guarantee that animal a life of happiness, love, good health and safety for it's entire life. I didn't think we could do that financially yet.

Sometime in the middle of October, I went to check-in animals for surgery. Local shelters as far away as Oklahoma City come and drop off animals so they can be spayed or neutered before being adopted out. This helps cut down on the number of animals without homes and reduces their chances of contracting diseases(b/c they get all their shots too), along with keeping down the out of control pet population. That day I went out to animal control's truck and saw the most cuddly looking dog I've ever seen in person, black with a curly crimmed-look to his coat. He was skinny and very nervous. So nervous in fact he was scared to walk into the building, so I carried him in. I couldn't resist putting my head on his fur... it was so soft!

Later, I went back to check on the dogs in the runs and saw the same nervous pup curled in the tightest little ball and quiet as could be (a rarity among the other dogs clamoring for attention). I opened his kennel door, kneeled down and reassured him that he didn't need to be so scared. I thought to my self, "this is the sweetest dog! I wish I could take him home." I even called Trevor on my lunch break telling him what a cute, friendly, and shy dog I had met. The day went on, busy as could be and at the very end of the day, I felt sad that this dog was not coming home with me. I knew he would be adopted quickly, but wished he could be our forever dog.

Luckily, one of the veterinarians I work with thought he was pretty cute too and decided to take him home. When she told me I jokingly said, "Your lucky, because I was just about to snatch him up!" To my surprise she said, "well you can have him! I have lots of pets already, but this little guy is too wonderful to go back to the shelter." I said that I would love to, but I would have to talk it over some more with Trevor and look at our budget etc. After the weekend I asked her if we could watch him over the weekend and see if he would be a good fit for us and our little apartment.

We did just that and fell in love with him. He was so well behaved, house trained(except for one accident, which was our fault), happy, and very affectionate. We took some pictures while we had him:

Buddy and a block of wood he found and carried around everywhere except in the apartment of course! We thought we should lengthen his leash so we tied some rope to it! 

All of our feet : )

Buddy and I next to some pretty flowers. 

Buddy with Trevor warming up after going outside in the cold.

Despite falling in love with this lil' pup, Trevor and I had a serious talk about us keeping him. We both really wanted him because he did really well with us, but struggled over whether we could provide the financial support that came with owning a dog: vet bills, food costs, grooming needs, emergencies that come up, higher rent and deposit. Also, we weren't sure we could provide the stability a dog deserves with our unsettled job situation and school plans. We both felt it was not fair to Buddy to keep him just for selfish reasons of simply wanting a dog. So ultimately as much as it hurt us to say goodbye to him, we did because we thought we were doing the right thing. 

This was in the morning as I was getting ready to leave for work and give Buddy back. : (

Buddy and his first toy, a lion Trevor won for me when we were first dating lol. He lovingly gnawed on it non-stop.

I dreaded going to work that day, but that quickly turned around. I cried when I explained to the doctor who took him home first that we couldn't keep him. She was so lovely and understanding and told me that even in a month or 3 or 10, if things changed we could take him home we could. I soon learned over the next 2 days about the benefits of working at the vet school. Through a special Purina program I could get free dog food and all of Buddy's health check up's would be discounted. Trevor found out that it was only a few dollars more a month for our rent, which wasn't so bad. After giving him up and knowing how hard it was for me to do, I knew we were making a mistake by not adopting him. We figured with the help of my job benefits and a can-do attitude that we could care for this lil' guy. We already loved him so much! So I arranged a day to pick him up and take him back home with us and the rest is history. He is such a fun dog and likes to be close to us. He follows me around and really enjoys being in the kitchen.

We got him all settled in our apartment, bought him a leash and a few toys too. We decided to name him, "Buddy" because that's all we seemed to call him. "Bo" was the name the veterinarian called him along with "poodlicious." When I first carried him in to my work the shelter had named him, "Murray," which reminded me of the name "Murphy," which I liked more. So, his full name ended up being "Buddy Bo Murphy." Say that 10 times fast!  Welcome to the family Buddy! 

We had to buy him more durable toys. This one is a squeaker toy too that he likes to  chew on.