Crookston's Origin Story

Anyone who knows me knows that there are very few things in this world that I love more than my dog.  Crookston is my fur baby.  He causes me more stress and joy than a dog should, but he's mine.

 

The thing is, I post a lot of a pictures of him on my Instagram.  Followers know that very few days go by without a new photo of my pup, what they may not know, is the restraint I exercise.

 

I could post numerous pictures of this pup, daily.  He's so photogenic...well, maybe not.  Crookston is more often than not, under my foot, which means I catch him being awesome quite a bit.

I decided to throw a couple of Crookston's beauty shots up here for those who think, "More dog pictures," in terms of how to lead a happier and healthier life.

 

Since I posted a crap ton of pictures, it only seems fair to break them up with a bit of verbiage, the back story on this little pooch and how he came to ruin my life for the better:  I was in college and living in a house with five friends.  That year for my birthday, my mom bought me the book, Every Monday Matters.  The book essentially gives you 52 good deeds that you can turn any Monday into a good day.

 

I cheated and just leafed through the book.  One Monday suggested adopting a pet, so I called my mom and warned her.  It was her fault after all, she'd bought me the book.  She laughed.  I wasn't allowed to have pets where I lived and her and my dad had a dog already.  There was no question that another dog didn't fit into either of our lives.

 

Except the seed had been planted.  I started browsing Petfinder and looked at our shelter and many surrounding ones.  I went out to the local Humane Society a time or two, but didn't really click with any of the dogs.

 



Then I saw that the town of Crookston's Humane Society had a litter of puppies that'd been dropped off.  One of the little furballs was this orange puff and I wanted to meet him, if only to cuddle him.  I talked my roommate, Alison, into going, though it wasn't that hard, and she and I made the 20 minute drive.

 

Boy, were those puppies cute.  The little orange guy wasn't even the cutest one.  There was this one puppy who was running around, all spotted with brown and black flecks and he looked like he belonged on a billboard for adorable dogs or insurance or something.  Alison quickly decided he was the one I should get.  But my eyes drifted back to the orange puff I'd come to see.  He was more lethargic than the other puppies and seemed timid. 

 

I may have gotten a little ahead of myself.  The Crookston Humane Society continually shuts down due to lack of funding, so it is far from a nice place, in my personal opinion.  I looked around and almost cried.  I wanted to take all of the animals home.  I wanted to find them warm, loving places away from this concrete building.

 

By this time a volunteer came over and interrupted our puppy bonding.  I asked her about the little orange puppy and found out he'd been close to his sister and she'd been adopted, so she thought he was just missing her.  I ate that up.  My parents had a dog already and here was a puppy who could form a loving relationship with other dogs.  I was sold.

I called my mom and after begging and a little crying over how horrible the Humane Society was, she agreed that we'd take him for the weekend and see how he got along with their dog, Bebo.  I think we both knew there was no way he was going back.  I took DC (the shelter named him Dirty Copper) home and the rest is history.  Obviously, his name was changed because what kind of person names a dog, Dirty Copper?  I moved out of the house later that year and moved home to be with my dog.  Crookston and I are a set and I don't think I'd be able to live somewhere without him and vice versa.

 

 

And for anyone who's wondering about the adorable puppy I passed on: turns out he was adopted by a family who's daughters had been conjoined.  The puppy was a gift after they'd been separated from one another, how cool is that?  Everything happens for a reason and that puppy found an amazing family.  Crookston lucked out with me though, because I tolerate his weirdness since I often find myself relating :)