Homecoming Day

My husband works with a lady that volunteers at The Animal Welfare League (AWL) shelter where we picked Barry up. Her sister and her father also volunteer here. Barry was recommended to us via the sister and his co-worker. They felt Barry would be a good fit for us and for our lifestyle. Barry's name was Jasper when we first met him. We changed it quickly because not only did we not like that name, he didn't respond to it anyway. He was brought in to the shelter by someone that found him on the street. It is unknown who the previous owners were or what happened to him that he was no longer with them.

www.animalwelfareleague.com

This is where we first met Barry.

The Animal Welfare League.

If you are considering getting a pet please consider a rescue!

Save a life!

Quick rundown of our lifestyle: We live in a quiet (by Chicago standards) neighborhood not far from downtown Chicago. We own a decent size condo with a balcony, no yard. The condo building we live in is very dog friendly. We work Monday through Friday and are gone about 9 hours. We are both young and healthy (read: able to care for a high energy dog if needed). We have no children. 

View of downtown Chicago from our rooftop deck. 

We were shown pictures and videos and we just loved him - just looking at his sweet face. He was very cute in those pictures. We had it in our mind that we would be getting a dog at some point. In fact about 2 weeks prior we were looking to adopt a sweet girl named Lizzy but the foster mom fell in love with her and decided to keep her.

This is Lizzy - the sweet girl we almost adopted. She is in a great & loving home now!

On December 2nd, 2013 I started a new job with a great company. That evening my husband let me know that the following evening we'd be meeting Barry and possibly (well, WILL BE) bringing him home. Kind of scary. Very fast. Not prepared. < To say the least!

On December 3rd we followed our friend to the shelter. We got there and signed paperwork, Barry was brought out and he was just a big ball of energy! Was he beautiful? Yes. Was he what I expected? No.

Intense emotions were running through my husband and I. We both just stood there watching this beast run all over the place even though he was held on a leash he was pulling and controlling the direction of the handler. He didn't look at us. I wanted to pet him but he wouldn't stand still long enough.

Once we were done filling out the paperwork Barry was ushered into our friend's car, a crate (courtesy of AWL) was folded and put into the back of ours and we were back on the road following our friend and our new dog back to her place for food and celebratory 'Polish Cognac'.

Barry licking my husband's face off!

We were finally able to meet our new dog. He was sweet and fun. I liked him. He even laid down and relaxed a bit at our friend's house. This could work! I felt there was some hope and that he would actually be a good fit. < Kind of too late for that sort of thinking being that just moments before WE ADOPTED HIM! Good fit or not he was ours! All 60 lbs of him.

Loaded with essentials (a leash, dog food, treats, and an unopened bottle of 'Polish Cognac') we packed up our new family into our tiny Hyundai Accent and headed back home to our condo in Chicago. The ride home was nice. Barry was relaxed and calm the whole ride. I had tears in my eyes thinking of how much I already loved him. I was so happy to have been able to rescue him plus finally having a dog was (and is) exciting! On the ride home we decided on his name being Barry. We didn't think on it much. We threw out a bunch of names. We landed on Barry and decided we liked it and he looked like a Barry. I think it's perfect for him.

We arrived home and took Barry on a quick walk around the area near the building we live in. We brought him in and put the crate together right away. We put some blankets in it and hoped he would take to it well during the day and at night. We didn't know what he was like. Would he tear everything up? Was he house broken? Would he bark and cry all day and all night? No clue. We got ready for bed and attempted to keep Barry in the crate but he started howling and crying. We decided we'd need to work on that another time because it was late and living in a condo in such close proximity to other humans means we need to be respectful of them and the quiet time rules. He slept at the foot of our bed on the floor that first night.

Let the good times roll.

'Polish Cognac'