Berklie’s Story

We’ve all heard the saying “Adopt Don’t Shop” before, right?

Well, I’m a huge advocate for shelter/rescue animals even before my wonderful pup Berklie came into my life.

When I first moved out on my own that was my first time without a dog companion. My families dog, Rosie, is a chihuahua/beagle mix (she’s not as annoying as you’d think). She became my emotional support dog when we first adopted her. She was going to be a foster fail (when someone fosters her but ends up adopting her). Rosie got me through so much with the cuddles, she was the perfect size to take into stores, she would ride EVERYWHERE with me, you could say I was slightly attached to her.

When I first moved out I struggled to feel that companion and responsibility again. It’s all I was craving for two short months. I wanted to adopt so bad. I had researched around the area shelters that were doing free take home’s. I’m not sure what the politically correct term is for it, but I found that Dekalb County Shelter was doing a free take home day and I was beyond excited. I told my boyfriend at the time to get in the car and were going to go look at some dogs! Once we got there we got a quick tour of the building, where the elders were, where the puppies were, you know, the whole run down. We were then left alone to be able to interact with the dogs on our own. We saw one that was just oh so happy, but a bit big to feel comfortable in our 600 sq ft apartment at the time. To me, it would‘ve been unfair to bring them home into such a small home when they were over 80lbs of energy and happiness. We walked around a little bit more and I had been refraining from going into the puppy section because everyone always wants a puppy. I wanted to be different and give someone older a chance at a great home. However, as soon as I walked in there this cute pit bull face looked up as me with these wonderful glassy eyes and just stared at me. I stopped everyone in the room and made it very well known that I needed to meet this dog PRONTO!

The volunteer took him out of the cage and we walked to the visiting room. Which, to paint a picture, this room was about 5x5’ with a small bench area coming out of the wall for us to sit on. At first I crouched down to pet him, but you could tell he was nervous and didn’t know what he was doing in a new room. So I gave him his space and sat down on the bench. Within two seconds he jumped up on the bench, sat down, and stared me in the eyes as if he was saying “Okay, I choose you, you ready to go home now?” And that was it. I asked no more questions about him and said alright, lets go, he’s mine and I’m his! We went to go fill out the official paperwork and then we were on our way home! As we were filling out paperwork, we tried to call him by his shelter name “Moonpie”. It was beyond clear that he HATED that name.

This little man right here soon became known as Berklie.

Adoption day: March 15th, 2018

Age: 1-1.5 years old

And this is him now! Well, technically about 6 months ago on our off-roading trip to Cape Lookout, NC.

Since adopting him, he now eats food on his own, drinks water on his own, and has severe allergies. He’s still the best thing in the world and I wouldn’t trade him for a thing!

That’s all for now,

Faith