One weekend, we had to make a very brief last-minute trip home. During this trip, we were staying with my parents and my mom requested that we bring the fosters rather than taking them to the puppy yard.
Taking into consideration that the drive is a bit shy of 12 hours one way and our stay would be 48 hours, the daylight hours of the first day home would be spent in a different part of the state, shy little Rusty would be spending that first day with new people without us present, Rusty and Nellie only recently completed potty training, and the back seat of my car can comfortably fit people below the age of eight, we made the most logical decision possible.
We agreed to take all three dogs.
This made perfect sense for one major reason: I have known my parents for my entire life.
While we knew my mom would love Rusty and want to keep him because his background parallels Daisy’s, by this point we were fairly confident that Nellie and my dad were meant to be.
Fortunately, I often describe my car as having a Mary Poppins trunk. When the back seats are folded down, I manage to stuff things into the trunk that other people swear will not fit. Multiple tall bar stools or the already assembled desk probably top the list.
We packed as lightly as possible- a backpack each and a tote bag for the dogs- and hit the road.
The dogs happily stretched out in the Mary Poppins trunk, shaded by my newly turned multipurpose trunk cover, where they ignored the big plastic dog bowl that successfully held an inch of water without spilling as we drove down the highway.
The next day, my family got to spend the entire day with the dogs. My dad took them for multiple walks.
His description of Rusty around new people was spot on. “His eyes are human, and they’re terrified.” My family and Gambit got along wonderfully as usual.
And by the end of the trip, we were still headed home with three dogs, but one thing remaining unsaid was quite clear. Dad had fallen for Nellie, who had quite clearly chosen him as her person.
Have you ever had a dog choose you, rather than you choosing your dog?
Couches for Breakfast 
What a lovely dog 😀
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Awww, they totally choose us sometimes, don’t they?
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I went to a shelter to look at a puppy that was adopted that day. then I asked to see an adult dog, he came out of his kennel and sat immediately and was so calm as I pet him. Looking back, he was saying, “choose me!” he went back into his kennel and then I looked at another puppy. A week later, I couldn’t get that adult dog out of my mind. I felt a heart-connection to him like no other animal. We adopted him and he’s the equivelent of my soulmate in animal form.