And four paws makes 3!

The story of us! How we became our happy little family of 3.

Our first family photo! This was the day after we adopted him!

Before Brodie, we were just an adventurous newlywed couple. We had been together for 6 and a half years before the pandemic cancelled our original wedding. Well, in true Dan and Bec fashion, we got married in the backyard on our originally planned date! I mean, who would want to lose a wedding date like 7/11?! I'm come on...best day EVER! and it really was!

Photo credit from our wedding goes to the amazing Ashley Gellman!

Usually in our spare time, we would be hiking, out on the lake, or driving around together. And I had been BEGGING Dan for a furry buddy to take on our adventures. No joke, every time we were out on the boat I would say "wouldn't a dog look great curled up right there?!"

FINALLY sometime around November of 2020, Dan came into the living room and was like, "I think we're ready for a dog!" Anyone who knows me, knows I was on Petfinder about 2 seconds after the announcement. I think we applied for 4 or 5 dogs at a few different rescues. Some of our favorite rescues are Eleventh Hour Rescue, One Step Closer Animal Rescue, and Cold Nose Warm Heart, so of course we applied there. It was a popular time for rescuing, so there was long wait times to get approvals.

We went to a few shelters over the next few weeks and met some awesome dogs! We planned on looking for a smaller dog, who was older (like 2-3 years old). Many places didn't have any available, so we opened up our minds to other dogs. We met one at Vernon Animal Shelter that we liked, but weren't 100% sure about. After we put in our application, Dan was back on Petfinder, JUST in case there was another dog out there that could be perfect and he found Brooks. He called the shelter where Brooks was and LUCKED into an appointment the next day to meet him!!!

So the next day we went to St. Hubert's Animal Welfare Center in Madison, NJ. Since we lucked into the appointment, we were very excited. At St. Hubert's, you meet with an adoption counselor, who interviews you, makes sure that you're good to have a dog at home, your lifestyle, and your plan for the dog. That way the dogs they show you will match your lifestyle. We walked around the kennel area and saw Brooks and the other dogs they had available. As soon as we saw him, we instantly knew we wanted to meet him!

We went with the adoption counselor to learn more about Brodie's past. He was an owner surrender to the shelter, passed all the temperament tests, but can be a little anxious. We were told he doesn't do well in crates and that he tears up blankets and toys (but we later learned some of these were subjective). It turned out that he was only 7 months old...a bit younger than what we had planned for, but we still wanted to meet him! And after hearing a few more things, we really wanted to meet him! So she took us to a meet room and brought in Brooks.

We were both so anxious because we knew that we could possibly be meeting our dog...but there was always the possibility that he wouldn't be right for us.

Brooks came in with so much energy, but with so much love. He LOVED his toys and played with us. I fell in love INSTANTLY! And once Dan started asking a WHOLE bunch of questions, I knew he liked him too! After a little while, Brodie curled up on my legs with a toy and started chewing them while laying on my legs...and in that moment, I knew he was my dog.

We knew we wanted his name to end in "ie" to match our guinea pigs, Charlie and Leslie. In the adoption room, we kept calling him Bro. You know, like "bro come here" and "awww bro". The adoption counselor suggested Brodie and we were sold!

They let us bring him home that night! So on Sunday, December 6th, at around 6pm, we brought home our Brodie Boy! Dan sat in the back and I drove home. When we got there, he ran from room to room, smelling everything at almost full speed. He was SO happy and seemed to settle in perfectly. He didn't even knock as single ornament off the tree!

After a sufficient amount of running around the house, he finally settled on top of my legs in-between Dan and I on the couch...Yes that is my foot under him! And it's still there almost every day when I get home from work!

And so, with those 4 paws, we became a family of 3!

We've been on so many adventures since then

and I cannot wait to see what adventures we go on next!

Picture from our first hike, one week after we adopted him!