Chris and I are both really big animal lovers. When we first met, he had a dog (Sally Pants) and I had a cat (Madison). They were both rescues and they both had really terrible personalities. Sally was a really, really, really good dog. She never did anything wrong, but she hated everyone (with the exception of a very few). Madison just flat out hated everyone. Even me sometimes.
We have this really bizarre journey with animals. We lost Madison on our honeymoon (she developed complications with diabetes and my BFF Stori had to put her down. Now THAT is true friendship). We lost Sally the day we brought Walt home from the hospital. While tragic, it was probably best that we were pet-free while we started to expand our family.
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| How do you not love this face?? |
But, getting another furry family member was only a matter of time. We talked about it a lot. It started feeling “right” soon after Oscar turned one. We also had a lot of criteria, so we were willing to wait to find the perfect dog. Some things we were looking for:
- Absolutely had to be a rescue
- We did not want a puppy and ideally looking for 1-2 years old
- We were hoping for a medium-sized dog (like Sally). About 40 lbs
- We were very interested in low-dander dogs, like poodle mixes. There’s no such thing as hypoallergenic, but it couldn’t hurt
I found myself on
PetFinder and
AdoptAPet almost daily. It’s amazing how often the available dogs change. We also made frequent visits to Petsmart and Petco to get the boys acquainted with different dogs.
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| This nose. |
Then one morning, I saw Bentley come up on my Pet Finder search. His picture said it all. He had a blonde coat and big, black nose. He was at the Denton Humane Society and I inquired immediately. Normally, they do not adopt out dogs to families with children as young as us, but they were willing to give Bentley a go (or give us a go, I should say).
He came over for a visit a few Saturdays ago and I’m not sure he could have been sweeter. He simply wanted belly rubs, and he let Oscar squeal in his face and pull on his fur. The rest is history. He is ours now and immediately folded right into the family. He is so happy to have Chris home every day and happily lies in his office, ready to help if Chris needs it. Bentley loves going on walks and REALLY loves chasing tennis balls. We are so excited to have him a part of our family!
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| Walt during our home visit |
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| Oscar helping me get stuff to make Bentley feel comfortable in our new house |
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| A happy guy on our first day! |
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| Bentley and me enjoying his new backyard |
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| Oscar loving on Mr. B! |
Team Bruns Blog 
Hi, Bentley 🙂 Not gonna lie… I love our dogs, but not having pets when you start bringing kids home sounds like the right idea. Ours are adjusting well, but I feel a lot of guilt over how little attention they get these days.
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It's been an adjustment here too! I expect it will all iron out eventually, right?
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