Hey everyone, my name is Hailey. You may have heard about me in my boyfriend Brewster’s story? See, he and I are pretty serious about each other, and he told me that he couldn’t help but mention me when he talked about himself. I heard he even called me “beautiful”…he is such a doll, I love that man, oops, I mean, dog. Well, I’m really excited that it is my chance to tell my story…I was so happy when Brewster had his turn, and now I have mine.

Not that a girl likes to tell her age, but I am about 18 months old now, and have been here at the rescue since I was 12 WEEKS old. I know, I know, that is a *REALLY* long time, especially when we are working in dog years. The people here take great care of me and I really love them for it, but even having my boyfriend Brewster to keep me company, I still get sad. I think one of the reasons that Brew and I have such a good relationship is that we can relate to being looked over and passed aside. We have had countless friends chosen for homes, and neither Brew nor I have ever had anyone take a serious interest in us. NEVER. People don’t even stop to visit or even talk to us, they just walk right on by, to a furrier or younger or flashier dog. I do everything I can to get their attention….I can jump higher than any other dog in the facility…without a running start I can go straight up in the air and peek over the top of the 8 foot pen to see the people next door…my human friends call me their “little pogo stick”. I never try to jump out or anything, I am just trying to get someone to notice me (and hopefully my boyfriend too). Apparently, the fact that I am a black dog and Brewster is a plain brown dog puts us in the “rarely adopted” category. Personally, I just don’t understand how humans can think that way…who cares what someone looks like? I mean, all I want is a human who will love me and care for me and teach me how to behave. I don’t care what that human looks like. See, I just assumed that humans wanted a dog who would love them and comfort them and listen when they needed an ear----I didn’t realize it mattered that we LOOK a certain way too! That just seems cruel. The volunteers try to get people to meet me, to see how friendly and loving and funny I am, but the best that I ever get is a few pats on the head before I hear the people say “OK, can you please show us another dog now?”. I have to be honest with you….that hurts more than you can imagine. It’s like I am unworthy the way they dismiss me that way. Thank goodness for Brewster….he is my cheerleader. And I try to be his. But we are both getting so very tired of being rejected. Why can’t humans be more like dogs and worry about what is on the INSIDE more than what is on the OUTSIDE???

What makes this all seem even more unfair is how hard I fought to actually BE here in the first place. See, when I arrived at the facility, I was already without a tail, and my litter was diagnosed with Parvo soon after we arrived. Parvo is a deadly, horrible virus that is excruciatingly painful, insanely contagious and very very very difficult (and expensive) to cure. But I fought and I fought. Life was too wonderful and I didn’t want to miss a minute. The people took such good care of me and my siblings that there was no way I was going to give up. I thought that when I got better, I would have a human of my own, like the kind people who cared for me at the vet and at the rescue. Why wouldn’t a girl hang in there for a prize like that??? Amazingly, my siblings and I did beat that nasty virus, and one by one, my brothers and sisters found wonderful homes. I knew my turn was coming, I just knew it. But it has been so long since I was 12 weeks old…I am starting to think that I was wrong, and I will never get a home. This seems unfair too, because I try so hard to be the kind of dog I hear that humans want. I like all other dogs, I like cats, I like people of all ages and sizes. I walk well on a leash and I know how to stay in a crate when I need to. I am very respectful and well behaved for my medical care and have never given anyone any trouble at all. I wish I could tell you that I knew tricks or had tons of training or could ride a bike or fly a plane or something special like that. I keep hoping that I can learn some of this when I find My Human and I get to be Somebody’s Dog. I promise I won’t be upset if My Human doesn’t have a plane I can learn to fly….maybe he can teach me to catch a Frisbee instead? See, I am a REALLY good jumper. Have you heard I do a mean impression of a Pogo Stick?

I think I would fit in well with any human who is willing to put in the time that an 18 month old “puppy” needs, and I know I am being really really “unrealistic” here, but I am going to say it anyway. Dream big I always say! I promise I will do all that I can to be the dog that you and your family teach me to be, and if you want for me to learn to be an only dog, so be it. But if there happens to be anyone out there who has room for me AND the love of my life, Brewster, that would be above and beyond giving me my wildest dreams. If you haven’t read Brew’s story, maybe you could take a minute and find it on the rescue’s website? You see, Brew lost the love of his life once, and the rescue thought that he would never bounce back, it was horrible, he was inconsolable and so were the humans at the rescue. But then he met me, and both of our lives have changed because of it. I know it is incredibly hard to take in one dog, let alone two…I just thought that I could continue to dream big. Maybe I have had to wait so long for a home in order to find the person who is willing to save not only me, but the love of my life as well. That would make the FIFTEEN MONTHS of waiting worth it for me, and for Brew too I’m sure . Think of it this way…the amount of love an appreciative dog can bring into your house is staggering…now multiply that by two. Sounds like a win-win situation to me--- for the dogs in question as well as for the humans.

Hailey is up to date on all of her shots, has been micro chipped and spayed. She is heartworm negative and is on preventative medicine the way that all dogs should be!

If you are interested in adopting Hailey, or any of our other wonderful dogs, please visit our website at www.northmecklenburganimalrescue.org to fill out an application. If you aren’t ready to add to your family at this time, but would like to help the dogs, please visit our “ways you can help” page for more information on a variety of opportunities, from volunteering to sponsoring and everything in between. Thanks for your interest and if you have some time to come by and give Hailey and Brewster more than a quick pat on the head, they would be thrilled to show you their “apartment” and tell you all about themselves.