On June 29th, my life was changed in a way I could have never imagined. That day, we loaded up the car with lots of toys and puppy food and headed to Rome, Georgia, from our home in South Paulding. The car was filled with joyous vibes and ear-to-ear smiles as we made the 45-mile drive to meet a truly unforgettable character.
When we first met this puppy, it was love at first sight. She was beautiful. Her black-and-white fur formed a unique design on her head and she had the brightest blue eyes I have ever seen.
We decided to call her Oakley. We debated on a name for eight weeks. We thought about calling her Luna, Charlie, Lyla and Ivana. I wanted her name to be Oakley all along , but my family disagreed. Upon our arrival and first time meeting our sweet girl, my mom accidentally called her Oakley, and it stuck. It is the best name for her and it totally fits her personality.
My twin brothers and I wanted a puppy for many years, but our family’s plans to add a four-footed friend were delayed by a horrible storm in 2016 that damaged our home.
Three years later, we learned that a friend had some husky puppies who needed homes. My brothers and I always said that if we were to get a dog it would be a Labrador Retriever, but something about those husky puppies was irresistible.
We took all the necessary precautions before committing to the adoption. We fixed our fence in the places that had been damaged by the trees knocked down during the storm. Once that final task was done, we sought out our soon-to-be best friend.
Oakley did very well for the first couple of nights. We were learning all about her and she was learning all about us.
We discovered quickly that she is a very smart dog. She apparently does not approve of Georgia’s hot summers. So she found every air vent in our house and would stay on the top of them all day.
When we put her into her crate at night, she would cry. Then, when we let her out, she ran straight to an air vent every time. We solved the problem by giving her a fan near her crate. She hasn’t cried since.
Oakley is now 5 months old. She cracks us up when she plays with her toys and spends hours trying to find the squeakers. She is too funny! When she is sleepy she falls right over onto the floor and pretends that she can’t walk so someone will carry her! I wish I could do that!
My all-time favorite Oakley story will always be the time we caught her helping herself to water from the refrigerator. My family and I were in the living room watching a movie. When we walked into the kitchen there was water all over the floor and dripping down the refrigerator. We assumed that we had a leak and switched it over to ice. When we came back, we had ice all over the floor.
We couldn’t figure out what was going on, until a little while later, we caught the culprit! Oakley was standing on her back legs with two legs up against the refrigerator. She was pressing the button to dispense some water.
We laughed at how funny it was to see our 5-month-old puppy fixing herself a drink. She had seen us get ice and water out of the fridge and she wanted to do the same!
I have grown to love Oakley more than I could have ever imagined. She makes me laugh. She makes me smile. She has been the number one reason for my happiness. She has changed my life in so many ways and I feel blessed to have her in my life.
She has a huge personality. She strives to be a good girl and earn her treats and she is always up for learning something new and doing what I do. She’s my mini me!
Not only has my dream of having a puppy been fulfilled, but so has the spot of having a loyal best friend for life. I will love her “fur-ever” and ever and she can have as much water from the fridge as she wants!