Happy Gotcha Day To Mr. Miles!

Two years ago today, I became a dog mom. My now-husband and I were engaged, planning our wedding (well, I was planning the wedding anyway), and we decided that we wanted to adopt a pup. We saw Miles’ picture in a Craigslist ad posted by a local rescue and loved him at first sight. According to the ad, he was about 22 lbs and a mix of Jack Russell Terrier with an unknown breed.

A week or so after responding to the ad, on a beautiful Saturday, we drove out to a little winery about halfway between Raleigh and Wilmington, and Miles’ foster mom brought him to meet us. He was bigger than we expected but we didn’t care; he was meant to be ours and we knew it. He fell asleep in the backseat while we drove home and I thought I must be the luckiest girl in the world. This is the exact picture my husband took while I was driving. Adorable, right?

The following weeks and months were…interesting, let’s say. Miles was only 10 months old at the time, and he was in ultra-destruction mode. At that time, I was still working in corporate sales, so we tried to crate him while we were at work, but he broke out of the crate on the very first day and proceeded to eat most of my living room decorations, including my framed photos and my PlayStation controllers. To say I was mad would be the understatement of the century. Between his love of chewing up everything in sight and his habit of whining loudly in the middle of the night, puppyhood was quite the challenge (especially in an apartment).

Miles eventually grew to be over 60 lbs, and he’s still a handful, but he’s MY handful. He’s not as destructive as he used to be, but I know better than to spend money on new little knick knacks to put on low shelves for his chewing pleasure. If you think my walls are bare below the 6′ mark because I have no taste in decor, you’d be wrong: it’s simple Miles-proofing.

So happy gotcha day to my first puppy! Life with you isn’t easy but I love you Mr. Miles and wouldn’t trade you for the world!