We will never forget the afternoon of November 7, 2011; it was the afternoon that changed our world.  We walked into the SPCA like we had done dozens of times before without the intention of adopting - we were simply there to volunteer to walk dogs, something we had done often.  As usual I asked to walk a small to medium size dog, something I often asked.  The SPCA volunteer went in the back and brought out our Spezza (formerly known as Zack).  He was tiny and reminded us of the shih tzu that we once had.  We decided to take a wonderful walk with this cutie.

When we stopped to take a seat as our daughter who is 3 months old needed a bottle, all of a sudden my spouse said "Would you like to come home with us, buddy?".  My first thought was - he's joking, right? - as I had been bugging my spouse for months to adopt a dog.  As we walked back to the SPCA and entered the doors, the volunteer asked us if we wanted to put Spezza back and walk another dog.  But this time was different; instead of agreeing to the usual routine, I found myself saying "No, actually we would like information on this little man".  I guess you can say it was love at first sight. 

Spezza fit into our home and family life like he's always lived with us.  As soon as we took him out of the shelter, we were determined to give him the best life he could possibly have.  Being an old dog gave us the motivation to want to adopt him even more, as it seems everyone wants a puppy; very rarely it seems someone stops to think about the older dog.  To us, Spezza being 8 years old was the perfect fit. 

I remember the first night home reading his file, which clearly said Spezza needed to be crate trained.  Somehow with his big brown eyes and cuteness, my spouse and I overlooked the crate training and agreed that the first night home he may sleep in our bed.  We agreed just for one night; well, one night turned into every night since he came home and with no regrets - Spezza has had no accidents and has not chewed anything.  He is an amazing dog whom my 3 month old daughter adores.  Every time she sees him walk by her, she laughs and has the biggest smile on her face and he adores her just as much with his slobbery kisses. 

When she cries, he goes and sleeps under her crib.  There is no doubt in our minds that even though we adopted Spezza that he will eventually become her best friend.  We are led to believe Spezza's favourite thing when he's not hogging our bed is when we pull out the baby stroller and put our daughter in it, he jumps into the bottom basket of the stroller and lays down.  He just looks at us like he's saying "We are all ready to go, Mom and Dad, what is today's adventure?".  It is with great thanks to the Aylmer SPCA that our family is complete.
 
Thank you again.

Sincerely,
 
Ashley & Greg & Alyson
             &
Spezza and his kitty cat friends, Moe & Kimik

Update February '12 ...

Just thought I would give you some updates on Spezza, formerly known as Zack.

He's doing amazingly, has hardly any accidents in the house anymore, and is so wonderful with my daughter and our cats. 

He is even starting to like other dogs; he still barks at some, but not
half as bad as he was, and he's learned sit and stay so far.

Today was his trip to the groomers - I had to stay with him the whole time as he had a little separation anixety, but he did extremely well.  He even let her cut his nails.  I thought you would like to see some pictures of his new look.

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