By now most of you have already seen our newest addition to the family, little Alfie. I thought we should explain a bit more about how he came to be a member of our family.

I wanted to start by letting everyone know how much thought went into the decision to adopt a rescue pug. Richard & I have been talking about doing this for about a year and a half. We had decided before we left England that we would definitely be adopting once we were settled in Texas. We had spent countless hours looking at all the rescue website when we were still in England and it broke our hearts to read the stories of all these beautiful little puggies.

Since arriving in Texas, every time we have gone to Petco or Petsmart and seen the doggies up for adoption, Richard has whispered "If there's a pug in here we're going home with it." So about 2 weeks ago I was looking at the DFW website and I saw a beautiful senior pug whose face showed such character that I felt compelled to do something. It must have been fate because at that moment Richard called upstairs and asked what I was doing. I told him I was looking at rescue pugs and I saw someone I wanted him to look at. We both looked at his profile and had the same feeling - that he needed us. We talked about it and decided not to do anything rash - we'd sleep on it and talk about it the next day. We discussed it more the following day and weighed all the pros and cons. I kept checking the site, selfishly hoping that he'd still be there waiting for us. Finally, we agreed that we'd fallen in love with him and had to submit our application.

Thankfully, everything fell into place. Both Richard and myself had several conversations with Cindy and Amy at DFW Houston about making sure this was a good fit for all of us. They let us know a little bit more about Alfie's story. Though we will never know the full extent of what all he has been through, it was clear that this little fella has had a rough time of it.

Handsome Boy!

When Alfie was found wandering the streets with the pads of his feet raw. His teeth were rotten and clogged with bits of fur from his chewing on his feet. He was emaciated. His eyes were cloudy and his vision poor. He had a large hernia. Thanks to the wonderful people at DFW, he has had his bad teeth pulled (8 of them) and his good ones cleaned up. He was neutered, but due to his large hernia it doesn't look like it at a glance. The doctor says it would be too painful and invasive to fix the hernia, so he'll just look like he's still an eligible bachelor to the ladies' eyes. He's been receiving drops for his eyes and I'm happy to report they are mostly clear. He does have some vision loss, but it's amazing how good his sight is when it involves treats!

It was also suspected that Alfie was near totally deaf, but he's not as deaf as he had led us all to believe. As our friend Kim describes it, he seems to have some "selective hearing" going on.  Yesterday we noticed him barking after a neighbor's dog started barking, plus he's chimed in on Denny barking at the TV a couple of times. Of course he doesn't respond to his name, but as he's only had it for 2 days that isn't surprising.

Snuggles.  Just snuggles.

What is surprising (at least to me) is how I can honestly say I love the little guy. I wasn't sure how strongly I would feel for him or how long it would take to happen, and honestly I'm not sure when it did happen. All I know is that the little guy's happiness is incredibly important to me, and I'm so thrilled to see him acting genuinely content. To feel him lying up against me on the couch, softly snoring, is one of the greatest feelings I've ever known. I want him to know that he is safe and will never know what it's like to be unloved again. He is home, and we love him!

Robbi