June 8, 2015 – I am driving, and I hear a text come in on my phone, which is lying on the passenger seat. I glance over at the screen and wonder why someone is sending me a photo of my dog Bella. But no one has taken a photo of her. Puzzled, I pull over and open the message, which is from a friend. She writes, “I’m at the shelter in Livingston [the next town to the east]. I swear Bella’s brother is over here.” I look at the full size photo and sure enough, he looks like her twin. I take off from work early and drive over to Stafford Animal Shelter and ask to see the dog, so they bring him out. When Bella walks up to him, after a quick sniff her body language says, “Oh, it’s you. I have other things to sniff, see ya.” Seriously, this dog who, with any new dog, usually insists on a nose sniff, a back end sniff, and a little more evaluation time, spent two seconds with him and walked away, more interested in the other resident pups.
I ask the guy at the shelter what he knows of his history and he says, “All I know is he was a stray on the reservation at Wolf Point.” What are the chances? Of course I tell the guy I would like to adopt him, but as he is still in quarantine, I have to wait a few days. When I go back to get him, I still can’t believe my luck. I name him Jappy and bring him home, and within minutes he and Bella are out exploring together. Every day they are completely comfortable, playing, wrestling, exploring and eating together, sometimes politely from the same bowl. And they sleep sharing each other’s warmth.
I hit the jackpot.
I really want to know the history of my dogs, especially the breed mix of the parents, so I track down Tina, one of the founders and manager of Wolf Point Pound Puppies, the organization that rescued them. Unfortunately, she knows very little about my dogs. “All I know is that there were four strays that looked like yours, and they all went to Bozeman or Livingston.”
FOUR! I want them all.
Bozeman Foster Dogs 