Sun, no matter the weather

It hadn’t been long since our house had no pets. First, we lost our 13-year-old cat Snowy. Then we lost our 12 year old dog Lucky.

We were a family of four and my husband and I had a daycare at home with a dozen children a day, but the house felt empty. We have never been without a “furry” child.
We were heartbroken by these losses.

My husband and I knew we wanted another dog, but we also knew that our choice had to be very special. He had to have the patience of a saint! We asked the opinion of a family member who was a veterinarian. We study various races.

Then we saw an advertisement for a rescue program. We were the four of us. There were many dogs and even more people. Right away, we saw what could have been a doppelganger for our recently deceased pup. But there was a note on the cage that explained that she had been rescued from an abusive home. Count that one.

Then we all looked at a cage that had the sweetest dog. He was about a year old, part Labrador, part Golden Retriever, and part Border Collie. The team that found her said she had been wandering around the city of Burbank, California. They left her in the city kennel for a week, thinking that surely someone would claim such a beloved dog. Nobody did it! So they brought it with them. They admitted they wanted to keep her, but with 4 other dogs at home, they decided she would be better off with a family that could give her the care she wanted. All the children were handing out candy. She took hers with the greatest graciousness of the strangers we had ever seen. They told us he had no home. Until now, she was perfect. We took her for a walk. She kept stroking our hands to caress her as we strolled.

Three other families loved her, but we worked at home. A plus for our side. Our daughter, Sarah, turned on the water supply. This always affected his father. We apply to adopt Sunshine that day. It was decided that we were the lucky family! We would be there for her 24/7, we already had a vet (I think the fact that she knew the phone number by heart was the deciding factor!) And we even had a training class / coach in mind.

Before we left, we went to his cage to say goodbye. Sunshine seemed to know that we were her new family. He opened his box and licked us all! It seemed like he wanted to go home with us at that point. We would have loved to have done it too. But we wait until the next day. The rescue team wanted to check our house and make sure we were also what we looked like.

The next afternoon, Sunshine came to stay. She passed her training classes. All the children fell in love with her immediately, as did their parents. My brisk walking once again became the highlight of my day, as I now had a lively partner!

It turns out that even 10 years later, the people who found it gave it the perfect name. No matter what the actual weather is outside, it has always been full of sunshine for us.