Adopting Boomer: July 30, 2010－Charmin-Ultra: Don't Squeeze Me

Boomer's birthday was June 1, 2010. We adopted him last year when he was 6 weeks old from Wright-Way Rescue in Niles, IL.

After we moved into our house last year in June, we or I immediately started looking for a dog for us. I never had a dog as pet before and thought it might be a good idea for us/Calum to have a dog for our new house. I had my eye set on Australian Shepherd/Burmese Mountain Dog mix. My boss Greg and his family has one like that and Ned (the dog's name) is the best dog I have ever seen. Ned would come into the office with Greg and sat either in Greg's office or in the meeting with Greg without even making a sound. Once he was locked out from a meeting, he just sat outside the meeting room waiting for his Dad. Besides, Ned is BIG and I always want to have a big dog.

So I searched on the animal rescue centers and shelters. Finally I found one who was 4 weeks old. I filled out the application and went through the background check (adopting an animal is not easy, which I agree with it. The shelters make sure that the adopting family is serious about taking in an animal but not just 'let's try it out'). On a Sunday, Pete, Calum, and I drove about 40 minutes to a PetSmart where hosting the adoption. When we got there, I saw the dog exactly in the photo on the website. I walked toward him and thought "this would be my dog". However, before I even touched the dog, the staff there said, "he was adopted already. You are 10 minutes late". I burst in tears. After filling out the forms, and looked at the pictures thousand times, I somehow already bounded with that dog. We drove back home disappointed.

I tried again with a different shelter but this time there was only Australian Shepherd and Beagle mix puppies. I was not so sure about Beagles because they are high energy and bark a lot. But the puppies pictures were so cute so we decided to take a look. When Boomer came to us (his name was Major), he was not shy at all. He started to kiss us and played with Calum. We fell in love with him instantly.

That...was the story how McWang family met the love of our life - Boomer.

Our fist meeting at the shelter