Must Love Pets

One thing Matt and I have in common is that we both love animals.  I guess I thought that everyone did, but recent discussion among our group of friends revealed that not everyone does!  I totally understand not wanting pets and everyone is definitely entitled to their own opinion and lifestyle...so I pass no judgement on pet haters...eh hem, I mean, those who choose to live without pets.  ;-)

A recent event revealed Matt's soft side for animals, which I love. 

Here's the story...
I was working over-nights at work, so Matt was home by himself.  He decided to go for a late night run around our neighborhood.  He ran into several LARGE javelinas along his path. For those of you who don't live in Tucson, javelinas are a relative of the pig/boar family, are kind of smelly and often aggressive towards small animals.  Which is why Matt was so concerned when he ran across a stray, rather rotund, chihuahua. He knew if the chihuahua continued on it's path, it would run right into the pack of, assumingly, very hungry javelinas.
So naturally, my animal-loving husband, picked up the pudgy puppy and headed home...asking any neighbors he saw along the way if anyone recognized the dog.  Having found no leads, Matt decided to bring the dog to our back yard until he could figure out what to do.
Being that it was midnight, there were really no options except to either release the dog into the wild of the desert, or keep it in our back yard until the morning.  Obviously, he decided to keep the dog safe in our yard.  However, a problem arose when he realized that the dog did not want to be left alone...crying and whimpering at the sliding door was too much for Matt to bear.
So......as anyone would do.....okay, probably not anyone......okay, probably not many people.......Matt slept outside in a lawn chair with the chihuahua on his chest.  :-)
Here's the lost chihuahua:

I took the dog to the shelter in the morning, hoping that her owners would check there.  That evening, when Matt returned home from work, he found EVERY lamp post, traffic sign, etc. littered with "LOST DOG" signs!!  Apparently, "Cheyenne" had a very loving family who missed her very much.  We didn't even know, but Cheyenne, likes to dress up in clothes (as the color pictures of the sign showed)!  Matt called the number and let the family know where they could find her. 
And the chubby chihuahua and her family lived happily ever after!!


Here are some pictures of the animals we love...

Stratman: the newest addition to Matt's family

(will cover this in upcoming blog post)

Matt's dog in Chicago: Cocoa

At our friends Chris and Katie's house with

their dog Molly!

And of course, the BEST of them all....

Miel and Mazy!

This blog post in loving memory of Kirby...the best dog a girl could ever ask for.