The Story of Chester
Our tale takes place in the summer/fall of 2010, but it really began much earlier than that. Growing up, I had always wanted a dog, but my dad was allergic and we thought I was too (I'm not - just allergic to cats). I had to settle for dressing up, teaching school, and the occasional sleepover with my grandparent's schnauzers, Max and General. I found out years later that my parents had almost gotten me a dog since I wanted one so badly, but I got a sister instead (Hi Christine!).
Fast forward to June of 2009, when we were vacationing in Montana with my dad's cousins that live there. Each family had a pug - Winston and Ben. At first, Adam and I weren't sure what to think of them, but we grew to become obsessed with Winston and his little blue hooded sweatshirt. Both pugs had such personalities! We loved them, their smushie faces and small size.
It all began with two pugs in Montana - Ben (left) and Winston (right).
Upon returning from Montana, I wanted a pug... BAD. But I was living in an apartment and planning a wedding, so it just wasn't possible. In October, we bought a house. I also discovered MN Midwest Pug Rescue at this time, and would frequently check their site and eventually, their facebook. I was very tempted to start looking for a pug then, but convinced myself to wait after the wedding and traveling. I knew we were going to have a very busy summer with 5 weddings including our own (3 of my cousins were also getting married that summer), our honeymoon, and traveling to La Crosse to plan the wedding. It just wouldn't be fair to a puppy to be gone so much and to not have our full attention. So we waited...
In the mean time, we had decided we were going to get a boy pug and name him Chester. I have no idea how I came up with that name, just that it had been decided on for a good six months before we actually got Chester. We would often talk about little Chester, even though we didn't even have him yet (we're cool, I know).
While we were on our honeymoon the end of July/beginning of August, I saw photos online of Martha and her new litter of puppies. They were so tiny and adorable! I was a little wary to even apply for one as I had heard that rescues were really strict and picky as to who they would adopt to. Being that neither of us had ever had a dog (or really any pet other than hamster/mouse/fish/hermit crabs, etc), and thus no experience or vet references, I didn't think they would adopt to us. I didn't think we had a chance, and we were on our honeymoon, so we waited.
A few weeks later, adorable new photos were added of Martha's litter. After seeing Puppy H's photo, we fell in love and decided to give it a shot. I talked to people to be references, filled out the application, and then we waited.
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| The "love at first sight" Puppy H photo that compelled us to apply. Photo by his foster mom Ginny. |
Unfortunately, after applying I was informed that Puppy H, and all of Martha's babies for that matter, were already spoken for. Jean from the rescue suggested that we have her process the application anyway (contact our references, home visit, etc) in case one of the families fell through or more puppies were born in the rescue. I was so bummed that I told her we'd have to think about it; I couldn't think of anything but Puppy H.
I had saved a photo of Puppy H to my desktop at work, and would look at it everyday and think about how I wished we could have adopted him. I even prayed about it and asked God to find and lead us to the perfect puppy for our family. About a week after finding out that Puppy H already had a home, we decided to tell Jean to process our application so we'd be ready if another opportunity arose. When I went on to e-mail her, I discovered she had just e-mailed me to say a few of the puppies homes had fallen through. I tried to not get my hopes up and was afraid to even ask, "Is Puppy H one of them?" She replied that Puppy H was one of the three, but there were others who had applied for puppies and she still needed to figure out the application order. She also said that Martha's litter probably wasn't "pure" pug because she had come in pregnant from Animal Control. Of course we didn't care. I was so excited, but so anxious - nervous that Puppy H would slip by us again.
We were in Cleveland for a wedding when we got the news that Puppy H would be ours pending a home inspection! It was thrilling. I had to tell my fellow pug loving sister right away. Ginny, the foster mom, contacted me soon after with photos and information on Puppy H. She asked what we wanted to name him so she could start calling him by name. So Puppy H became Chester. She also had videos to share, and we couldn't believe how much Chester and his sister Gertie looked alike. It was hard to tell them apart. Of course I had to share all of these photos and videos with family and friends.
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| First row: Albert and Chester Second Row: Gertie and Max Photo by Ginny |
I was nervous, but our home visit went really well and we were cleared to adopt Chester. Adam and I were so excited. I got a bunch of books at the library about pugs and puppies and would read tips out loud to him. When my family was visiting for the State Fair, Adam, Stine and I went to Chuck & Don's and got all the supplies we would need for the puppy.
On September 11, adoption day, we were so excited to meet Chester. I was ridiculously nervous, with butterflies in my tummy and silly questions to Adam like, "What if he doesn't like us?" I shouldn't have been concerned. He was my little buddy right away.
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| Chester and his brother Max when we picked him up at the pug play date. |
We picked him up at a pug play date. He was so much smaller and cuter than we even thought he'd be. When we picked him up, we also got to see his three brothers; Albert, Max (Puppy I at the time) and Bubba (Puppy F at the time). They all looked so different from Chester, but were adorable. Chester seemed so shy around all the other dogs at the event, but when we got him home, he was very curious and playful. We couldn't believe he slept through the night with no whining right off the bat.
Chester on his first day home with us.
And that my friends, is how Chester came to live with us. Six and a half months later, Chester is a valued (and very spoiled) member of our little family. I look forward to coming home from work so we can snuggle and play. Even when he's being naughty, he's just so cute and loveable. And he has such a personality! He's very curious and doesn't miss much. Chester just loves to be by you - sometimes this means chewing his bone which is balanced against your leg as you cook dinner. We just love our little guy and can't imagine life without him.
We really appreciate MN Midwest Pug Rescue and all that they do for pugs. Everyone I interacted with during the adoption process was so kind and helpful. We love Chester so much, and my heart just breaks for all of these pugs that need to be rescued from bad situations. How can anyone mistreat a dog? They are so loving. If you are looking for a pug, please consider adopting from them.
More photos of Chester from when he first came to live with us:
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| First day home with us |
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| Sleeping in his new kennel (2nd day with us) |
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| Kisses for Dad (after 1 week) |
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| 2 weeks with us |
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