Hi,

Have no idea where to begin but I may as well start with myself.

I am a 25 year old retail store manager. Very interested in art, photography, cooking, writing, reading and travel just to name some of my interests. I got married last year to the love of my life who I have been with for the past 5 years. He is currently a tire installer, working on going to school at the moment for aircraft maintenance engineer.

Growing up with dogs my whole life I have always been passionate about them and rescuing them. My first dog, our family dog Nikki was a Malamute/Border collie cross. My mom and dad always expected that we take care of her and train her. While she wasn’t the best, most well trained dog she was ours.

She was with our family for 12 years. Gave us many laughs and many tears. She passed away in 2010 from advanced stomach cancer that was not treatable.

Nikki, 1998 – 2010. Hated bikes, old people, children, cats, other dogs…well you get the point.

I still miss her every day.

Moving out in 2009, my husband and I always wanted to get our own dog. But we also knew it was important to a) get the right dog for our life style, b) have some money saved for said dog, c) make sure we have enough time for said dog and d) have a stable job to support dog. At that point we did not have any of those things. The only thing we did have was our own Condo which allowed pets.

Between 2009 and now, we had both gotten stable jobs through promotions and hard work. Saved money towards a potential dog, and with the stable jobs came a much more stable schedule to possible have a dog.

The only thing left was to find the perfect dog. We knew off the bat we wanted a rescue dog that was being fostered. It is very hard to housebreak a dog when a) you live in a condo and b)when you work shift work. So that was a must. Age never mattered to us. We were willing to rescue whatever came our way.

Looking at different rescues we soon realized that we had another obstacle to over come. The stigma of living in a condo. We had many rescues that wouldn’t give us the time of day because we lived in a condo. It was very disheartening as we are both active people and our condo board is very progressive and supportive. Still, a lot of rescues would not reach out to us and judged us based on our living arrangements.

After a while we decided to give up. None of the dogs were really speaking to us, and the condo situation made it tough to even get questions answered by most local rescues.

Then we met our “Destiny.”

Easter 2013, Saturday night we decided to have a bit of a board game/drinking fest with a couple we are close friends with. As the night progressed, our friend D pulled out his phone and said “You need this dog in your life.” That was the first time I saw Destiny.

He explained to us that he was called out on a reserve one day (He works as a paramedic) and saw this little dog limping behind the rez dog pack. Upon closer inspection, he saw her leg was messed up and the bone was showing. Having to deal with a call, he couldn’t chase after her so he decided to call the SPCA.

He couldn’t get through.

He then decided to call a local rescue in the near by town. They sent someone out right away. It took them over 2 days to locate her but they caught her and brought her to the near by animal hospital. The leg was beyond saving so they removed it.

After we heard that story, we were hooked. The Monday after Easter I filled out my application form and sent it off. A week later I had a phone interview with the rescue. Impressed with my dog experience as well as my attitude towards her disability (I hate to call it that, if you have a better term let me know). Basically we don’t see it as a disability but a special ABILITY.

They were also impressed that I went to my condo board first before contacting them and had two people from my condo board contact them as reference.

After my phone interview we arranged the pick up. Meeting her the first time I knew we made the best decision in our life to date. She has only been ours for just over two weeks but so far she has brought a lot of joy to our lives.

Next: Destiny’s full story, with pictures.