All About Tobey and Percy
Author: Tobey and Percy
Meet Tobey
Over the years, our kids had begged us time and time again to get a dog or any furry pet! My husband and I were always very against the idea because of the added responsibilities and inevitable cost involved. However, unbeknownst to my husband, I had been secretly yearning and browsing for a dog on rescue websites for over 10 months.
I finally jokingly came clean about wanting to get a dog during a extremely emotional and difficult time for our family. Our beloved Great Grandmother had suffered a major stroke and was in hospice care. We were all so heartbroken when she passed away and agreed that a dog might help fill that void and ease our pain. We both combed over rescue sites like Petfinder.com and the San Francisco SPCA obsessively every day and night for the next three weeks. We visited adoption meet-ups at various pet stores as it was very important to us that our new companion had a temperament that matched our family.
Around that time, my younger sister was in labor with her third baby. I rushed two hours away to get to her hospital in Sacramento so that I could be there for my niece’s birth. A day after she was born, I drove back home so that our family could go to the San Francisco SPCA to look at the small dogs they had available for adoption.
When I first saw Tobey (formerly Curly) in the window, it was love at first sight! My first impression of him was that he looked like a small Lassie dog, his ears were perky and his coat was a nice tan shade. I was immediately drawn to him. In his SPCA bio he was described as a “delicate flower,” meaning he was a bit scared and shy around new surroundings. Despite this, we were smitten with Tobey because when we interacted with him he was absolutely adorable and friendly. He was very treated-motivated so he came up to meet each and every one of the family with no issues. We knew instantly that we had to take him home with us, right then and there. If we didn’t, someone else would surely have swooped him up.
Ultimately, Tobey is PAWFECT for our family and we are forever grateful that we brought him home.
Meet Percy
Percy’s adoption story is slightly different but has an equally happy ending. When we were searching for our first dog (Tobey), we saw and submitted various applications to numerous rescues. Quite often they recommended that families adopt TWO small dogs rather than just one as they said small dogs needed companionship more so than larger breeds (Tobey is 6lbs.).
That recommendation always stuck with me. Occasionally, when we took Tobey to various training classes at the SF SPCA, we would make a habit of looking around the adoption floor to see what small dogs they had available but, we were never serious about it. After we had acclimated to having a dog, gotten Tobey settled into the routines of our household (and because Tobey is such a sweet dog), I started secretly searching rescue websites online again nightly.
One night, I came upon a photo of a dog that looked so identical to Tobey that I had to do a double take. I showed the photo to my husband and he asked me why I was showing him photos of Tobey! When I told my husband it was a different dog, he was equally surprised. But when the novelty of that wore off, he stated we didn’t need another dog. Although I was disappointed, I persisted and eventually, with the help of my kids (haha), we got him to change his mind and agree to meet Percy (formerly Winston). We drove two hours to meet him and his foster mom. This time, our main focus was Tobey. We wanted the two dogs to get along with each other as that was the main purpose of the second dog, companionship for Tobey.
From the moment they first met, it was a match made in heaven. They were friendly and playful with each other right away, as if they were long lost brothers reunited once more. Observing that playfulness was what convinced the skeptic, my husband, to take Percy home with us. Although the rescue told us that we could take Percy home for a two-week trial and then decide, secretly I knew already that he had found his forever home with us. Tobey and Percy provide us with a kind of unconditional love that no human can ever give.
Ultimately, they are PAWFECT for our family and we are truly blessed twice over.
