"Melody is a former pound puppy that God blessed us with after we had to make the heart wrenching decision to have our beloved Abby (a Boykin Spaniel) put to sleep. Everyone advised us not to get another dog too quickly. They'd tell us things like, 'You can't replace Abby, give yourself some time to get over the loss.' We saw that as sound advice, but after two days we just couldn't bear not having a dog in the house.

"We visited several shelters in MA and RI before we came upon Melody. One of the agreements my husband and I had before we began our search was that I did not want a puppy. I didn't want to bother with the sleepless nights, chewing, housebreaking, etc., that came along with a puppy.

After giving up for the day, as we were only seeing huge, and sometime vicious dogs, we decided to stop at one more shelter on the way home. We walked up and down the aisle and didn't see any dog that looked like it would be a good fit for us. When we were leaving, we saw a little ball of yellow fur, in a kennel, between the dog and cat areas. There was a sign on the cage that read 'Not available for adoption, just spayed'. She was the cutest little thing we'd ever seen! Feeling safe (since she wasn't available) I said, 'Gee Honey, if this little puppy were up for adoption I'd take her in a heartbeat!'

"When we went to the desk to say goodbye to the girls (who we knew because we're photographers and had done Santa/Pet photos there for several years) and lamented on how it was too bad that the little lab puppy wasn't available. They looked at us like we were from another planet! They asked, 'Why would you say that? Of course she's available.' When we mentioned the sign on the cage, they were amazed. Apparently, the sign had fallen from the rabbit's cage, which was above where the puppy was.

"They said they had been very puzzled as to why the puppy hadn't been snatched right up, as her litter mates had been. Most people are looking for puppies and they seldom had any to offer. The sign must have fallen several days before and the volunteers that clean and care for the dogs didn't know the sign belonged to the rabbit!

Driving home with the still un-named puppy licking my face, we were trying to decide on what to call her. I laughed and said we could call her 'Surprise' because our daughter was going to be astounded to see a puppy. We decided to call her Melody because she put the song back into our hearts.

"After we got her home and settled, I went over the paperwork from the shelter. When I read that she was born on May 15, it made me understand that God really did plan for her to be set aside just for us. Abby had been born on May 15 as well - 14 years before!

Melody is such a joy; she's always entertaining us with her antics, amazing us with her desire to please us and give us her loyalty. She is a good doggie citizen and everyone, even people who profess that they are not 'dog people' love her. In addition to being our family pet, she 'earns her keep' through being a Certified Compassion Dog. As you can see from her face in the photo, she's just a happy girl! "

Note from Web Mistress: This story is one of my favorites from our Pet of the Week feature. Just a sucker for happy endings, I suppose.