"How much did Violet cost?" "How old is she?"
"How long did it take to train her?"
I get these questions on a daily basis about my amazing, kind, and tender-hearted doggie who I named Violet after rescuing her on August 13th, 2013.
Yes, Violet was abandoned on the streets after being bred as a puppy herself and left for dead. Allow me to tell you the story of how we (Lauren and Violet) found each other.
In early August of 2013 I was telling a co-worker about how lonely I felt living in Los Angeles and not meeting anyone special. She replied, "Lauren, why don't you just get a dog then?" As she walked out of the room, her words hit me hard. I didn't realize how deeply until I was up that evening very late at night looking for pure bred dogs. I found quite a few and even emailed several breeders about the puppies they were selling. Most of them were in the range of $1,200-$2,500 each. I finally decided on one that was a pure bred male Havanese at only $1,500. He had slight spotting, which is what I was looking for. I only had to drive to Arizona, which was nine hours away.
Fast forward a few days and all of my friends (three in total) were telling me not to do it. One friend said, "I got a puppy and after six days of him peeing everywhere, I told my husband to take it back. Don't do it, Lauren." At first, I didn't listen to all of these comments but then I got real with myself: "Lauren, can you deal with a puppy? Maybe they're right--just adopt an older doggy. It will be easier on both of you." And that's when I started looking on PetFinder, which is a huge database for dogs in shelters that need to be adopted fast. Oftentimes, these dogs are euthanized within a week.
So once again, I'm up very late at night under my covers looking for dogs to adopt. And then, after searching for an hour or so, I see a picture of LUCY (now Violet) who looks sad and in need of a bath. It says below it: "Urgent: will be killed in a few days." I immediately fill out the application and, honestly, forget about it. I remember thinking I had no chance to get her. I knew there would be a LONG list of people wanting to rescue Lucy. So, I made plans to see a puppy that weekend in a San Diego shelter. I was going to get a dog no matter what!
August 13th comes and I'm looking forward to my trip to San Diego with a friend until I get an email. It's from an organization called, The Mutt Scouts:
My goodness, I was so excited!! We immediately began to email back and forth to set up a time for me to meet her. I told the woman that I was going to San Diego but that I would go meet Lucy if she was close enough. Turned out, she was staying in a foster home just two miles from my apartment! So, I drove over that day and met Lucy. She immediately came up to me and rested her head on my shoulder. I fell in love with her in that instant and named her Violet that evening.
A few days later, I had to meet up with Nikki from The Mutt Scouts to sign all of the paperwork and pay the adoption fee. She also had to make sure the apartment was safe for Violet and meet me. As I was filling out everything, she revealed to me that there were a lot of applications for people wanting Violet. She then said, "I saw yours and just knew you were the one for her. Sometimes you just know." And that brought me to tears. Someone believing in me through an online application and knowing that I was THE ONE. It gave me hope and reminded me that everything happens for a reason. So many things are out of our control in life. Actually, most things. Nikki's faith in me has brought a cute bundle of joy into my life and I owe her/The Mutt Scouts a huge hug. Violet is my best friend and, truly, is perfect in my eyes. She's teaching me a lot about unconditional love, particularly when she pees on the carpet!
She's also teaching me about forgiveness. Look at her. A teen mom, bred and then abandonded, left to starve, saved and now happy. She holds NO grudges from the past and just lives in the moment! I'm striving to be like my happy, sweet, Havanese doggie named Violet.
in terms of how she became a co-star in Single_Never_Married. Angela, the director, and I discussed casting a dog but one evening when she came over to take pictures for the web show, Violet kept looking right in the camera. It was as if she was saying, "I want to be in it, too!" And that's when the idea of having her in it came up. But even at the time, it was only going to be very minor. However, since she loves it so much, is great on set, and the audience adores her, we've chosen to have her in more of the web show. Check her out in this episode of Single_Never_Married below: "I'm Not Her Dog, I'm Her Daddy!"
From the streets to Hollywood. Thank you, Violet, for coming into my life! Love you! The photograph in this blog has a group of dogs in it. Violet is the one on the left side. She was in a San Bernardino high kill shelter when Nikki from The Mutt Scouts was in there to rescue other doggies and saw Violet, along with other ones (they're in the picture) and knew she had to help them. So, she decided to take them to The Mutt Scouts and find them foster homes unti they could be placed in permanent ones. Thank you, Nikki!
Please share this story with others as well as tell people about our web show, Single_Never_Married. We need to get more animals out of shelters and into good homes!
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