This little guy is the only canine in a house full of felines. Yep, we have 4 cats (go ahead and judge me) and almost 4 years ago we found and adopted Presley. However, this is the story about how we almost didn't.
Let me back up a little bit. As I mentioned, we have 4 cats. And back then, our 16 year old daughter was still living at home and had been BEGGING us for a dog.
"Mom, Dad, puuuuuhleeease can we get a dog?? Puuuuhlease? I proooomise I'll take good care of it."
Right. Insert major eyeroll here. We had been putting it off for awhile because we knew that WE would end up being the ones taking care of it. Nonetheless, we soon found ourselves at The Austin Humane society. The smell was overwhelming. Uggghhhh dog smell. It permeated the room. We walked by several enclosures filled with dogs of various colors, shapes, sizes, and breeds. And then my eye caught a dog down at the very end of the aisle straight ahead.
*pause*
I made a beeline for him as if some invisible force was dragging me there. He was small. Dark brown and white coat, short and smooth. He was kind of an odd looking dog, but that wasn't what drew me to him. He was the saddest, most depressed looking dog in the whole shelter. I mean, you would've cried just to see this dog. I know because I did. His head was down on his paws, he wouldn't even lift it as I approached his cage. His eyes just stared up at me...deep and brown...with the world's sadness speaking to my heart. My heart that was already overflowing with love for this dog along with eyes brimming with tears...
"Someone!" I yelled. "I need to see this dog!" Erik and Alexis came up behind me to see what dog had drawn me over like a magnet. I put my hand through the hole to see if I could pet him. I touched his paw and he just kept his head down, his eyes staring at me intently. Ever so slightly, he nuzzled me with his cold wet nose and this time the tears were flowing.
I looked at his name. Elroy. What an old man name, I thought.
"Y'all" my voice quivered..."we need to take Elroy out of his cage and into the meeting room. I feel drawn to this dog." By then, Alexis had fetched a volunteer who told us she would meet us in a private room with Elroy. We sat in there and they brought him in so we could play with him. He warmed up and put his front paws up on my knees. I was soooooold.
I hoped Erik and Alexis were in agreement because in my mind, he was as good as adopted. After a few minutes in the room with him, to my delight, they were game! We told the volunteer that we wanted to start the paperwork and she went to the front desk. She came back and said,
"I'm sorry. Elroy is brand new and we haven't even processed his admittance paperwork yet. Can y'all come back Monday?"
"Sure!" we enthusiastically replied.
So we did. We came back Monday and you would not believe what happened. They never put us down for a hold on him and someone had ADOPTED HIM. He. Was. Gone.
My heart sank. How could this be? We were told he wasn't ready for paperwork and then they just GIVE him to someone else?? I felt so betrayed, but mostly heartbroken that our precious Elroy (who I had mentally prepared on taking home) would never see our home. I think we stayed a looked at a few more dogs that day...I don't even really remember, it was such a blur. If we did, they didn't leave an impression on us because we went home empty handed that day. That night, I wrote a tribute and posted it on social media, eyes full of tears as I clicked submit and mentally prepared to move on and try again.
A few days later, Alexis and I decided to go back to the Austin Humane Society without Erik and just shop around for a dog. We found a dog we were interested in named Hunter and decided to take him outside on leash to see what that was like. We had never taken a dog outside before; didn't even know it was an option but this volunteer said we could. She led us outside next to this caged in dog run and we walked Hunter around the grassy area outside the shelter. He was fun but I wasn't sure he was "the one."
We started to head back in, Hunter still on leash, when out of the corner of my eye in the covered dog run, I spotted a little brown and white dog. I ALMOST didn't see him. I did a double take and stared long and hard. Was that....ELROY????
I stopped and called the volunteer over, and said
"Is that little brown and white dog Elroy?!" incredulously?!
"Hmm...I'm not sure."
"A few days ago, we came to adopt a dog that looked just like him named Elroy and they said he had been adopted."
"Hmmm" she puzzled. "Come to think of it, I do think a dog was just returned today. Let me go check."
My heart raced with excitement. Could it be him?! If so, why on God's green earth would anyone return him?! We briskly followed her back to the front desk, and sure enough...it was Elroy.
I was beaming with excitement! He's BACK! Is he adoptable? What happened?! Turns out, he was adopted by an engaged couple who were preparing for their wedding. They had him for a few days and realized that he was spending more time in his crate than anything and that they were too busy to really truly care for a dog at this point in their lives.
I couldn't believe it. We just happened to come back to the shelter the DAY he had been returned. We just happened to go walking outside and see him in the dog run, when otherwise we would've totally missed him. I told the volunteers to PUT A FREAKING HOLD ON HIM, that we would fill the paperwork out and take him home.
And we did. We took him home that very day. We fell in love, and decided to change his name to Presley after Erik's favorite singer Elvis. I shocked the internet by posting the story about how someone had returned him and we were there to accept him with loving arms. They say if it's meant to be, it'll be. In the case of Presley Harvey, that indeed rings true.
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