The New Addition to our Family

We own two house rabbits, that we adopted seven years ago from Sweet Binks a state run sanctuary out of Rhode Island. My interest in house rabbits happened serendipitously. When I was single, or "b.h." before Husband arrived on the scene, I had a dear 14 year old lhasa Alpso whom I had to put down due to poor health. This was hard as he was my family and my first, my only, dog. After Austin passed, a friend asked me if I would get another dog. "No," I replied, "But maybe I'll get something like a rabbit."




The next two months proved quite interesting as an albino ferret turned up in my life–his constitution was way different from mine and I ended up giving him to the local shelter to an employee who adopted them. Next came Potter, a silver fox marten domesticated rabbit I spied loose in a driveway near my apartment. I finally was able to capture her, it took a large carrot and kitchen mittens so I wouldn't be scratched. Turns out she belonged to the family next door. "Do you want her?" the young mother asked. "Yes! Oh Yes!"

And this is how I came to be a house rabbit owner. One was literally sent to me after the passing of a beloved pet. Sometimes it seems the universe takes care of mending our sorrow.

When we moved to our home here in Windsor, we had plenty of space for Puma and Nibs and now a yard for another four-footed. I missed having a small dog to cuddle, as Puma and Nibs are large and independent. I started surfing on Petfinder much to the dismay of my husband. I often worried if we could afford a dog. But when husband travels and I'm home alone, despite a safe neighborhood, I wanted company that could double as guard duty.

So I kept surfing, finally husband gave up on saying no and said okay to adopt a dog. I had NO idea how HARD it is to adopt from a rescue organization. One would think they were trying to adopt a kid out of China. I was rejected a few times, I think because we had house rabbits, and secondly because the rescue manager didn't feel the particular dog was a "right fit" for us. I found this insulting, but it was meant to be. Also, many of the dogs I applied for, happily were snapped up by some lucky soul.
Initially I looked for a Havanese as a friend of mine has one that I adore, and Trixie gets along famously with our rabbits when we babysit.

But here in Connecticut Havanese are a popular breed. So then I looked for Havanese mixes, then I gave up. A friend at work suggested the Maltese breed, I was thinking Maltese, Poodle, Bichon Frise mix. Then it was as long as the dog didn't have Terrier or Hound in it's blood, and was small, I applied. Finally one day one rescue group out of Wallingford gave us a chance, and she even delivered Pieper-named after a favorite vet-to our home.

Behold the new addition to our household-a Malti-Poo, we're very pleased with him, the rabbits no longer turn their backs on him and he's proven to be an astute watch dog and great all around companion.