I (Erin) and my husband Mike had been traveling around the country in our skoolie. We were in the Jackson Hole area when we decided it was time to add another passenger to the FreeRoamingBus. Since we had our skoolie parked up in the mountains, we drove to the Animal Adoption Center on our motorcycle to “just look” at the kittens they had. Well, you know how that goes… I quickly fell in love with a cuddly orange tabby then named Odin. Now we had to figure out how to get him back to our bus.

A few hours later we arrived back at the AAC to pick up our newly named Hank in a U-Haul truck (the cheapest way to rent a car in peak summer season). Everyone had a few good laughs at the length we went to get our boy home.

Hank took to the bus quickly and had quite a few adventures in his first three months with us. We’re now out of the bus and into a home, but we still get out for small adventures here and there. Hank’s favorite activities are cuddling, hiking, visiting the birds and mice at Petco, and his all time favorite, climbing trees. He is full of personality and is always causing mischief.

We are so thankful that we found the Animal Adoption Center and our little fur ball!

If you would like, you can follow Hank on Instagram @adventuresofhankrobbie

 

 

 

One late Sunday night August 2018, my husband looks over to me and sees me filling out a Jackson Hole Animal Adoption Center foster application form.

 

He incredulously asks me “Shouldn’t we first talk about this?” – I snap back “It’s not a big deal. It’s a just a foster application. It’s not like we’re adopting a dog.” And I hit submit.

 

Three days later we get a call from the Animal Adoption Center asking if we want to foster that night. An hour later I arrive at the AAC to pick up Joey. He’s a beautiful, one year old, black shorthaired, medium to large sized lanky dog who greets me (and I later realize everyone) as if he’s been waiting for me his entire life.

 

The first thing he does as I put him into the car is jump into the driver’s seat and it takes a few minutes of gentle coercing to reclaim that seat for myself.

 

I bring Joey home, and it’s probably that second that we became a foster fail, as that’s when the husband lays his eyes on Joey for the first time. We learn quickly that Joey loves to snuggle and is a big dog who thinks he is a lap dog. He crawls on top of us as we’re lying on the couch, immediately falling asleep on us, and of course doesn’t waste a second to jump into bed with us a few hours later.

 

The next day we return Joey to AAC but the husband’s heart has been conquered. He proceeds to visit Joey at AAC every single day after that (on some days more than once) asking if he can spend time with Joey and walk him. We submit our adoption application form not too long after and are overjoyed to bring Joey home, forever.

 

Joey hadn’t had the best draw of luck prior to meeting us. When he was about 6 months old he fell out of a truck somewhere in Idaho Falls, got dragged along a bit and incurred injuries that can make extensive running painful for him up up this day. He then got adopted by a family in Idaho Falls but was given up again when they moved and couldn’t take him with them, which is when he ended up at the Animal Adoption Center. We feel very blessed to be his third and last home.

 

A few highlights of his life since he’s joined our family are:

— He attended our wedding! We flew our Wyoming/Idaho dog to New York and he was the “best dog/man” we could have asked for.

— We’ve learned Joey loves to swallow strange things…the other day he threw up and revealed a hand warmer he had swallowed whole (probably while on an off leash walk by the dyke). Thankfully the toxicity blood test came back negative.

— Joey found out recently that he’s becoming a big brother to a baby girl arriving in July! Him and us can’t wait for him to spoil this little girl with all the puppy kisses in the world. #slobberaway

 

Thank you Animal Adoption Center for changing our lives in such a profound way. We absurdly love Joey and are so very grateful you gave him a third chance at life.