Story submitted 2009-09-25

I have often said that we don''t really find our pets, they find us. This has never been truer than with Annie.

You can read the details of how we decided to adopt a doxie by reading the story of Oliver. As I was out of town on Labor Day weekend (2009), my husband and our good friend traveled from Ohio to the foster home in Indiana to pick up the dog we had chosen to adopt, the one we now call Oliver. During the visit this darling little girl crawled into my husband''s lap and won his heart. Upon hearing the heartbreaking story of her being left at the roadside for dead on New Year''s Eve, how she fought to survive despite the odds, and how she bonded with Oliver when he arrived at the foster home, my husband decided that there was only one thing he could do and that was to adopt them both! What a great guy! That was a very exciting day full of phone calls, text messages and pictures. I could hardly wait to get home to meet our new babies!

Annie is a beautiful red color with the sweetest face. She looks almost exactly like our daughter''s dog (see Frank''s story). Sometimes when she sees another animal and she gets in her "I''m tough" mode the hair down the middle of her back will stick straight up which is very funny! It took a few weeks of getting used to a schedule, but now there are almost no accidents in the house.

Annie and Oliver have now settled into our home and we couldn''t be more in love! Initially Annie was slightly timid, but every day she became more secure and her true personality has now emerged. She is now very well adjusted and has become a very funny little girl. She is very playful and loves her toys. She loves everyone - and everyone falls in love with her immediately. She is a talker with a sound like a combination of a hum, grunt and squeak, particularly when she is snuggling. They both must "sit" before I will give them their treat, however Annie sits up on her hind legs and will stay there forever! It is heartbreaking to think that she was so mistreated yet is such a wonderful dog. I say that if every dog was like her everyone would have a dog!

She and Oliver love running through the nearby park on our daily walks and going for rides in the car. As I work at home, they have beds in my office where they curl up for nap time while I work. Of course they both sleep in the big bed under the covers snuggled up right next to one of us and we wouldn''t have it any other way.

A friend helped us pick out Oliver''s name - because he was an orphan his name had to be Oliver, like the orphan Oliver Twist. Therefore it was obvious that our little girl had to be called Annie, for Little Orphan Annie! We are very proud new parents!

Merry and Gene McMahon Dublin, Ohio Annie and Oliver