Roswell, also known as Roz, knows no personal space and will literally put her tongue in your mouth if you don’t prepare yourself. She’s tiny, only 17 lbs., but thinks she’s a Great Dane. (small dog syndrome) She yells at Buddy if he gets anywhere near her food, she tries her best to copy everything Buddy does, and they have become inseparable.

She’s also a tiny terrorist. No, really. She will destroy ANYTHING that she can find. She will take whatever she deems chew-worthy into the backyard and destroy it. My backyard is where all of my favorite items go to die.

rescue

Roz has a crazy rescue story behind her existence.

Let me first tell you that I had NO plans to get another dog. Between the size of my yard and finally having Buddy past the horrible puppy phase, we had a routine and life was generally easy as far as canine existence goes.

But sometimes when you just know, you know…..ya know?

I’m on a Facebook page about Boradors (Border Collie/Lab – Buddy’s breed) and one day someone posted a photo of a puppy in a shelter in Roswell, New Mexico. Now let me say this – I’ve seen a lot of shelter dogs online, and yes of course they are sad, but I’ve never had an urge like this to take action and take it home.

Until her.

death row

She was on death row and scheduled to be put down the following day. Keep in mind that she was in New Mexico and I live in Utah. That’s a 12-hour drive at best.

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So, I started googling and calling. I started with the shelter she was at and asked questions about her. I then posted on social media to see if anyone could go get her for me until I could make it there. I called every local rescue in New Mexico. And I prayed. I just felt in my heart that this puppy was supposed to be here.

How horrible would it be if she was put down when I was ready and willing to take her?

It took a lot of phone calls, emails, text messages, and crying, but I ultimately found a rescue that was willing to not only pull her from the shelter for me, but who also found her a temporary foster home AND scheduled for her to be rescue-transported to Northern Utah.

Now let me remind you that this is a RESCUE. That means it is ran by 100% volunteers. The time and energy they dedicate to animals is absolutely overwhelming. They save dogs every single day.

You can find their rescue page here and if you can donate to their cause by any means, please do.

While she was in foster care, I paid for her to get checked and fixed at the vet. The entire process between when I found her and when we finally met her for the first time, took about a month.

That’s right, I rescued a dog I met online

My husband picked her up in Northern Utah on February 9th, 2019, and she has been a member of our family ever since. We named her after where she’s from, Roswell, but added the “Z” because we call her Roz and people were pronouncing it ROSS, which is some really unnecessary information, but……you’re welcome.

I have to tell you that I was SURE she was a Borador from the photos I received. I was rather shocked when I first met her.

Considering I met her online, you could say I got a tad-bit catfished. She is a full bred MUT. No vet even knows what she is for sure. She’s somewhere between a lab, wiener dog, I mean your guess is as good as mine. She’s adorable and still looks like Buddy’s mini-me. We get asked in public all the time if that’s his baby.

All I know is that she’s sweet, loving, a companion for Buddy, and ultimately –

she’s alive.

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also…

I know it’s super tempting to PURCHASE an expensive, adorable dog from a pet store. I get it, they’re cute. But keep in mind that most of these dogs come from puppy mills, and it’s horrible. Please, if you’re ready to bring a dog into your family, make sure you are ready to keep and love that dog for the rest of it’s life. And most importantly:

Adopt, Don’t Shop.