From Alone to Home: Peanut's Adoption Story

Ashley and Peanut

Pet's name: Peanut
Adopted by: Ashley Dewey
From: Paws and Purrs Rescue, Inc., Scottsville, N.Y.

Ashley, a shelter volunteer who blogs about her dogs and local pet-related events at The Adventures of Peanut and Bailey, shared Peanut's story:

I adopted Peanut from Paws and Purrs Rescue in 2009 when she was six months old. Paws and Purrs is a great rescue group that brings up a lot of dogs from down south from overcrowded shelters. She was a little firecracker! I had no problem housetraining her; she picked up on that right away. I started taking her to puppy training classes at Lollypop Farm as soon as I could. She did well in the classes—we took three different sets of training classes. I felt this was a good way for her to interact with different dogs. One of the trainers mentioned that she might like flyball since she was so fast. We signed up for a training class at Boom Towne, and she was so good, they asked us to join the team! We have been doing flyball for a year now, and Peanut is almost ready to compete.

Peanut made us realize how well behaved our first adopted dog, Bailey, was! The first time we went to work, I put them both in the kitchen, put up the baby gates, and—pop!—she jumped over them like it was nothing! After several attempts at barricading her in, I realized I had to crate her. I was lucky and worked close by, so I came home on lunch and walked the two of them. I soon discovered that wasn't enough to burn off my crazy puppy's energy. One of the trainers at Lollypop Farm recommended interactive toys such as frozen Kongs. That worked great, but she still needed more. That's how Peanut started going to daycare. I found an amazing retired couple to watch her a few days a week while I was at work.

Adopting Peanut has given me the chance to meet other dog lovers and learn about dog training and behavior. She's my sweet little spoiled girl and I wouldn't trade her for anything. You can watch videos of Peanut on my YouTube channel.

Peanut's hobbies: