Stella is a miniature pinscher, which happens to be one of my favorite breeds. The day we got her as a foster, she was straggly, strung out and skinny.  I didn’t know much about her back story, but they estimated her age to be about three years old and purebred (or at least mostly purebred).  She was also a bit of a spaz, and I remember one night shortly after she came home with us, she managed to escape our fenced in yard and I had to chase her around the neighborhood in my pajamas and slippers, in winter, with at least a foot of snow on the ground.

It didn’t take long before a family came along that met her and wanted to adopt her, but Stella came to use with heartworm, so she had to go through treatment before she could go home with her new family.  Because that forced us to have to take care of her for at least a month, I managed to fall hard for her quirky, very min pin personality, and told my husband that if she comes back to us after getting adopted, that I wanted to keep her.

After finishing her heartworm treatment, her new family was finally able to take her home.  However, they had an older chihuahua whom Stella initially got along with, but then soon became aggressive towards him.  The family tried professional training, separating the two, and more, but after five months, decided it was in the best interest of their original pet if they returned Stella to the rescue.

So low and behold, Stella unexpectedly came back to us.  We were still fostering, had just moved and were pregnant with our first child, so we didn’t initially decide to keep her right away when she came back.  Shortly after taking her back into our home again, she had an accident with one of our large resident dogs and ended up with a broken leg.  Initially the vet thought he may have to amputate her leg because how bad the break was, but a cast with weekly visits to the vet did the trick and she recovered, all four legs intact.

The months ticked by and Stella had been back with us since July, it was now December.  The time with her made it clear that she was meant to be ours, so just before Christmas we made it official, Stella was to be a permanent member our family, and I think she knew it. Her two doggo brothers, both outweighing her by at least 40 pounds, both let her run the house. She snuggled them regularly and us even more. She is spoiled, naughty, and loved more than life…and we wouldn’t have it any other way.

(Photo taken the day we officially adopted her)