July 17th, 2022 - It's hard to believe it's been two whole years since the sweetest and funniest pup waddled into our lives. What began as a normal trip to the Flea Market turned into a new friendship and a lifetime of happiness. On that magical day, we met Violet- the charming little pup who instantly stole our hearts and became part of our fur-ever family. Join me as I tell you the tale of how little Violet planted herself into our lives and has been blossoming ever since.
The day started like most Sundays we've had that hot summer. My partner & I woke up, went to a local coffee shop for some breakfast (Or in this case, brunch, as it was closer to noon) and a little trip to our favorite Flea Market around the corner. This Flea Market was among our favorites- It was an indoor/outdoor sort of place, with rows and rows of various shops & booths. Everything you could think of- from homemade candles at Bobby-O's, or a nostalgic piece of memorabilia from Gator Games. They had little toy shops, smoke shops, people who sold antiques, figurines, tools, games, crystals, fruits & veggies, and more. Visiting the Flea Market had become a Bi-weekly tradition for us to find all sorts of new treasures.
However, on this beautiful Summer outing, I couldn't find anything that particularly caught my eye. I had $40 cash in my pocket I had set aside ready to spend, and yet, for all the variety in the shops, nothing really said "Take me home!" We wandered around for a bit and were nearly ready to go home. We even curiously explored over to a new area that we'd never been before, wondering if maybe we'd find a new treasure. As we strolled by, something caught our attention. Outside on a table, in the scorching July heat, was a dog cage. Inside were about seven or eight puppies of various breeds. Pressed against the bars, stretched out with her little paws behind her, was a bloated, black and white pup with a nub for a tail, fast asleep. The stench from the cage was overwhelming, filled with puppy feces, and the water bowl was bone dry. Most of the other puppies were either napping or curiously looking around, but this little one was completely conked out.
We reached our fingers into the bars and touched her little head. She didn't even react, she was sound asleep. My partner said the exact thing I was thinking- "I'm so tempted..." We looked at each other and the little pup. "We already have 2 dogs at home as well as cats, could we do it? It's a little puppy, they're so much work.." We had a little discussion, when he said "I think you should make this decision, I know you'll make the right call" and walked away.
It was a family that was selling the dogs- an old man who was already packing things up, and about 4 or 5 of his kids helping out. One of the kids, who wasn't much more than 13, said to me, "Would you like to hold her?" Before I could barely respond, he'd reached in to grab the little pup and put her in my arms.
I held her, looking down as she slowly woke up with a little sigh, and softly licked my hand. At that moment I didn't care, I knew we had to get her out of there. I handed over the cash and snuggled the new baby. As I held her walking down the hallway, my partner was already on his way back, saw the puppy in my arms, and gave a knowing nod. He'd already known what my decision would be.
As we walked back through the Market, a couple of people stopped to say thank you for adopting her, they had wanted to after seeing the rotten conditions. One guy at one of the booths who sold crystals, offered her some water. I placed her down and she immediately drank and she perked up a bit.
As we were leaving, I asked my partner, "So, now that we have a new family member, what should we name our new baby? We already have Daisy and Lily, so I think it should be a flower!" He thought for a moment and said "Well I was thinking maybe Violet or Petunia would be cute!" "Violet, that's perfect!" I exclaimed. Little Violet. I began to make connections in my head. Violet from Incredibles had black hair- and there was a Violet in Peanuts comic strip with black hair, and I named Daisy for the Daisy Hill Puppy Farm, so it all tied together so nicely!
As we drove home, Violet mostly slept snuggled up on me. I was pretty excited to bring the new pup home and introduce her to everyone. We stopped to get our puppy supplies and chatted all about how we adopted the new baby.
When we brought Violet home, Clawhauser, the Maine Coone, was the first to greet her. He seemed almost apathetic, sniffing her a bit, as if to say "Hmm, you are so small I could eat you, but the humans seem to like you, so I won't." Next up was Lily. Lily was our Jack Russell mix who was the "baby". We placed little Violet next to her. She looked at Violet and then sighed, looking up at us. It almost looked like she had tears in her eyes, as if to say, "I'm not the baby anymore?" Daisy, our beagle, seemed mostly amused that she possibly had a new sister to boss around. Well, she didn't seem to mind at first, until little Violet chomped on her tail once!
Fritz, our gray cat, actually seemed to like Violet, even playing with her at times.
Hobbes, her very opinionated and sassy brother, did NOT like her. Which was amusing, considering he & Lily were best friends. I'm sure he was offended on Lily's behalf.
We took little Violet outside and set her on the grass. I don't think she'd ever touched grass (literally!) before that moment. The way she walked around, she was in awe of all the new beautiful sights and smells. I'll never forget the little look on her face when we had our first play session. I called her to me and she started running, her little mouth open, happy as can be.
When it was time to come inside, I called her. She was so little and small, she didn't know quite what to do. Daisy seemed to leap up as if to say "I'll help!" and ran over to the baby like "Come on, it's time to go!" Violet got scared and yelped at the sight of a huge beagle running at her, and Daisy immediately stopped to look up at me like "I swear I didn't do anything!"
Over the course of the next few weeks, Violet was growing bigger and happier. She had started off with a very round and bloated belly (I'm sure they were not feeding her the proper food and nutrients for a growing puppy) and she was so smart and learned so much. Lily quickly warmed up to her, especially the day when Violet came home from the vet and not feeling well from her shots, Lily nudged her a few times to make sure she was okay. It wasn't long before they were snuggled up together and became best friends.
Of course, having a puppy meant a lot of responsibility and a lot of puppy crying! We had a large crate and playpen for her, but as often as we tried to make it comfortable and fun for her, she didn't like being in there alone. She was barely 2 pounds and I was nervous to have her sleep in the bed, for fear she would fall out or be squished!
That changed when one day, in the middle of the night, we heard a faint whining noise as little Violet the escape artist, waddled her way into the room to find us. I scooped her up and slept next to her lightly, where she slept peacefully. Well, I guess this is where she can sleep now! I'll never forget the face Hobbes made when she was crying in her playpen one day as we were making dinner. He stomped in furiously, looked at her, then looked up at me like "WELL? Aren't you going to do something about this MOTHER?!?"
Raising a puppy was a lot of work, but so worth it. Violet has grown to be a big, beautiful, crazy and athletic dog. I believe she's still growing, she seems to be getting taller and wider by the day! She's also very muscular, she loves athletic games and will run around so much playing ball, parkour (Or should I say Barkour), jumping up, zipping around, she could play for hours if she could!
Not only that, but I feel she is one of my very best friends and one of my soul-buddies. We all have so many pets over the years, and while we love them and adore them all, sometimes there's a few that you really bond with. That was me & my little Dot. I wouldn't be surprised if it was little Dot's spirit guiding me over to my new lifelong friend!
That's the story of Violet's Gotcha Day! I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed sharing it. Here are some more pictures of this adorable little goober, and you can see more on my Pet Instagram- KritterKraze!
Thanks for reading my story!
Blue Skies! Enjoy the Chaos & Stay TOONed!
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