Sally Porkchop Comes Home

Sally Porkchop home at last, Day 1 with her Daddy, even then she loved him the best

We spent the weeks between our commitment of adopting Sally Porkchop until August 5th, 2012, her bring home date, reading Cesar and the Monk's books and buying every little thing a puppy might need (which was indeed an investment.)

Living in the Pacific Northwest it's rare that it ever gets above 75 degrees even in August. But of course August 2012 was like the warmest ever here. The day we brought Sally home it was 96 degrees or something ridiculously hot. Which of course is not good for bullies and since it's rarely that warm we don't have air conditioning. 

So we spent her first 4 days home mostly just hanging out in the backyard seeking the shady spots and watching her. I am sure we had never even sat in the grass of our backyard prior to Sally. 

She was such a sweet puppy. She just wanted to be close to us and she loved chewing on bully sticks ( a recommendation we read in Cesar's puppy book.) We started crate training right away and in retrospect it's probably the only consistent and best training tip we ever followed.

The first few nights were rough. She whined most of the night missing the cuddling warmth of her brothers I'm sure. We were up every 2 hours taking her out to potty. It was exhausting. But luckily it didn't last more than 4-5 days and she was soundly sleeping through the night in her crate.

Our Girl Becomes A Reality

Sally Porkchop 6wks (at this time the breeder had named her Abby)

The truth is my husband was out of town and I texted him saying something like, "I've found a female bulldog puppy I'm on my way to go check her out." I think I got several texts and a voicemail or two back saying, "WE ARE NOT GETTING A DOG!" 

Needless to say I ignored those messages and forged ahead to go meet and even put a down payment on my girl. Within 24 hours after meeting our girl I was off on a plane to go meet my husband on a road trip which I knew my only goal was to convince him we were ready for this addition to our life.

Being a couple unable to fulfill our desires years ago to become parents of a natural human baby we had made a choice to accept our fate and go with it. This acceptance allowed us to choose a life together enjoying freedom and the opportunities to travel and enjoy the things in life available to us.

This childless life made it hard for my husband to accept that after 9 years of "freedom" a dog wouldn't throw a wrench into that. We had the choice on a whim to say tomorrow let's go on a 2 day road trip, or let's extend our initial 7 day vacation to a 10 day vacation on the flip of a dime, no worries.

Sally Porkchop (at the time known as Abby) 6 wks old 

He was concerned a dog would keep us forever homebound. Which to be honest neither of us wanted I was just convinced that wouldn't be the case. 

So I spent two weeks on the road saying, "just come meet her, you'll love her." And yep, within two days of our return from our road trip we were together headed over the bridge again and without a doubt he was in love too! We committed to bringing home our girl once she was ready and the deal was done!

How this Life with Our Bossy Bully Began

This was Sally Porkchop at about 3 months old playing around in the backyard with her daddy. Something they both love to do in summer.

It took me literally, without exaggeration 12 years to convince my husband that we must become parents of an English Bulldog. The reasons why it took this long are many and complicated but without hesitation we both happily admit she is the second love of both of our lives. (Each other being the first, in case that comment was confusing.)

Finally, a life changing event of losing a parent and gaining a small inheritance allowed me to finally just put my foot down and say, "Life is too short. I want my dog to love." And the only dog I'd ever wanted was an English Bulldog. 

Luckily, my hairdresser who we officially now call Sally's godmother had known me almost all of my 12 year wait and she also knew that I desired a bulldog. Every now and then she'd just say when you convince him let me know I have a local friend who is an English Bulldog breeder. 

Being able to find a reliable local breeder was one of those many, complicated reasons I had mentioned. We had been researching, reading and talking with bulldog owners for years and knew just how important finding a good breeder was in order to ensure the least amount of common genetic and health problems that accompany bulldogs. 

So in June of 2012 I finally said I'm ready can I get the breeder's number. Within a few days I was trekking across the Narrow's Bridge to Emerald City Bulldogs and I met Sally Porkchop, the only female amongst a litter of males. One requirement of my husband was a female which was fine with me as long as I could get my bulldog.

The first time I met our girl. Sally Porkchop 4 weeks old

Without question I was immediately in love. She was tiny and really didn't do much at all but cuddle up close with her brothers. But I just knew I'd found my girl.