Name: Izzie - approx. 4.5 y/o
How long has Izzie been in your family? She came to us in September 2013, just over 3 years ago.
Family Members: Angie, John, Aiden (Human child - 11 y/0), Allie (K9 Child - Boston Terrier 7.5 y/o)
Professions: John is a retired Army officer after spending 27 years in and now works for The Home Depot. Angie is what we called in the army "Household Six" ("six" being the commander)
Location: Northern Virginia
Nicknames: Izzie Bear, Izzie Pizzie, Izz, Pretty Girl
5 words/phrases that best describe Izzie:
- Spoiled Rotten
- Playful
- Affectionate
- Loyal to her peeps
- Loving
What makes Izzie unique? Her ability to sound just like Chewbacca, her overbite, which makes her tongue hang out and her constant happiness.
A ball playing machine.....
Rescue Story: I will start by giving props to an organization - Pets for Patriots. John, being an active duty service member, discovered them. They work with local shelters and pay adoption fees for dogs over 2 years old, special needs animals and dogs over 40lbs. "Lucy" (now Izzie) was 26 lbs at intake and 41 lbs when we brought her home.
We had just put our 15 year old Boston Terrier, Cannon (also known as Bucky) down on Tuesday. Cannon was the love of Angie & Aiden's "dog life" - it was horrible. We knew we weren't meant to be a 1 dog family , but never thought we would be looking at a dog that Saturday. We always look - but just look- at the dogs online. This time we saw "Lucy", who lived with a foster family in D.C. We made arrangements to go see Lucy on Saturday. So all of us, including Allie went to meet her. Everything went well so we took her and Allie for a walk together, that also went well.
We decided we wanted to take her home. So we went to the shelter to find out more about Lucy. Apparently she was abandoned in a basement with another male pibble when the people moved out. WHAT? They moved out and left their dogs? Sure, happens more then we know. Disgusting. Don't know how long she was in that basement, but had been in the shelter and foster care for 4 months. We decided not another day would go by that "Lucy" would not be a part of the family.
Went to lunch at Jimmy Johns, talked some more and decided that we weren't going to have a Lucy dog and we all decided that her name in our family was going to be Izzie. We went to Petco Unleashed and bought her all sorts of stuff and waited for the paperwork to be done. Back to the foster home we went and Izzie was ours!
Welcome home Izzie!
What is your favorite pastime as a family? Angie is the dog cuddler in the house. Izzie and Allie both sleep with us. Izzie "spoons" her human (she cannot possibly get any closer then she does) and Allie sleeps under the covers between Angie's legs. John and Izzie play with tennis balls.....Endlessly!!
(Did you know if you spray them off with the sprayer in the sink and then run them through the dishwasher, they come out neon yellow again?)
What is life like since you rescued Izzie? Izzie fits. She has brought so much love for the breed to us. They are nothing but goofy lovers. Aiden has friends in and out almost every day - she loves to see each one of them and lets them know she is available to play if they like. She knows when his bus comes down the street and waits by the garage door. She hears John's car pull in and again waits by the garage door. (I'm not sure what she does when I come home, but she's always by that door - waiting for someone to come in)
She's a goofy girl, she loves to throw a carrot around the living room like it's a super special expensive toy. More then anything (other then her humans) she loves her tennis balls. If we'd let her, she would play with them 24 hours a day!
Photographers Note: I have known Angie and John for over 20 years. In fact, it was both Angie and my sister who encouraged me to fly to DC for the Million Pibble March, which is what started the idea for Shine A Light. So when I had the idea to come to the DC area for my first remote session, I knew that Angie and John would be the top of my list for volunteers.
Izzie has these beautiful intense golden eyes and insane muscular shoulders, which I think just keep getting bigger from all the ball playing. Looking at her imposing frame, says nothing about the sweet goofy girl she is.... This girl, is all about her ball. We cracked up when I was shooting her during play time, because I captured her ears straight up (like in the photo above) and they had never seen her slowed down enough to see that particular pose. As long as I have known them they have always had Boston Terriers but I think based on the "looking" that was going on while I was staying at their house on this weekend, another Pibble may be joining their household sometime in the future. In the mean time, I am just so happy for Izzie that she went from such a horrible situation to hitting the jackpot with this family, where loving and spoiling dogs is a necessity and a requirement!