Name: Graham (3.5 y/o) & Matilda (1.5 y/o)
Family Members: Sara, Adam & a baby brother on the way!
How long have Graham & Matilda been in the family? Graham was adopted a little over a year ago and March 1st will be 1 year with Matilda.
Professions: Sara is a CPA with a big 4 Accounting Firm and Adam is in Merger and Acquisitions for a Technology company.
Location: Alpharetta
Nicknames: Graham: Graham Cracker (We named him Graham because I thought his coloring looked like a Graham Cracker)
Matilda: Tilda, Tildy, Matilda Moo, The Little Princess
5 of the best words/phrases that describe Graham & Matilda?
Graham
- Loyal
- Playful
- Disciplined
- Athletic
- Smart
Matilda
- Fearless
- Bouncy
- Loving
- Athletic
- Protective
What makes Graham & Matilda unique? Graham is pretty much your typical pit, very cuddly and loving. He doesn't just wag his tail, he literally wags his entire body. It's super cute. There are certain moments when we can tell his life before us wasn't the best. He's very cautious around anything new and jumpy around certain noises. He doesn't like going outside at night if he's not on leash (e.g. letting him outside in our backyard). We suspect he was maybe left outside overnight by previous owners.
Matilda is so happy to be alive every day. She loves doing anything new and is totally fearless. She's truly a dog's dog and loves playing with other dogs. One of the day cares we take her to calls her the Mayor because she must be the first to greet all new dogs. She is the perfect balance to her brother and has the unique ability to calm him in situations where he may be uneasy.
Strike a pose (with football)
Siblings share!
Rescue Stories: Graham was our first dog. Adam and I have always wanted dogs however living in NYC for most of our relationship made it challenging. When we moved to Alpharetta getting a dog was top of our list however, prior to purchasing our home, we lived in a rental that didn't allow pets. The weekend before Thanksgiving, I convinced Adam to go check out some dogs at Atlanta Humane Society knowing we weren't at risk for an impulse adoption given our living situation and the fact that we were spending Thanksgiving in NY. Adam was open to any breed however I had my heart set on some sort of a pit mix. Adam was the one that noticed Graham (f/k/a Irin) first. It was pretty much love at first site. Unfortunately we knew we couldn't take him home that day. We spent Thanksgiving in NY and all we thought about was Graham. We got off the plane on Black Friday and drove straight to the Atlanta Humane Society. We told ourselves if he was still there we could take him home and figure it out. The rest is history. It was like he was there waiting for us. We don't know much about Graham's background. We were just told he was a transfer from somewhere in South Carolina and he had been in shelters for a while. Graham came to us very well behaved, however since Adam and I were inexperienced with dogs we decided to work with Josh Donohue of Argos Dogworks. This was a huge game changer for us and really helped build our relationship with Graham and our confidence as new dog owners.
Adam and I always knew we wanted to get a second dog so once we felt comfortable with Graham, we decided to ask Josh for advice on #2. This is when we were introduced to two local rescue organizations. Josh was really amazing in this process and even helped us with a meet and greet with one of the potential dogs. Our first priority was finding a dog that would work well with Graham. We met two dogs before Matilda so I guess she was lucky #3. Matilda (f/k/a Jewel) was with You Lucky Dog Rescue and at the time she was about 6 months old. While I am not sure it was love at first site between the dogs, there were a lot of good signs. We wanted a dog that could keep up with Graham without feeling the need to compete. Matilda was just that. At the time, she was still a floppy uncoordinated puppy but she tried her hardest to keep up with him. For example, when she couldn't run as fast as he could, she would try and outsmart him by cutting corners or hiding behind trees. After a few days of our trial period with Matilda, it was clear she was a perfect match for our pack. Since then they have become inseparable. Angela, Matilda's foster mom was amazing throughout the whole process. Matilda came to us very well trained and the support Angela provided was above and beyond.
Graham heading to his forever home!
Matilda's Gotcha Day!
What is your favorite pastime as a family? Graham is super athletic so anytime we can get him outside and let him run and play is always fun. He loves to swim. One of the day cares near our house has a doggie pool and we noticed he seemed interested in playing but hesitant to jump in the water. So we invested in swim lessons! He he became quite the swimmer this past summer! He loves swimming to catch balls and will even bring them to the edge of the pool for his sister, who doesn't love the water as much.
Matilda loves running around the backyard with her brother. They love playing keep away with a ball and have even figured out hide and go seek. Matilda is happiest when she's with other dogs so both of our dogs frequent day care with all day play. We're a pretty active family so we're always outside. Matilda loves car rides so we take her out on errands as much as possible to farmers markets, coffee shops and even the frequent Home Depot run.
What is life like since you rescued Graham & Matilda? Graham definitely changed our life. For the first time we had to think about someone other then ourselves. Adam and I always say, we will never not have two dogs. Seeing Graham and Matilda together is just heartwarming. They are such different dogs which is what I believe makes them so perfect for each other.
I work from home so we spend a lot of time together. Graham's days involve running around our fenced in backyard, sleeping in sun spots in the office while I work, playing with his sister and a long 1 hour on leash walk almost every day. Matilda can be found sharing the sun spot with her brother or sharing a squeaky toy. At this point, Matilda is just as fast as Graham so they love running together.
Two months after adopting Matilda, we got pregnant so we're excited to start this next chapter of life with this pack that has truly become a family.
Photographers Note: So far Sara gets the best volunteer submission email award. She sent me this on January 26th "Hello - I would love to volunteer to share my families story! We have a pit/lab mix that we adopted from Atlanta Humane Society a little over a year ago and an american bulldog mix from YLDR (she was actually one of Angela's fosters). We live in Alpharetta and our schedule is pretty open however I am 39 weeks pregnant with our first baby. If you can't fit us in before, we could also try for sometime in March post-baby." Talk about playing it cool!! You will notice she doesn't actually tell me her due date, so I took that to mean she was ready to volunteer right up until she was going into labor. Luckily, my schedule had some changes and I was able to fit them in 2 days later. The first time I have been nervous during a photo shoot that one of my subject's might go into labor! After I arrived, she did share with me that she wasn't feeling so great in the morning and there was the question, "Are you in labor?" from Adam. Thankfully she started feeling better later and all went off without a hitch.
Now to the dogs, these two had me cracking up the whole time I was there. They have an enormous backyard to play in and were just running around having a ball. Their toy of choice being the stuffed football, which I appreciated with the Super Bowl approaching. Several times Graham did take a break to come over to see me, using his entire body tail wag that Sara mentioned above. These two really are the perfect pair. Graham can at times come across as the grumpy old man (even though he is only 3.5) and Matilda is just a happy new soul who just loves life; taking flying leaps off of high deck walls and just loving it. I can't wait to hear about what good siblings these two will be to their new human brother when he arrives. That kid is going to have a ball growing up with these two!
Side Note: The foster Mom - Angela mentioned in this story is one of our past contributors. Angela's family and Graycie their pit bull were featured back in November.