Martha Completes Our Family, by Will Collyer

Minni, our little fawn French Bulldog, was two years old when we decided she needed a friend. It was just too sad to leave her home alone when we went to work. Sure, she had the cats, Meredith and Bethany, to keep her company, but they were a bit wary and kept their distance. What she needed was another dog in her pack.

An Impulse Stop

One Sunday morning as I was driving past a local park, I noticed a group of volunteers watching over dogs with bandanas around their necks and I recognized the event ─ these were LA City shelter dogs up for adoption. I called Colin and suggested he meet me there with Minni. Maybe we’d get lucky and find her that friend. 

When Colin arrived, we headed right over to the small dogs. Minni was petite so we figured her pal would be too. One by one we introduced her, and one by one they growled at her or tried to climb in our lap and push her out. After several tries and no match, we shrugged our shoulders and prepared to head home.

An Instant Connection

On the way back to our cars, we noticed one more dog lounging with its human volunteer at the edge of the park and decided to walk over to say hello. This dog was bigger than we wanted – a gawky teen with giant paws and shiny black fur, but she instantly won us over with a wagging tail and sloppy kisses. After about ten minutes, we were smitten.

As sweet as she was, Colin and I agreed that this pup was much more dog than we’d been seeking. After taking a video, we reluctantly said goodbye and headed home, resolved to keep looking for Minni’s “new best friend.” 

An All Hands On Deck Search

That night, I couldn’t stop thinking about the big pup with the big smile. The next morning at work, I showed the video to my co-worker Andrea, a dog-lover herself, and without hesitation she said, “Go get her.” That evening Colin and I found ourselves watching the video on repeat, and we agreed we needed to find this dog and bring her home.

As soon as the city shelters opened on Tuesday morning, I started making phone calls. Our local shelter had no record of a dog with her description, but a staff-member knew the volunteer who spearheaded the Studio City adoption fair and she reached out to her. This woman recalled that the dog had come from the South LA shelter, but at the end of the fair had been taken in by Best Friends, a no-kill non-profit in North Hills. I called Best Friends who informed me that yes, they had a dog that matched that description and she had already gone in for a spay. She wouldn’t be ready to go home until Thursday at the earliest, but I could come ID her later that day if I wanted to, which I did. Navigating a cacophonous maze of barking dogs in the crowded facility, I could see that the frightened, sleepy dog, hiding at the back of a concrete kennel, was indeed the sweetheart who’d covered us with kisses in the park on Sunday. 

Homeward Bound

Two days later, Martha joined our family, and twelve years later, she’s still here ─ loyal and protective, waking us every morning with her cold wet nose, barking at things that go bump in the night, howling in harmony with fire-truck sirens, and greeting friends and family with unqualified love. She welcomed home our two children, letting them climb on her and pull her tail as they learned to stand and walk.

When Minni passed away last year, Martha started to show her age, but when we brought home a new puppy – small like Minni, and by coincidence the same golden color – she greeted Daisy with the same wagging tail and kisses with which she’d greeted Minni all those years before. Martha is Daisy's patient playmate and teacher, and some of the puppy’s energy has clearly rubbed off on her.

In her calm, beautiful soul, our dog Martha carries a big chunk of our hearts and a huge chapter of our lives. We’re so blessed to have her and so grateful to the volunteers who took her out of the shelter that Sunday, put a bandana around her neck, and brought her into our home and hearts forever.