Back in the late 1980’s Spuds Mackenzie was the mascot for the bud light campaign. He was a bull terrier and I fell in love with his goofy egg headed look almost immediately. It didn’t even matter when the truth came out that he was really a girl, I loved him even more. It was well established by my mother that I had a thing for ugly dogs.

Sometime in the nineties I was working in the burn unit when one of my work buddies actually got a bull terrier. I was so jealous as I already had my beagle (Annie) and my first born daughter. It wasn’t too long before I realized those dogs were nuts. She complained a lot about her dog and how nuts she was. She tried to chew up everything in her house.

It would be about three years after Annie crossed the rainbow bridge that I would be ready for another dog. The dog whisperer (Cesar Milan) show was on and I would watch every episode. When I discovered Stray Rescue and most of their dogs were pit bull mixes, it led me to read all of his books before I even reached out to the rescue. I had learned high energy dogs (aka pit bulls) need exercise discipline and consistency. By the time time I adopted Soliel Moonfry I had taken up running. So she and I walked every day to keep her calm.

About a year ago Soliel had surgery to remove a tumor off of her neck. My vet also has a rescue and they had two bull terriers. What are the odds of that? So it was then I started thinking about owning one. It was hard to believe it has been over thirty years since I first wanted one. Covid arrived and I spent some time working ICU. Because Soliel is now twelve I did not feel she would do well with an older rescue dog or even worse one that was around a year old. When I returned to Endo and mentioned perhaps a puppy would be best suited for Soleil, my friend Emily was all about it. She had found a puppy for our charge nurse that ended up being a scam.

So I followed the advice of my friend Meg and joined a couple bull terrier groups on Facebook. This would give me a better idea what these dogs are like and what I would be in for. A dog in a clown suit, a toddler for life were just a couple things. The dogs are crazy and high energy. Now I had never really considered myself high energy until I said that at my new job and they all looked at me like really. Ok so I am high energy. I decided to own that trait. Emily found a breeder that wasn’t too far from me. So after having Meg check out his website I got on his waiting list.

About a month ago I got a text informing me the breeder had passed away and his dogs were willed to someone who they were waiting to contact. I remember thinking seriously this only happens to me. I was on no rush to get a puppy. I knew they were a lot work and when the time was right the perfect puppy would show up.

About a week and a half ago someone asked for recommendations about where to get a puppy. Someone recommended Johnny’s Bulllies in KS as they were expecting their puppy in a couple of weeks. So I googled him to see how far a drive it might be and then bit the bullet and asked if he had any puppies left. He answered right away and said he had one female left but she was born without an eye. My heart grew three sizes bigger when I read that and I knew she was the puppy for me. So I told Brian and Allyson we were getting a puppy. Allyson said “holy shit, I didn’t think you would go through it but rather just talk about it for the rest of your life.”

Allyson and I drove to pick her up on Wednesday. Because I watch the ID channel non stop I texted my work buddies the address in case the puppies were fake and we were getting lured to our death. Or worse the address was made up and I had been scammed out of my deposit and a puppy. Johnny was at work but said his wife would take care of us. So after five hours we arrive and this young girl answers the door. We were at correct house and she had the puppy in her hand. I seriously thought she was the teenage babysitter so I asked her how old she was. Now I remember when I was young it use to make me so mad because I looked much younger than I was. So I probably annoyed her as well but she was super nice about it. I thought they would be late thirties not mid to late twenties. So my crazy ID fears did not come to fruition and Allyson told me never to talk about ID again because I freaked her out a little.

The road trip home was fun. I had decided to call her Isla (pronounced Eye-la) to honor her specialness of having one eye. It means dynamic, vibrant, brilliant, and bright as sun. Soliel is sun in French so I just think it was over all perfect. Now Brian on the other hand wants to call her Willie. This is from The Goonies and one eyed Willie the pirate. When I was telling Dr. Heavey my dog only had one eye he said to me dead serious “please tell me you are naming it Willie.” It must be a boy thing.

After the first night of getting up twice in the middle of the night, I know why women’s ovaries die off around the age of fifty. The lack of sleep is horrific at my age. So hopefully she’ll be sleeping through the night sooner rather than later. Until then I shall resemble a zombie.

Mole Moral ~ Some things are worth waiting for and others more than worth an over thirty year wait.