pepper the dog

pepper's adoption story

adoption day

pepper's story starts at the everett animal shelter, where we first met him. shortly after moving to seattle in september 2023, i had been lazily looking through online lists of adoptable animals in the various shelters around the area. it wasn't until i came upon a photo of a border collie mix that i stopped in my tracks. his eyes! and so much personality in a single photo!

i talked to my boyfriend about it, who had been wanting to wait to get settled in a bit before we made the jump adopting a dog (or any pet for that matter). after not being able to have pets in san francisco, however, i was eager to find a new furry friend. he, thankfully, conceded once he saw the photo, both agreeing we'd want a dog on the larger side, and pepper was perfect.

what a cuddly boy!

i called the animal shelter to inquire about him, but unfortunately, pepper was already scheduled to meet a family. if anything fell through, though, they would call me and make sure that we had a chance at adopting him.

oh, how i cried. i knew what that meant; i've volunteered at many animal shelters throughout my life and worked in veterinarian offices. pepper was going to be scooped up as soon as they met him. throughout the weekend, i'd remember how much i wanted this dog and would randomly cry on my boyfriend's shoulder. a couple days after the inquiry, we went on a hike to the ice caves to cheer up my spirits.

we were on our way back home when i got a call.

“the family met pepper, but it didn't work out,” the employee said. “but not because of pepper! the family brought their dog, and he wasn't into the idea of having a brother.”

pepper perks up!

i'd never been happier that a dog wasn't being adopted! i was being completely selfish, but i wanted pepper so much and offered to come and meet him (and pick him up, really) the next day.

meeting pepper was serendipitious—he was never timid, shy, or bashful about us from the moment we met. he was immediately excited and loving us, wanting to be cuddled, held, and pet by us right away. however, my boyfriend and i both immediately noticed this was not the size of a border collie; in fact, he was about 17 pounds (7.7 kg). significantly smaller than what was posted on the adoption webpage.

i looked at my boyfriend. he could read my face. pepper was smaller than we intended. he nodded.

“we'll take him! what's the next step?” i asked the volunteer, and we were well on our way with the newest member of our family.

always saying hello

pepper's adventures

first time in a kayak!

pepper travels with us ever since we've had him! he is luckily small enough to fit comfortably in a travel carrier that goes underneath an airplane seat, so he's been able to go long distances alongside us. we plan on taking him on more road trips around the pacific northwest, including vancouver!

so far, outside of seattle, pepper's been to:

• lake gaston in north carolina
• raleigh, north carolina
• arlington, texas
• dallas, texas
• montague county, texas
• forks, washington
• port angeles, washington
• nashville, tennessee
• memphis, tennessee
• jackson, mississippi
• pensacola, florida
• new orleans, louisiana
• portland, oregon

pepper's passport

currently working on a project to create a homemade passport for pepper, including homemade paper and binding!