Pogi the dog
Okay, I’m ready to talk about Pogi's origin story.
I, like most people in the world, love dogs. I grew up with family dogs and for the most part have never known life without them. I've always known I wanted a dog of my own someday. That someday just came earlier than I could have ever imagined.
Over the past few months I've been dropping by my local humane society to peruse the rescues and really just get the dog-fix that I was so desperately missing. There were a couple of prospects, but ultimately I always left empty handed after discussing this massive decision with my partner, Jakob. After my latest outburst of "meet me at the shelter there's a perfect dog here" fell through– sadly for us, but luckily for the dog, it wasn't a stray it had just been lost– I said I would drop it.
We weren't ready.
We work full time, Jakob's in the midst of his masters program, we have a lot of visitors in the coming months, we're both ramping up our training, plus, our life is fine right now how it is. We have each other and our cat Morty, the absolute love of our lives, so I dropped it.
But fate had other plans.
A month or two went by and we were on a random trip to our local neighborhood market, the place you only stop at for a few necessities because it is ungodly overpriced. Except for the eggs. Their egg prices are kind of right on par. Anyway, Jakob and I ran in, grabbed what we needed and made our way to the door. That's when Jakob did a double take.
He paused a moment too long, so I tracked back, obedient to my curiosity. There tacked up on the bulletin was a poster for a puppy named Penguin. Penguin was a rescue puppy, currently living with a foster and in search of her forever home. Jakob's eyes softened so I nudged him and said, "Take a picture of it just in case." He did.
When we got home, all I could think about was the tiny dog with giant ears and I immediately started searching the rescue’s site to find out more. Penguin was a girl which I initially turned my nose up at, my family had only ever known boy dogs. Maybe this wasn’t the dog for me. But then again, she caught the eye of Jakob, which insinuated a larger chance of a yes if we were to proceed with the adoption process.
I applied to meet her that same night.
Jakob wasn't too ecstatic about it all, but I assured him applying isn't committing. “What's the worst that could happen? We get to meet a super cute dog? I'm okay with that.” He agreed.
A few days later I received an email that our application was actually selected and approved for a meet and greet. My heart dropped. I was scared and excited and mostly just nervous to tell Jakob. I won't bore you with the back and forth, ultimately we agreed to meet the dog.
She was precious, energetic, a bit standoffish, curious, and definitely capable of being a really good girl. It was hard to get a full read, but enough for me to get attached.
The next few days Jakob and I debated the pros and cons. Pros: we'd have a dog, an adventure buddy, a sister for Morty. Cons: we are already busy, it will cost more money, it’s an added stressor.
We talked and I cried and we talked some more. We knew we could handle it, but it was a matter if that needed to happen right now or later on, like we had always planned. I really wished I was in one of those films that lets you pick both lives to see how each plays out. Because I loved my current life and felt guilty for wanting anything to change. But there was such a strong force in my gut that really wanted this to happen with THIS dog.
We adopted Penguin on February 14, 2025, a cute Valentine's gift for the whole family. We weren't sold on the name, and since we could tell she didn't care for it either, we renamed her Pogi– an ode to the one and only cycling god, Tadej Pogačar.
Life with Pogi has been hard.
It’s been harder than Jakob or I could have ever imagined, which ironically was what we told ourselves from the jump. We’ve laughed and cried and loved and fought more than we care to admit. But, our Pogi is becoming a better girl every single day.
