Jaina is our gorgeous German Shepherd mix we adopted in Spetember 2018. We found her at Happy Tails Rescue here in Minnesota. Another shelter was giving up on here when Happy Tails took her and made sure her treatments and care were finished for Parvo. She survived!

She was about 6-months old and being fostered. Her name was “Jessica,” which I thought was funny! When we went to meet her at the rescue she didn’t pay us much attention. She was far more concerned about the other puppies in the little room with her. Just looking at her I knew deep down she had an amazing personality waiting to come out. All she needed was a patient, loving family. We brought her home that night. After letting her check out the house, her and my husband fell asleep on the floor. She was home.

How did she get her name?
We couldn’t keep the name Jessica. It would have been pretty confusing around the house having both of us with the same name. My son and I were playing World of Warcraft at the time. The new Battle For Azeroth expansion had just come out and we were playing Alliance. Jaina Proudmore is one of the main characters in the game. So she became Jaina – the Alliance puppy!

Over the last couple of years, Jaina has turned into such a sweetheart. She has been one of the easiest dogs I’ve ever trained. She’s loving, protective, silly, gives hugs, loves soft blankets and string cheese, and I don’t know what I’d do without her.

In March 2020, we had to say goodbye to our sweet kitty, Stanley. He was about 15 years old. He’s was our son’s little sidekick since I brought him home when our son was about 2 years old. Him and Jaina had become pretty good friends as well. They would lay on the same bed by the patio doors and often I’d see Stanley chasing Jaina across the house and vise versa! Our sweet Jaina was greatly affected by the loss. She was hardly eating. She wouldn’t play with any of us or her toys.
She was always looking around the house for him. We needed a second dog, asap!

We started looking at younger dogs and puppies at local rescues. We say so many that we liked, but with 2020, EVERYONE was adopting a pet! They were gone before I could even get an answer back on emails!

Late one night in early May, I was browsing on PetFinder. I came across the sweetest little puppy named, Blair. She was a super cute 10-week old puppy. She was listed as Great Pyrenese and Anatolian Shepherd. I showed my husband and we decided to send in the application.

The next day I receieved an email from Warrior Dog Rescue about Blair. They said that they had well over 70 applications for her, but didn’t approve any of them. Diana, the founder of Warrior Dog Rescue wanted to call and chat with me. She wanted the perfect family for this sweet, sensitive pup. We talked about our household routine and I told her that I’m a stay at home mom with a teenage son that does online public school. Blair would never be crated on a daily basis and left alone for hours. I told her I’ve always had a heart for the “challenging” cases and taking time with Blair would never be problem. Before I knew it, we were being fast tracked through the process! We did a virtual home tour and interview with another volunteer from the resuce to get approved. Diana called and said everything was ready to go and we could meet her that same week!

We made the hour drive to Diana’s house to meet Blair. We brought Jaina with so we could be sure they would get along. As soon as I saw her my heart melted! This adorable little ball of fur had the sweetest shyness to her. I fell in love instantly! We spent some time hanging out. She gave all of us kisses and seemed to like Jaina too. We brought her home that night and decided to name her Bella.

Just like when we brought Jaina home, Bella fell asleep on the floor with my husband. We knew she was going to fit in perfectly!

I’ll be sharing more of their adventures and shenanigans!

If you’re thinking of bringing a new pet home, please consider adopting from a local shelter!
Happy Tails Rescue – Where we adopted Jaina
Warrior Dog Rescue – Where we adtoped Bella