Alright everybody, it’s time.
I’d like to introduce you to our newest Pinch of Yum family member, our little one, our fur baby, our precious girl Sage.
I decided that today I will give you the full story, start to finish, because it’s Friday, I just ate chocolate chip pancakes, I’m in my sweats, and I’m prone to oversharing in situations like this. Also because, selfishly, writing it all out is a good way for me and Bjork to document and remember the story. Dog lovers of the internet world unite!
Bjork and I have always wanted a dog. We both grew up with dogs, we both consider ourselves “dog people”, we watch YouTube dog videos at the end of long days together to feel the happy aww-cute feelings. Dog ownership has always been our dream + destiny.
Except it wasn’t, because way back in high school, Bjork actually tested positive for being allergic to dogs. Once we got married and starting the conversation about getting a dog someday, I obviously neverever whined about the allergies and was always a really supportive wife, showing rational understanding that we just might never be able to get a dog. Or… something kind of like that. Maybe.
A few months ago, we decided that it had been a few years (okay, 10) and Bjork should get tested one more time to see if anything had changed. This might have had something to do with him trying to shut down my years-long campaign for a new puppy, but, you know, that’s hard to say. Really hard to say.
You guys, honestly, why we went to his allergy appointment together is still lost on me (other than the fact that we are secretly 85 and we attend specialist appointments together? omg nooo), but there I sat in the little allergy room as he got his back all scratched up, and an hour later we walked out of the allergist’s office with good news: while he was allergic to dogs at one time, BJORK IS NOT ALLERGIC TO DOGS ANYMORE.
I took to the webs immediately. Google: puppy, new puppy, pug puppy, where to get a puppy, I love puppies, gimme a puppy.
My dream was to get a puppy, maybe a pug, probably a pug, and love it like a little baby.
And then came the curveball – on a whim one day, Bjork suggested maybe we should find a dog that we could get from a rescue organization. Um, what? A non-puppy adult dog? A rescue? Psssshhhhh. –> That was my first reaction because I’m not exactly the person who has always been passionate about dog rescue. Honestly, I don’t think I’m inherently nice enough to have even really considered that as a possibility for how we might get a dog, so this idea took a while to settle in because it was never really the deep, deep passion of my heart.
But luckily, the deep, deep passion of my heart is doing extensive, overambitious, staying-up-WAY-too-late research on anything and everything online, and the second deep, deep passion of my heart is falling in love irrationally fast with exciting ideas, so I dove into obsessive research about dogs available through rescue organizations here in Minnesota.
And that’s when I found Sage.
Except, at the time, she was named Sith. Like, Sith Lord from Star Wars.
*record scratch*
The name didn’t mean anything to me at the time because, hi, I like movies based off Nicholas Sparks novels and I don’t know anything about Star Wars. Sith what? I sort of wanted to keep the name. Strange as this connection might be, I think I felt this need to keep her name because of our experiences in the Philippines, watching older children be adopted and going through a name change and knowing how potentially difficult that could be. Not that it’s necessarily wrong, or not that it’s even close to being the same thing… it’s just the closest thing I could relate it to, and I knew that there would be challenges. Her name is her name, right? Who cares if most people will envision an evil, devilish, terrifying space alien creature when they hear it?
But as a watcher of Star Wars and a person who is more connected with the world’s perspective on the name Sith, Bjork was absolutely adamant that we change her name (“Lindsay, it would be like keeping the name Satan.”) We wanted to keep the name relatively similar, one syllable, S-something if possible, so we tried to be creative, and then started googling because sometimes being creative takes a little too much energy, and we eventually settled on the name Sage.
I actually asked Bjork if we should be reserving this name for a future child – that’s how much I like it. My love for the name has nothing to do with food or food blogging or anything like that, although funny how that works, right?
It’s just a pretty, simple name for a pretty, simple girl. It means wise one, and Sage is most definitely our little wise one.
I don’t really know what prompted me to click on her profile that day – it’s not like either her picture or her name were particularly cute (sorry baby), but for whatever reason I did, and I read the description out loud to Bjork: loves to snuggle, potty trained, crate trained, a good walker, loves car rides, doesn’t bark much. We looked at each other and smiled and just knew. This is her. This is the one.
We met her for the first time at a PetSmart, thought about the decision for about two minutes on the drive home, and then officially took her home one week ago today.
What we know about Sage: she’s about a year old, she’s a Beagle mix (DNA test pending for more information), she has the softest fur ever, she’s already had puppies, she’s extremely gentle and even timid at times, and she might be part cat for how much she loves to lean into you and blatantly ask for love, attention, and petting.
Her favorite activities are:
Snuggles.
Sleeping.
Looking at bones but not chewing them.
The dog park.
Pondering life.
And generally being the cutest, nicest, most affectionate dog ever.
One concern we have is that she’s given visitors a few low growls before warming up to them, and the hair on her back stands up when anything is even remotely stimulating (grass? birds? milk carton? hair up.) which is sort of worrisome for an anxious person like myself. But after getting my first what-if-something’s-wrong dog mom cry out of the way (I know I know I KNOW), I’m feeling better about helping her gain confidence around new people.
We love her SO MUCH, you guys. Like, maybe I am fully dorking out with tears in my eyes right now as I write those words out. Gah, Mush City! Pull yourself together, Linds. All that to say, I’m so thankful that I have a dog-loving group of internet friends that I can share her with. You guys get me.
So there you have it.
The sweet, long-anticipated story of how we found our little Sage. ♡
Update: MORE SAGE POSTS! Because we love you.
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