{"id":253,"date":"2018-05-13T15:40:00","date_gmt":"2018-05-13T15:40:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stephaneian.com\/?post_type=our-story&p=253"},"modified":"2023-05-31T01:32:03","modified_gmt":"2023-05-31T01:32:03","slug":"rita","status":"publish","type":"our-story","link":"https:\/\/stephaneian.com\/en\/our-story\/rita\/","title":{"rendered":"Rita"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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I grew up with dogs, but hadn\u2019t had one since moving out on my own.<\/p>\n

But I wanted one. Badly. My work schedule was the issue. How could I care for a dog with the hours I had at work.<\/p>\n

But things had changed career wise. Things had settled. Schedule was more routine. Work in general was more reliable. And I had a roommate that could back me up a bit on the odd crazy day.<\/p>\n

I was also feeling very lonely. Things with St\u00e9phane were great and all. We were really close friends. After 4 years, I still had hope that something more would materialize, but wasn\u2019t going to wait around any longer either.<\/p>\n

Didn\u2019t want to look for another guy. That wasn\u2019t of interest. What I had with St\u00e9phane was enough. But it was time for a real companion. It was time to get a dog.<\/p>\n

I started digging through listings online. I didn\u2019t want a breeder dog, I wanted a rescue to bond with and become whole with. So the shelters and rescue sites became the most frequently visited websites in my browser history.<\/p>\n

Until one day, laying on the grass at Allan Gardens, watching all the other neighbourhood dogs on their walks and playing, I found the listing for Rita. A Costa Rican street dog, \u00a0a total mutt. Heinz 57 breed. Brought to Canada by Save Our Scruff, a local rescue. She spoke to me.<\/p>\n

I knew I\u2019d found my dog. This was the one. Everything in her profile was just me to a T. I knew we\u2019d be soulmates.<\/p>\n

So the process began to adopt her.<\/p>\n

Everyone was on board. St\u00e9phane wrote a really good reference letter to help me secure her.<\/p>\n

And then a false start bringing her home\u2026 when she ran away before even getting inside.\u00a0\u00a0I was devastated. But thankfully she was found unharmed by Toronto Animal Services.<\/p>\n

The rescue got her back and was still willing to let me have her. She came home for real a couple days later.<\/p>\n

She\u2019s a very anxious dog. Not great with people. And not great sharing her space. But once she warms up to you, she loves you to bits.<\/p>\n

It was a process for St\u00e9phane. He loved dogs. Or at least the idea of dogs. But had bad experiences with them as a child that had scared him.<\/p>\n

So when he came to meet Rita for the first time a few days later\u2026 she growled, snapped her teeth, and wasn\u2019t very welcoming\u2026 it didn\u2019t help.<\/p>\n

But this dog was different. This dog was my dog. St\u00e9phane wasn\u2019t going to let that stop them from forming a relationship too. As scary as the teeth and growls may have been, he was going to keep trying.<\/p>\n

Over time, his understanding of her grew. Her understanding of him grew. And they too fell in love with each other. Forever changing St\u00e9phane\u2019s relationship with dogs.<\/p>\n

But also\u2026 changing his relationship with me.<\/p> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \t <\/div>\n\t \n\t<\/div>\n\t\n\t<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I grew up with dogs, but hadn\u2019t had one since moving out on my own. But I wanted one. Badly. My work schedule was the issue. How could I care for a dog with the hours I had at work. But things had changed career wise. Things had settled. Schedule was more routine. Work in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":350,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","ptb_metabox":{"ptb_our_story_written_by":"Ian","ptb_our_story_cover_image":["351","https:\/\/stephaneian.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/8_Rita_C.jpg"]},"ptb_taxonomy":[],"ptb_featured_image":{"url":"https:\/\/stephaneian.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/8_Rita_BW.jpg","title":"8_Rita_BW","caption":""},"builder_content":"

I grew up with dogs, but hadn\u2019t had one since moving out on my own.<\/p>

But I wanted one. Badly. My work schedule was the issue. How could I care for a dog with the hours I had at work.<\/p>

But things had changed career wise. Things had settled. Schedule was more routine. Work in general was more reliable. And I had a roommate that could back me up a bit on the odd crazy day.<\/p>

I was also feeling very lonely. Things with St\u00e9phane were great and all. We were really close friends. After 4 years, I still had hope that something more would materialize, but wasn\u2019t going to wait around any longer either.<\/p>

Didn\u2019t want to look for another guy. That wasn\u2019t of interest. What I had with St\u00e9phane was enough. But it was time for a real companion. It was time to get a dog.<\/p>

I started digging through listings online. I didn\u2019t want a breeder dog, I wanted a rescue to bond with and become whole with. So the shelters and rescue sites became the most frequently visited websites in my browser history.<\/p>

Until one day, laying on the grass at Allan Gardens, watching all the other neighbourhood dogs on their walks and playing, I found the listing for Rita. A Costa Rican street dog, \u00a0a total mutt. Heinz 57 breed. Brought to Canada by Save Our Scruff, a local rescue. She spoke to me.<\/p>

I knew I\u2019d found my dog. This was the one. Everything in her profile was just me to a T. I knew we\u2019d be soulmates.<\/p>

So the process began to adopt her.<\/p>

Everyone was on board. St\u00e9phane wrote a really good reference letter to help me secure her.<\/p>

And then a false start bringing her home\u2026 when she ran away before even getting inside.\u00a0\u00a0I was devastated. But thankfully she was found unharmed by Toronto Animal Services.<\/p>

The rescue got her back and was still willing to let me have her. She came home for real a couple days later.<\/p>

She\u2019s a very anxious dog. Not great with people. And not great sharing her space. But once she warms up to you, she loves you to bits.<\/p>

It was a process for St\u00e9phane. He loved dogs. Or at least the idea of dogs. But had bad experiences with them as a child that had scared him.<\/p>

So when he came to meet Rita for the first time a few days later\u2026 she growled, snapped her teeth, and wasn\u2019t very welcoming\u2026 it didn\u2019t help.<\/p>

But this dog was different. This dog was my dog. St\u00e9phane wasn\u2019t going to let that stop them from forming a relationship too. As scary as the teeth and growls may have been, he was going to keep trying.<\/p>

Over time, his understanding of her grew. Her understanding of him grew. And they too fell in love with each other. Forever changing St\u00e9phane\u2019s relationship with dogs.<\/p>

But also\u2026 changing his relationship with me.<\/p>","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stephaneian.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/our-story\/253"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stephaneian.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/our-story"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stephaneian.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/our-story"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stephaneian.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/350"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stephaneian.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=253"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}