A First-Time Adopter Finds Her Perfect Match at a Rescue Shelter

Today we have an adopter coming in who is looking to adopt her first four-legged friend ever. Hey Shawn. Oh hi. I was like I didn't even see anyone walk. I'm Marissa. Hi, I'm Mariah. You can call me M too though. Everyone calls me I'm Marissa and I live here in Louisiana. Wait, are you excited? I'm super excited. I'm here because I've been looking for a dog for a long time now and I just think there's so many dogs that don't have homes, especially here in Louisiana and it just always seemed better to me, you know, to

give a home to one that needs one when there are so many. So what do you do for a living? I just started my second year of law school right now. That's why I came to New Orleans originally to go to You probably need to be friends. You need a lawyer in your life? Yeah, all the time. That's got to be stressful, a lot of work. It's definitely a lot of work, a lot of studying. Have you had a dog before or And we had four dogs all throughout growing up. Again, like all different kinds. We had ridgebacks That's a tough dog too.

Yeah. I've never not had a dog until my adult life living alone. My family's always had dogs and all sorts of pets, horses, cats. I just love animals. Um and I've always wanted a dog of my own so Do you want like a active dog, a couch potato? mean I wanted a dog basically that could it could run with me, you know, but then would also be able to like be around other dogs and go to coffee shops and study with me and so kind of a mix. You know, I wasn't really too particular. I know you said you'd run. Do you have a fenced-in yard or you just going to walk him? Yeah, I have a fenced-in backyard and I live near the bayou.

There's all those paths right by the bayou. So the dog's going to get to run around in his own backyard and go for runs. No, that's great. That's awesome. Knowing that Marissa loves to jog and be outdoors, I think we definitely need to find a dog that has those qualities but also can hang out at the house with her while she's doing all of her studying. Okay, well, should we start with Dumbledore? So Dumbledore came to us about 2 years ago. He was found on the side of the road. I think Dumbledore would be a good dog for Marissa because he is very active. He loves other dogs and just loves to be outside.

Aw, this is Dumbledore. He's kind of sexy though. not Dumbledore but Dumbledore. Dumbledore, yeah. He is a really good boy. He's very handsome. Yeah, very handsome. Oh, he's so handsome. Dumbledore is a very good looking dog. He's really cute. Hi baby. So excited. He is about 4 years old. He's super outgoing. He's super interested in what everybody was doing, what was going on. He's so friendly. So he's the most active one out of the three. He's the one that will definitely go jogging. He wants to go running.

And he's just like I know. A little bit more like, "Hey, love me." I thought Dumbledore was maybe a little bit too high energy for me just being like a smaller woman. When he gets really excited, I know he's so excited. When I think about running around on a trail or something like that, I just was a little bit nervous at first that maybe he's just a little bit much. Well, why don't we go and put him up and then we'll bring Kola up. Kola. Yeah. Bye Dumbledore. Come on, my man. Kola is about 4 or 5. She came in about 2 years ago now and she was found with a litter of seven puppies. So we took her and her seven puppies in. All the puppies have been adopted now. So

she's kind of like the last remaining one. She's super sweet, super sensitive, very cuddly, very loving, such a happy dog. Oh my god. Hi. Kola. Hi, I know. Go say hi. Oh, she's the same dog I remember. I know, it doesn't She's like so sweet now, right? She said Mhm. She's so well-behaved. She is. Go say hi. Well, when Cola walked in, I really liked her straight off the bat.

She's like stoic. She's stoic. Uh-huh. She was just so sweet and gentle and like well-mannered that she was just You want to go? Oh, yeah. Oh. Get a little bit closer. He's a little close. inching I'm doing good. Oh, I'm doing good. She's came a long way. When we got her in, she was nursing, so she looked a little rough. You know, we don't know where she came from. They obviously weren't taking care of her and her puppies that much. Yeah, I loved how she just wanted to sit and be next to you and be next to everybody and I was really taken with her.

All right, why don't we put sweet Cola up and then do you want to grab Tamale? All right, Tamale. She's really sweet. Tamale is so cute, so sweet. She's about 5 years old. We originally got her from the Assumption Parish Jail. She came in as a stray there with another dog. She's been with us for a while, um at least 4 years we've had her. She was a little shy when we first got her, but she's gained a lot of confidence over the years. Come on. Tamale. Aw. She's super sweet though. Pretty girl. Hey, how are you? She's so sweet.

Say hi to Tamale. Hey dog, Tamale. So, when I first met Tamale, I just kind of immediately felt like she was a really good dog for me. But she's like one of the sweetest dogs ever. Is that Uncle Earl? She originally is a country girl. You're a country girl, aren't you? And she's I mean, she's only about 5 years old, so she's definitely going to hit that maturity level, but she's still young. So, I'm sure she's still young. but like she's being real calm right now. Like she's super cute first of all, but also her temperament is just like soothing almost. It was kind of exactly what I was looking for.

She's both calm but also interested and curious and she just she was awesome. She is so calm. girl. I know. She's trying to fool somebody. She's come a long way, too. Remember she used to be a little shy? She's so confident now. Mhm. It's really awesome to see them evolve. I'm sure she would love to go on a jog and then she's also so calm she can hang out in the house. Yeah. Molly pretty much checked every box as they say. She I mean, she's pretty much the size I'm looking for, the right age, she was the right personality.

Come on, Molly. Oh, she's great. It's hard to find anything wrong with her. It's going to be a tough one. I feel like I know who you're going to pick. I don't know me, but if you have a favorite I definitely I don't know. I feel like Tamalia's maybe the one. I don't know. I just had a feeling. I feel like you connected more with her, too. so, too. It was kind of immediately. She came straight to you.

She did. Yeah, and I just feel like she's kind of like the perfect medium. You know what I mean? She's not super high energy, but she's not super low energy and she's just chill. It was just kind of instant. I just knew like the second she walked in that she was just the one. She was everything that I was looking for. She's perfect. I think it's Tamali, then. And you know what? If this makes you feel better, she's been with us the longest out of all three. Shine. It's her time to shine. Yeah, it's her time Is there anything specific you like us to work on with her?

Maybe I'll I'll have Earl jog with her and make sure she can handle it. Jog? Earl, you're going to do the He'll do the jog testing. I'll do the go to the restaurant have a drink test. Hold on. We got this bag. What's that? So, the next step is for Earl and I to take her out jogging and just make sure that it's definitely something that she likes to do and think can keep up. Thank you for coming out. Yeah. That's good. Oh, it's Molly. I'm excited.