Commonly, people will get a new dog by looking through photos from shelters, friends whose dog just had a litter of puppies, or reputable breeders online. Snoopy’s story is a little bit different.

Before I get into where Snoopy comes in, I have to share a bit about my life the week before we found her. it was 2015, I was getting ready for my first college spring break, though I didn’t have any exciting plans. I was just excited to have some time away from school.

My grandparents and my uncle were returning from a trip to Florida as they did most years. Except on this trip, only twenty minutes from their house, they got into a bad car accident that took the life of my uncle and seriously injured my grandparents.

That whole following week my mom and I went from Manitowoc to Neenah, every day to visit my grandparents who were in separate hospitals. The Thursday following the accident, while sitting in the lobby of my grandma’s hospital, I got a call from my Dad and he told me he had found a puppy. I had never expected anything like that, we live out in the country in Wisconsin surrounded mostly by fields and farms. You don’t just find stray puppies. Somehow a little puppy wandered onto our back deck. Our older dog Bear had been the first one to alert my Dad she was even out there, in the cold of March. Bear led him straight to her, where he had to throw his jacket over her to let him pick her up.

Coming home, it was still surreal to find the most adorable and mischievous little black and white pup. We tried to fence her off in an area of the shop so she wouldn’t pee everywhere, but she found a way out of her makeshift pen.

We asked neighbors and put posts out on Facebook to see if anyone was missing her, but heard nothing. After a week she became part of our family. It felt like starting all over with a puppy. Our other dog Bear wasn’t a big fan of toys, so Snoop got all new toys to curb her chewing.

After her first vet visit, we found out she was about eight weeks old and more than likely a Spaniel mix and healthy. She became an expert at rides, getting rides to the vet for general puppy appointments and then getting to see my grandparents when they got into a rehabilitation place. Snoopy brought so many smiles to them and others on her visits.

For the next year Snoop got to be so loved be us and her older brother Bear. Bear put up with her running under him and pulling at his fur and all around trying to bother him. Like any good brother, he took it all in stride. Bear also tried to teach Snoop how to go through the fields to my grandparent’s farm, but Snoop learned very quickly not to do that when I had to yell at her before they made it all the way to the farm. Bear had made a habit of it his whole life because my uncle used to feed him treats when he got done with work. We always knew when we heard the semi backing up and Bear was gone right where he went.

Bear passed away a week before Snoopy’s first birthday. It was hard on all of us, but especially her when we didn’t bring her buddy home. I often would find her staring up at photos of him on the wall or visiting the spot where we buried him.

As my love of travel and hiking grew over the next few years, Snoop got to experience a lot of firsts. She became my adventure buddy. She got to stay in a hotel, an Airbnb, travel to Illinois and Michigan, hike Devil’s Lake in multiple seasons, camp with friends and meet some other dogs.