1,000 Paws of Great Falls – Bruno
“My fiancé and I agreed a long time ago that once we had 
our own home with a yard, we would increase our family from the three of us (Matt, myself, and our 4 year old cat) to four with a new dog. I grew up with pets all of my life and have had several dogs, cats, reptiles, and birds, etc. Sadly, my fiancé was never allowed to have pets growing up and once he was an adult he wasn’t in a good living situation to get a pet for himself. Once we began dating, he fell in love with my cat and from then on we agreed we would expand our little family to adopt more fur babies as soon as we were in a good place. It took a while but we were recently able to purchase a home and we were lucky to get a very large fenced yard in the process. I knew as soon as we got the house settled that Matt would start talking about getting a dog, so I started looking so I could surprise him. At this time we were still sleeping on an air mattress with all of our furniture still in storage. Because of our work schedules, and Matt never having a dog in his life, we thought it would be better to get an adult dog for our first dog together.
“So the search was on. I grew up with Labradors and I knew that breed would be the best type of dog for us. I had also been wanting a chocolate Lab for a long time. In college, I used to puppy sit for a friend with a chocolate Lab and he was the best dog. I loved everything about his energy level and his level of curiosity. I was able to recruit my mother to keep an eye out for an adult, chocolate Lab that was available for adoption and wasn’t going to be too expensive. My mother suggested looking into dog shelters. After only an hour or so of looking at different websites, my mother sent me the link to Bruno’s profile from the Maclean-Cameron Animal Adoption Center and I was instantly in love. He was so cute and had the qualities we were looking for listed in his profile. That same day, I filled out the forms and started planning a time to go visit.
“I quickly realized that since I would have to make a trip from Helena to Great Falls that I would have to clue in my fiancé about my plan. So, I put together a small gift and card for him. When he got home, I presented the card and the paperwork I printed out with Bruno’s profile. He immediately got emotional and was filled with excitement and we made a plan to go meet Bruno and hopefully be able to bring him home.
“That plan was to go down on a Friday in August. We had the whole trip planned out and then on that Friday afternoon I had a bad feeling that something was wrong so I decided to call the Center and I got bad news. The Center was closed because there was a flood! Our hearts were broken because I normally work weekends and therefore we wouldn’t have any other time to come back soon to meet Bruno. Due to the fact that I had a family event the next day, I was lucky to have had the day off already. So we were able to get to the Center early Saturday morning. We sat in the parking lot for a while before the doors were opened and the second we could walk in, we did.
“We were a little nervous, not sure what to expect and fully anticipating seeing a lot of really sad dogs and cats wanting homes. We were brought into the training room with the new collar, leash, and a squeaky, fluffy duck toy we brought for Bruno. We sat in the chairs and waited for the girl to bring him in. She warned us that he loved his enrichment time so he usually takes several laps before he takes the time to see what else is happening. The second she brought him in the room, he took off running. He took a lap around, then found the toy we brought for him left on the chair and immediately took it and started playing with it. He played by himself, minding his own business, just taking in the freedom of the room. Matt and I were almost in tears with joy from just seeing how happy Bruno was. His personality to just express his own joy with a bunch of zoomies and his tail wagging one hundred miles per hour. He was everything we wanted. He eventually came over and met us and started licking our faces. I knew after looking at the joy Matt had that he was instantly in love like I was and we didn’t even have to discuss it. We decided at that moment we were taking Bruno home with us.
“Since then, Bruno has become a very important member of our family along with our cats. We recently adopted a kitten from the local PetSmart here in Helena and she and Bruno are best friends. Our 4 year old cat is our first child and is not a fan of either of her siblings but tolerates them as best she can. It is never a dull moment in our house since we quickly went from a family of three to a family of five. Bruno’s personality is very unique. He has a yawn where he also ‘talks’ to us at the same time. It is quite funny and we always make an effort to talk back to him in the same manner. He loves toys, although he is no longer allowed to have fluffy toys as they end up torn up and in pieces around the yard. But he loves to play outside, both by himself and with Mom and Dad with his rope toys, tennis balls, and he gets antlers for his teeth. He has learned to fetch but he would prefer to play chase with the toys rather than bring them back. He loves his Dad very, very much! He is extremely attentive to Matt and will whine the second he hears Matts truck coming up the street and until Matt comes in the house. Matt claims that he does the same thing when he sees my car pull up in front of our house but Bruno isn’t as attentive to me when Matt is home. If I am home by myself with Bruno, he loves to snuggle with me on the couch and watch TV or take naps. When we met Bruno at the shelter we learned that he loves to shake and he continues to do that still even without being asked.
“We have had to make some changes to our routine since we brought Bruno home. We have learned that shoes need to be put away behind locked doors when unattended. We also have had to put a lock on our trash can lid when unattended as well. The kitties have gained a kitty door to the basement so they have access to their food and box without being locked downstairs or upstairs and this prevents Bruno from getting into their space. Our new kitten likes to bring her toys upstairs and gives them to Bruno to destroy. We are pretty sure she does it on purpose. We also have to shut all doors to the bathroom and bedroom when no one is home so that Bruno doesn’t take our trash outside into the yard. We put in a doggy door within days after getting Bruno because we wanted him to have the freedom to go outside whenever he wanted. We are lucky that neither of our kitties are interested in going outside so we knew a doggy door for our home would be perfect. Bruno spends a lot of time outside when we are not home and we know he takes naps not on his giant fluffy bed but the couch. He has a habit to flea bite his beds and the couch. Not enough to tear or shred but definitely enough to cause a wet spot. He is allowed on the couch when he doesn’t want to flea bite the cushions. Recently we have had to start locking him out of the living room when we are not home because of the melting snow causing mud in the yard. Shortly after we brought Bruno home we learned that it takes him a little bit of time to calm down when we have guests so we installed a baby gate between the living room and the kitchen so he can calm himself behind the gate before we introduce him to guests. Or when it is muddy outside he can go in and out all day and not get mud on the couch. Shortly after we brought him home, we resulted to buying a training collar. Bruno’s hyperactive nature was uncontrollable at times and we had a hard time getting him to stop and listen. We are very happy to report that he rarely wears it anymore and listens much, much better now! Nowadays when he has to wear it, it is usually around expected guests or trips to our families’ homes.
“Bruno is not a fan of car rides and we are not sure why. We think it was a traumatic past experience but we will never truly know. The day we adopted him it was a while before we got him in the truck at the Center. Therefore, he doesn’t get the chance to go on too many road trips. He has visited my parents’ house in Cascade a few times for weekend visits and he fully enjoys those trips once he realizes where the car ride ends. My parents have small dogs and although he is a big, clumsy Lab around them he loves to run around their big yard with them and play. We also have friends who live down the street with big dogs that he loves to go play with on occasion as well. We have learned that Matt’s younger brother recently adopted a black, Lab puppy and we can’t wait to introduce them as cousins.
“Adopting a pet is not easy and forces people to change themselves and their lifestyle more than they are truly prepared for. For Matt, growing up with no pets, he has learned a lot about himself as well as what it means to have another being love him unconditionally. Bruno has taught me a lot as well- I forgot how smart Labs are and how funny they can be when they try to be sneaky. Bruno is an absolute joy and we love him very much. We are proud to say we adopted him from Maclean-Cameron and often tell people about the Center. Thank you for letting us have him. We are forever grateful. Thank you!”
-Ashton C.
