After the devastating losses of all three of our canine kids, we connected with a rescue to adopt a bonded pair of Dachshund/Chihuahua mixes. On Saturday, March 28th, it was the "Gotcha Day" of little Jimmy and Joey. **They have a back story, which I will share in another blog, but this blog shares the amazing story of how there is no such thing as a coincidence when it comes to someone on the other side (like Cody, Dash and Tyler) orchestrating it.
After picking up Cody’s ashes and spending two days in the house without a living dog, we knew we needed to adopt and save a dog or two from a rescue.
(Joey (Left) and Jimmy (right) comfy on Daddy Tom's lap)
Looking at Rescues - Both Tom and I decided we would look at dog rescues to see if there were any bonded pairs we could adopt. But before we did, I checked my paranormal Facebook page messages.
Message from a Stranger - There was a message from a woman named Susan who had read on my social media pages that Tyler, Dash and Cody have all passed. She wondered if we were looking to adopt, and she sent me a link to a dachshund mix named Slim from “Lovable Paws Rescue” in South Carolina. She even offered to get him from the rescue and work to obtain transportation. What an amazing person.
I wrote her back and told her I sent a note to the rescue and that we found two bonded dogs that we would like to adopt once we know a little more about them. Bonded pairs are harder to adopt because usually people only want to adopt one dog at a time. Hours later we met our friend for lunch. That's when it really got weird!
After we looked through the Lovable Paws website and found the two Dachshund/Chihuahua mixes that we were interested in, we had a pre-arranged lunch with Jeff.
Meeting Our Friend Jeff - Jeff has been one of our best friends for over a quarter century (and best man at our wedding) and an uncle to all of our dogs. Jeff has always watched our dogs in Maryland for 20 plus years and now in Maine (he also moved here for family reasons) whenever we’re away and as uncles to his dog Myrtle, a Dachshund/Chihuahua mix, she stayed with us many times.
(Photo: Jimmy (left) and Joey (right) go into the same bed by themselves and curl up against each other)
Things Line Up -During lunch, we told Jeff about the two dogs and that the rescue is located in South Carolina. When we showed him the rescue website, he said “That’s my old high school friend, Steve’s rescue!”
In fact, he said just before he arrived at the restaurant, Steve had texted Jeff to say hello (as they have remained in contact, although 1,000 miles away).
At lunch, Jeff texted Steve and told him who we are, and her reminded us that we actually met him briefly 18 or so years before when we visited Savannah, Georgia, although none of us remembered what the other looks like. It was before he started the rescue.
Steve called and Jeff, Tom and I sat and talked about the two dogs, our three dogs who passed within 7 months, our volunteering as dog rescuers over the previous 20 years, and more.
Steve said he would send videos of the two dogs, and within an hour he did. His rescue had 156 dogs at the time we connected with him!
(Photos:
Joey and Jimmy as they appeared on the Lovable Paws rescue website on March 8,
2026. Credit: Lovable Paws Rescue)
An Amazing Transport Connection - If we got approved to adopt both 4-year-old Dachshund/Chihuahua mixes, we were ready to fly down to South Carolina, rent a car and drive the dogs back to New England. Something else worked out in our favor, so we took this as a sign.
Steve informed us that having grown up in Maine, he opened a second rescue in Waterville, Maine and contracts with someone weekly to transport dogs between the South Carolina and Maine rescues. What are the chances of that? 1 in a trillion.
Within the course of a week, our adoption application had been approved and we awaited the next step. On Saturday, March 28th at 4:15 p.m. we met the van transporting them (and quite a few other dogs) and we drove them home.
First Two Days - We don't know if they're totally house trained yet, but there have been no accidents and we take them out every couple of hours. They curl up in a bed together often. They wag their tails a lot, and love backyard forest walks. In fact, just taking them out back on a leash they pull to walk the forest trails that we made. **They get along with other dogs, as our friend Jeff's dog, Myrtle has been visiting while Jeff is away. Neighbors visited with their 2 year old girl and the kissed the girl and were so well behaved. So, we know that Tyler, Dash and Cody led us to them.
