Meet Leica

Leica is our newly adopted dog. We first met her on February 8 at the Poodle Rescue of Houston. We instantly fell in love with her and decided to adopt her in less than 30 minutes. Yes, she had that strong effect on us.


Since Dianne left a toy poodle in the Philippines when she had to move over here to the States, we've always wanted another poodle. So we decided to visit the Poodle Rescue of Houston to check out their dogs, not expecting that we'd immediately adopt one. We really thought that finding a dog that we both like would be a much harder task. Luckily, we had it easy.

On our initial tour of the facility with my brother, we actually did not see Leica. I believe she was out on the yard playing with the other dogs. We first tried to interact with an old toy poodle who has been in the rescue center for quite some time. He was sweet yet quite scared, and so we thought that he would be better off in a home where he could get more attention. We had to pass on him and returned him to his kennel. As we were about to leave, something made us take another look at the dogs in the facility. And that was when we saw this black and white 3-year-old Maltese mix. The rescue center originally gave her the name Brownsville Girl. The staff said that she was originally found in Brownsville as a stray dog, thus the name. After a few minutes of petting her from outside her kennel, we brought her out into one of the play pens. She was just too sweet and charming for us not to fall in love with. Unlike most of the dogs in the facility, the only problem written on her record was "I may nip." Fortunately, she never tried to bite us, nor was she overly aggressive towards anyone. In fact, we never heard her bark or make any sound during that play time. All we know was that she felt at home in the grass playing with us.

We were running out of time on the visitation, because we got there late in the first place. One of the staff, a sweet lady named Fran, asked us whether we wanted to adopt Brownsville Girl. We told Fran that we were not sure and that we would come back some other day. We were thinking of checking out a few more rescue centers before deciding. But, while watching Fran take Brownsville Girl back to the kennel, something told us that this dog is just too adorable for other people to not take an interest on. And so my wife rushed back and told Fran that we are ready to sign the adoption papers for Brownsville Girl.

On our way back home, we started thinking of possible new names for the newest addition to our family. We went through names of food, cars, films, and cameras. What stuck with us was Leica. Mono came in a close second, but the name didn't sound apt for a sweet little girl.

Five days after signing the papers and paying the adoption fee, Dianne and I went to pick up Leica.

The first week with her was mostly spent taking care of her stitches from spaying. The second week, and up until now, we have been treating her for an ear infection, which has actually progressed really well. One interesting trivia: We first heard Leica bark in the afternoon of the day that the vet flushed her infected ears. It must have been painful for her to attempt to bark with her ears all clogged up. Her first week with us (prior to the flushing) was spent without barking and just squealing. Who knows how long she lost her voice.

Last Friday, we felt that she was ready to interact with other dogs, and it was time to take her to the dog park. Unfortunately, no other dogs were around. But on the upside, we had the park all to ourselves.

We went into the Poodle Rescue of Houston looking for a poodle, but instead we walked out with a Maltese mix. We are glad that we had broadened our options that same day, and are very thankful for having found Leica. 

Feel free to give Poodle Rescue of Houston a visit if you need a canine companion. If you would want to help their cause, a small donation is always welcomed.