OPINION: Dogs make everything better

By Meghan Jarret

From the start of the pandemic and even today, we have all felt the effects of isolation in every aspect of our lives. When Stonehill switched to remote learning last semester, many students, including myself, longed for the return of social interaction and to see our friends. Once the semester ended, I found myself asking the question, “So, what now?”

Because I spent quarantine alongside my mother working from home, it got us thinking about the possibility of extending our family. To clarify, we did not wish to add another human addition to our family, but rather a new furry friend. Like my own family, millions of families across the U.S. began the hunt for pet adoptions with the hope of finding the perfect pet to bring home. With the increasing demand in the search for pets, dogs especially, adoption agencies and shelters began to experience a surge of requests from prospective families.

In the case of my family, however, this demand affected us greatly as we could not find any shelters or adoption centers accepting applications for a furry friend. Disappointed in our search, we decided to give the search another shot with an adoption agency called Save a Lab who rescues Labrador Retrievers from across the U.S and pairs them with the perfect family. After weeks and weeks of waiting for our very own opportunity to find the perfect pup, we finally received the phone call we were waiting for: a litter of puppies from Texas was making their way up north and we had the pick of the litter!

Because it had been five years since the passing of our black Labrador Retriever, we couldn’t have been any more thrilled to meet the new litter of yellow labs. When the day finally came, my mother and I excitedly hopped into the car, along with a very reluctant dad at the steering wheel, and sped to the destination. Within the first few seconds of meeting the pups, my mother and I knew which one would be coming home with us that day.

Despite the disappointing wait all quarantine long, I am more fortunate than ever that adoption rates were so high or else I would not have been able to meet the goodest boy on the block! On August 15th, 2020, the Jarret family welcomed home Rocket, who spends his days sleeping on the couch, eating shoes, and taking long strolls down the street. Rocket has brought back the joy the pandemic took away so quickly, and my family could not be more thankful for the opportunity we had to rescue a dog.