Squid’s Adoption Story
Squid with his brother, fellow PRK alum, Stromboli
💙ADOPTED❤️ You might remember Squid (fka Chandler) from the puppy mill video we shared 18m ago. The door to this horrific, vile puppy mill opened, and he was the lone pug – the lone black face in a sea of fluffy white dogs all vying for human attention and human touch. His round, expressive pug eyes spoke of desperation 😭. (See pinned post in reel tab of our bio & scroll to see photos from his rescue.)
No more. Squid’s expressive eyes now speak of pure contentment. You can see the change and how love has finally entered his life.
From his mom @ngadaleta:
Squid 🤍 The perfect, completely unexpected addition to our family.
Just a few weeks before our wedding, I was scrolling Instagram when I came across PRK’s post about a horrific breeding situation involving over 700 dogs. As soon as the door opened in the video, a tiny black pug popped out from the back, desperately trying to escape. That was Squid. The second I saw him, I knew. I turned to my soon-to-be husband and said, “Grant, that’s our dog.” He laughed and replied, “No, that’s our dog,” pointing to our existing pug, Stromboli. I told him we could revisit the conversation after the wedding 😉.
Fast forward to the vows, where he did say we could get another pug…though I may have ignored the part about “when we have more space” (we were in a 1-bed apt at the time).
After the wedding, we left for our honeymoon, and little did Grant know, I was messaging Melody the entire time, asking about Squid’s health & personality. A few weeks later, right before the holidays, we told PRK we’d love to foster-to-adopt. After a flight volunteer fell through just days before Christmas, Squid finally made his way to the U.S. on Dec 30.
We picked him up from Long Island and immediately melted. He was so tiny at just 11.5 lbs as a full-grown adult. He met Stromboli, and the two were instantly inseparable. Timing was wild: we were flying to Switzerland that same evening, so Squid spent his first week in America at “Camp Boli” (aka my parents’ house) with their pug, Rosie. Three pugs, one week, total chaos — and so much love. Once we were home, our bond only grew stronger. Squid is the ultimate velcro pug. He is glued to Stromboli and permanently attached to my hip. He has the funniest little howling bark, an unmatched love for treats (now a very healthy 17.5 lbs 😅), and absolutely no idea what’s going on at any given moment. But what he does know is that he’s safe, loved, and home.
We can never thank PRK and his incredible foster mom enough for bringing us not one, but two perfect additions to our family.
This is truly a happy tail. Thank you to @snow_nr for fostering him in Korea. Thank you to @kaazhang for volunteering to fly Squid to the US! (Coincidentally, they also brought another pug, Oscar (fka Zion), who they then adopted too 🤗).
See more pictures here.