I Wanted To Find The Perfect Partner – Then A Call From My Daughter Changed Everything

"I was divorced, had a few unsuccessful relationships in recent years, and I felt I'd failed at finding true love."

As I was sitting in my living room, engrossed in a self-help book about finding the perfect partner to complete me, I got a call from my teenage daughter Jordan that changed everything.

I was in my mid-40s and felt extremely low about myself and my life. I was divorced, had a few unsuccessful relationships in recent years, and I felt I’d failed at finding true love.

“Please, Mom, it’s so cute and tiny!” Jordan was at a photo shoot in Hollywood. The makeup artist had a puppy with her, and its sibling still needed a home.

“Just our three cats – that’s what we’re allowed,” I reminded her. The apartment rules I had signed 11 years ago after my split with her dad were ironclad.

“No one will know! I’ll never ask for anything else ever again!” she promised, and because she was my only child, she always got her way.

Within a week, a tired-looking lady from a dog rescue organisation brought a fit-in-your-palm-sized black chihuahua to our home. We named him Preston, and we soon discovered he had a big bark!

When we were told to move out or get rid of the dog, the decision was easy. We moved. Ironically, Preston never became my daughter’s dog. He was mean and bit everyone except me. My love for him was plain and true. He slept under my left arm every night for almost 19 years.

Months after moving to a dog-friendly place, I saved a big black terrier boy. I found him caked with dirt in the middle of a street with a broken rope around his neck. I lifted him into my car and rushed to the vet. When he was cleared to leave, we brought him home and named him Alfie. Next came Maddie, a sweet little spaniel mix from a high-kill shelter.

And so, I began to save them – one dog at a time.

When my daughter went off to college, mutts took the place of men. It seemed the more I missed my only child, the more dogs I saved. The chaos and their constant need for my attention filled the void.

The fact that I lived in a house full of animals was not completely surprising.

“I’m never, ever getting married, and when I grow up, I’m going to live in a castle with a hundred cats and dogs and monkeys and goats!” I........

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