match.dog

match.dog "How I MeT My True Love" love stories about real dogs + their humans

By Leslie Voss – Owner of Francie’s Boutique, Topsfield, Massachusetts

Beau came into our lives through our daughter Marlena. She had entered a recovery program near Asheville, North Carolina in August 2017. However, because she was 18, she could decide to leave the program and after one week she did. She wanted to do recovery her own way. It was very difficult for my husband and me to let go and let her figure it out on her own. In March 2018 I bought Francie’s Boutique in Topsfield, an upscale women’s clothing consignment store with gifts and home décor featuring local crafters and artisans. The store kept me occupied and not worrying about Marlena 24/7. I realized it was also a way to model resilience, teaching my daughter that you have to find a healthy way to carry on when things fall apart. Our contact was sporadic over the next 1 ½ years.

In March of 2019, Marlena made a desperate call for us to pick her up and told us that she had to bring Beau too! He came from a trailer full of pit bull pups and was given to her at 2 months old. She said she realized how much we loved her like she loved Beau. She wanted a better life for him, and she was ready to come home and do recovery the right way. My husband flew down to pick them up and drove the three of them home together. In this way, I really consider Beau our rescue dog!

Leslie & Beau Marlena & Beau

Beau was four months old. He was small Beau to Francie’s Boutique with me. We set inspired her to think big and sharpen her enough to fit on my lap, slept a lot and loved up a pen for him and he quickly became a business skills. Additionally, she was able to to cuddle. Needless to say, we fell in love at popular draw for the Boutique! I had grown build a closer bond with her father as her first sight! Ironically, we had just adopted up with a dog, but had not realized what a finance mentor. a cat the month before Beau arrived. We dog culture had developed until Beau ennamed him Oscar because he is a tuxedo cat. tered our lives! Now I also carry dog themed Then COVID hit! We all hunkered down at Now we had two black and white pets, and gifts! home, but we looked forward to our daily it quickly became a full house! Marlena set walks in the woods with Beau. Despite all about rebuilding her life beginning with an Crate, potty training and puppy classes for the upheaval this pandemic has caused, outpatient recovery program, and I brought Beau was also a helpful and positive focal those walks made us more closely examine point for us as a family as Marlena rebuilt the change of the seasons and our connecher life as a young adult. Beau gave us all tion with nature while experiencing the joy unconditional love and lots of laughs as we of watching Beau’s exuberant interaction watched him explore his new world with us! with it too, especially off leash.

Marlena enrolled in Gordon College fall 2019. Close enough to home in Topsfield so that she could see Beau and us on weekends when she could, or we could visit her there too! She was also able to incorporate Beau into her course work. She took an entrepreneurial course called Social Venture Challenge and devised a business plan for “Beau’s Indoor Dog Park.” The idea was a hit and she made it to the final top 5 from a pool of 15 in this Shark Tank like competition. More than that though, Beau had Beau has been my constant companion at the Boutique as I rebuild my business in the time of COVID. He’s had to get used to people wearing masks and has adapted pretty well. He’s happier harnessed next to me on a cushion by the check out counter than in his crate. When he is not in the Boutique, customers ask where he is! Beau is lucky to have many fans, including those that bring him treats and even those who offer to take him for a walk! Now the store’s unofficial name is Francie’s BEAU-tique!