Profile Story "Adyson and Shanah"

I was having internet connection difficulties at my house, but hopefully this time it will work...

Megan Keany
November 25, 2008
Adyson

There is a saying that dog is man’s best friend, and Shanah Fahey is a true believer of that.
When Shanah was 20 years old, she was visiting her friend Brittany in Richmond for a weekend of summer fun. She had really wanted a puppy and when she found out she was living in an apartment for her junior year of college, she had an even bigger motive.
“I’m a very impulsive person. When I say I’m going to do something, I’m going to do it… which can be good and can be bad,” says Shanah.
With her long blonde hair and acrylic nails, Shanah looks like she belongs in Los Angeles at the Playboy Mansion, but she is actually aspiring to go to law school and currently has a job working for a senator.
Shanah is a charitable person and always helps others in need, so it is no surprise that she went to the SPCA in Richmond to look for a dog to adopt. Her childhood friend Brittany joined her on the search. As they walked through the putrid hallways lined with cages they saw many dogs, looking miserable as if they were in an orphanage or jail.
The animal shelter was deafening from the loud barks of the dogs. “You just feel so bad for them and their living conditions. My heart ached for all of them and I wish that I could’ve taken all the animals home that day,” Shanah recalls.
She could only choose one dog and when Shanah got to Adyson’s cage, she remembers her sweet eyes and beautiful golden coat. Adyson was 3 months old and in Shanah’s opinion, the cutest dog in the shelter.
“It was love at first sight,” Shanah says.
Although she had wanted a dog, buying Adyson was a spur of the moment thing. “My mom and dad weren’t very happy and cut me of financially for a few weeks,” Shanah says.
Now, 3 years later Shanah’s parents love the 60 pound German Shepard, lab mix and refer to her as their “grand-dog.” Shanah believes that if Adyson could speak she would call them “Mimi” and “Popi.”
Shanah’s parents not only love Adyson, but are grateful because the dog saves Shanah and her boyfriends’ lives last year.
On October 8, 2007 Shanah was living in an apartment with her boyfriend James and Adyson when at 4:30 a.m. the dog jumped on the bed and woke the couple up.
“It was very unusual because Adyson was potty-trained and I wondered what she could possibly want so early in the morning,” Shanah recalls of the incident.
Shanah tried to quiet Adyson but to no avail. She walked from the bedroom into the living room and saw that their sliding glass door which connected to a porch was an eerie orange and red color all over.
“My stomach dropped and I ran in the room to get James,” Shanah says.
The couple and Adyson exited the apartment just in time. Moments after they got out, the glass door imploded and their apartment burned to the ground.
Shanah and James feel as though Adyson had an instinct that something was wrong.
“She saved our lives,” Shanah says.
If Adyson hadn’t woken Shanah and James on that early fall morning, who