Welcome to How They Met: Dogs, where we ask you how you met your rescue dog. Do you have a story to share? E-mail it, along with photo(s) of your dogs, to krista@patch.com.

Names of Dogs: Roxie and Madeline

Owner's name: Tim Miranda & family

Where were they rescued from?: Roxie was rescued from a PAWS New England after her owner originally surrendered her to the Texarkana Texas Animal Control in 2009. Her previous owners moved to an apartment and were unable to keep Roxie.

Madelyn was rescued from Labs4rescue, originally rescued from a southern kill shelter.

What was their adoption day like? How did you know these dogs were meant to be a part of your family?:

A few months before adopting Roxie, one of our original dogs (Holly) had passed away unexpectedly after escaping from our house during a snow storm.  Erik Merrill, Chelmsford’s animal control officer, was one of the first responders to where Holly was struck by a car, and took both Holly and our other dog Hunter (who escaped with her) directly to the Chelmsford Animal Hospital, where the amazing staff did what they could for Holly before she passed away shortly after the accident. Erik was extremely professional and caring, and for us, represents what makes Chelmsford an amazing community. He helped guide us through the difficult situation, and the fact that he responded so quickly and helped prevent something bad from happening to Hunter at the same time was amazing. 

It really was a painful time for the family, but when we saw Roxie’s smiling picture on the PAWS New England's web site, we know she was the right one for the family. My wife drove up to Nashua, where she waited in the mall parking lot for the airconditioned trailer truck that had driven up from Texas, all the way up the east coast dropping dogs off along the way. She immediately took to my wife. When we brought her home, our other dog that we had since 2002 cuddled with her and they got along immediately. Even our cats liked her (after a couple of days)!

For Madeline, it was on Thanksgiving weekend 2010. Our first dog, Hunter (a golden retriever) passed away at the age of 8 after suddenly developing cancer.  This was very hard on our 4-year-old daughter and Hunter’s best friend Roxie.  After some time, we found Maddie while looking for basset/retriever mixes (because of our good experience with Hunter and Roxie). She came highly recommended as having done well with children and cats, and after some discussion, we knew she could be the newest member of the family.  I drove up to Windham New Hampshire to greet the big truck in a bank parking lot, along with 10 other nervous owners. When the truck arrived, Maddie was the last one off.  She didn’t bark or whine, sniffed me a bit, licked my face, and I knew she had won. She’s fit in so very well, playing with our 4 year old and 1 year old daughters, her sister Roxie, and our 2 cats.

How have they adjusted to life in Chelmsford? What are their favorite things to do, places to go?:  Roxie and Maddy are the exclusive owners of our fenced in back yard; our daughter calls it their playground. They like to go for walks around the our neighborhood to check for messages from other dogs, and generally lead a pretty laid back life. They occasionally enjoy exploring along the south side of the river towards Lowell when the weather is nice.