Jan. 31 was a day like no other for the FHN community. A day that will go down in history as the day FHN got a new school pet. The day where young Luna met District Job Coach and Para-professional Alexis Baez and her life began. For Baez, it not only provided a story for the ages but also a new responsibility and an exciting challenge.

“When they’re like where’d you get her, I’m like oh I went into work one day and came out with a puppy,” Baez said.

The morning of Monday, Jan. 31 is when the story begins. Prior to school on that day, Luna was dropped off at the home of a student here at FHN. This student was not able to keep her and was left wondering what to do. They brought her to their first hour class, with the hope that someone at school would be able to care for it and provide it a proper home. Assistant Principal Dr. Erin Steep went to the first hour class, retrieved her and brought her back to the main office for the remainder of the day. 

Keeping Luna in the main office for the day was far from a burden for the people in the main office. Administrators and secretaries alike thoroughly enjoyed her presence. Administrative Assistant RaeAnn Noah took a particular liking to her. She, with the help of several other secretaries and nurses, made sure she was well taken care of during her stay in the office. Noah was going to be the one to take her home, at least until Baez showed up.

“I ran to Walmart and got dog food, almond milk because she looked like she was so hungry,” Noah said. “We went to the nurses and they gave her a blanket. [Office Administrative Assistant] Therese got her a box. You know, we were trying to get her taken care of.”

The news of the new puppy spread fast around the school. She was featured on Head Principal Dr. Lucas Lammer’s twitter, main office TA’s took pictures and videos and soon the whole school knew. Baez was in the first hour class where Luna was dropped off and she knew she would have to act quickly if she wanted a chance to take the puppy home with her. While she wasn’t exactly looking for a new dog, if the opportunity arose and she found a dog that needed a home, she was happily going to provide one. Especially for a dog that cute.

“It just went all over the building,” Noah said. “Lexi came in and said she’d take her. I was planning on taking her home myself, so I’m thankful for [Lexi taking her home] because it sounds like she is in the perfect home.”

After deciding she wanted to keep Luna, Baez scrambled to get everything in order. Baez knew Luna was being kept behind Noah’s desk and went to go and meet her. Baez described it as love at first sight and from that moment she knew she wanted to keep her. So she called her best friend, who is also her roommate, and asked if she would be alright with adding a new dog to their home. With no resistance, her roommate said yes and the rest is considered history. Baez made an appointment for the vet after school and picked up everything she would need to care of a new puppy. 

“I literally made a vet appointment for her right after school that day since we knew nothing about her,” Baez said. “I had to go pick her up toys, dog food and all of that. We didn’t know what age she was or anything. So I had to wait to go to the vet to see what to even feed her.”

Since then, Luna has been safe and sound in her new home. The snow days almost immediately following that Monday provided a great time for Baez, her roommate and her other dogs to bond with Luna and get to know her. Baez keeps Noah and the other office secretaries updated on Luna and all of her excursions. They get frequent photos of Luna and are keeping in good contact with Baez. Luna has fit in well with her new family and, according to Baez, she sleeps a lot and tries to act tough around the other dogs but “chickens out.” She is safe and sound in her forever home.

“She’s a character, she has her own little feistiness about her,” Baez said. “She’s small but mighty and she’s very loud. She’s got longer legs now than I think she’s expecting to have. So she runs really goofy, almost like the dogs that have the mittens on their paws. She’s adjusting to the way she moves so she looks goofy constantly running around.”