Sarge goes home!

A couple of months back, we as a family, decided to foster another dog from the local county shelter.  I had seen his pictures at intake, and he was a cute houndy thing, and utterly devastated at being in the shelter environment.  He was well cared for there, I know, but he was terrified.  And that fear showed in every picture posted of him.  And he was on "the list".... he had been there too long.

We humans know what "the list" means.  Many dogs do not, but some do.  Sarge knew.  You could tell.  When Monkey1 and I went to collect him for fostering, he was so scared of us, he would not come OUT of his kennel run!  I think he thought we were there to put him down, or something, rather than our true purpose of rescuing him.

When he got to our house, he slotted right into our house pack, with no squabbles, and really no trouble at all.  He even housebroke almost immediately!  He also began to relax, that very first night.

First night out of the shelter.

As time went on, I made a promise to him, that no matter what, I would not subject him to a kennel environment again, even if it meant finding his new family might take longer.  But it felt like the right thing to do, making that promise.

We took him to various adoption events, trying to show him off to folks, but always we seemed to show up at the slow time, or on the cold weather windy days, when no one wanted to look at a biggish dog.  Until last Saturday, when at last, Sarge's true family arrived.  They found him, and fell in love with him.  They adopted him, and he went home that same day with his new family.  They have been so kind, sending me pics of him in his new home.  He seems to be settling in well, and looks happy and relaxed.

I am so happy for them all!  And though we will take a break for a little bit, from fostering, once the timing is right again, we will foster another dog.  We might also do the short-term foster thing, where the shelter needs a slot for 2-3 days for a dog until they can go to a breed rescue, or on the Freedom Van, or to hold for an approved adopter.

Sarge, chillin' on the pool deck.