Animal sheltering has come a long way. No longer a depressing place to visit, progressive shelters are now a resource to communities and animals. They are a temporary stop for a pet before finding a new family member. While shelters like AWLA do everything possible to create a happy and healthy environment, we also realize that some animals just cannot let their true personalities shine while they are housed at our facility.
Staff and volunteers often discover things about pets waiting for homes that potential adopters do not get to see while visiting. Things like finding out that the dog barking in his kennel is actually a quiet and calm gentleman who loves other dogs once outside or the tentative dog in the back of her kennel, actually has a very silly side when relaxing in an office. And while we see these delightful glimpses of a dog’s personality, if what is presented in the kennel is much different, a family in search of a new companion may never see the wonderful moments that we do. For this very reason, we are offering new opportunities to get to know our cats and dogs through fostering and sleepovers.
Tully is an example of how important these programs are. Tully was brought to us by his owners, and had been a family pet for eight years. In his kennel, he would bark and cry. On walks, he was afraid to walk very far. He was not being social around other dogs. Even though he had a team of staff and volunteers working with him, he simply was not doing well in the shelter. We knew that there was a happy dog waiting to emerge, but the shelter was not the place we would see it.
AWLA reached out to our foster community and found a wonderful foster home. While in a foster home, Tully became the dog that he once was. He was able to hang out with the other dog in the home in between naps and treats. After several weeks in a wonderful foster home, Tully was adopted over the weekend and has now found a new family that loves him very much.
AWLA works with foster parents of adult pets to promote and find a home while they are in a home. Fostering is a perfect way to get your dog or cat “fix” even if you are not ready to adopt at the moment. It makes room for another animal to be saved. Most importantly, it changes the life of a dog or cat. For information on fostering adult dogs, please contact our Foster Coordinator at foster@awla.org!
Amy Schindler
Director of Adoptions & Behavior
