When Storm’s owner contacted me to ask me to help re-home Storm after only 3 weeks of adopting him, I was heart-broken because the owner and I had rescued him from the euthanasia list 3 weeks before and he has proven to be a very good dog. He’s good with all dogs, big and small, even with her 4-month-old German Shepherd puppy. He’s also good with people. I whole-heartedly decided to help and was willing to do anything to prevent him from going back to a shelter…any shelter…despite the short notice we got. His owner gave us only about 4-5 hours to find him somewhere to stay. I spent all afternoon calling various boarding facilities in the East Bay and South Bay areas and the only place that could take him that same night was going to cost us $120/night plus pre-judgements from the staff against Storm because he’s an unneutered rescue dog.
Just as I continued to look for a cheaper boarding facility that would be able to take Storm that same night, my friend Jen, to whom I had confided in about the situation, contacted me. She and her husband offered to take Storm into their house not just for 1 night but for the whole weekend so I could interview potential fosters and foster-to-adopters for him with peace of mind. I was so grateful for her and her husband that I immediately broke down in tears of happiness and relief!
The first night that Storm spent with my friend, and now BARK Rescue’s temporary foster parent, Jen and her husband, Storm kept pacing in circle and walking back and forth to the front door. He was sniffing their front door as if he was waiting for his mom to come back and pick him up, completely unaware that she was not going to. It was so heart-breaking to hear this. To anyone reading this, if you ever think you want to adopt a dog, please think about it thoroughly because taking care of a dog is a responsibility and a commitment. When you abandon the dog for any reason, it is stressful and heart-breaking for that dog. It is also stressful for a dog to go through as many transitions as Storm had: from his pre-shelter owner, to the shelter where he was almost euthanized, to his most recent owner, and then to my friend/temp foster.
Storm has been through so much but he is resilient! Throughout the whole weekend he was adapting to Jen’s house, husband and German Shepherd. By the end of the weekend, it seems like he became best friends with their German Shepherd!
We did identify someone who seems to be a fit to foster Storm for longer-term and maybe even adopt him! Stay tuned to read about how he’s adjusting to his new long-term foster.