Rescues Can Bless You

There is a lot to be thankful for this holiday season. Emily shares what she is most thankful for, her two dogs, Bowie and Sky. Before we introduce you to Bowie and Sky, let’s give you some background on how Emily found her furry soul mates. Emily is a twenty-three-year-old recent graduate from the University of Mississippi. She now is a full-time nurse in Tampa, Florida. Emily grew up in a household of five rescue dogs over the course of her childhood. She dives into the stigma around rescues versus adopted dogs, and the process of fostering and adoption.

Fostering was heavily encouraged in Greek life at her university. She shares how every girl in her sorority would sponsor a dog. After she graduated from Ole Miss she moved to Tampa, Florida, where she lived with a roommate. Both she and her roommate took in two foster puppies. Then, she fostered her “favorite,” pup, Ringo. “I loved Ringo to death. He was the cutest foster dog.” Ringo had a lot of trauma being a stray. He was found with bruises and cuts covering his body.

Emily had Ringo for a little over a month before finding him his forever home. She posted Ringo on Facebook, hoping someone would want to continue fostering or potentially adopt. Sure enough, a family an hour outside of Emily’s hometown in Illinois wanted him! They said he looked just like their last pup and would fully adopt Ringo into their family. Emily drove eight hours home with Ringo for Thanksgiving, to drop him off at his new home on the way. Ringo is now a five-year-old boy’s new best friend. Ringo’s new family loves him and still keeps in touch with Emily today.

Ringo

After dropping Ringo off, Emily spent a little time alone before fostering again. The same shelter had called saying a mom and her five puppies were found dumped in a box in a parking lot. Emily knew she just had Ringo, but how could she say no to a mom and her puppies? “I was not about to have them be in a shelter all night for who knows how long.” This was still a difficult decision since the mom didn’t want to be separated from her babies so it was kind of a package deal.

Emily ended up taking them all in, but boy was it a lot of work. The puppies constantly pooped all over the place, and had to be fed almost every two hours! Luckily, her roommate had moved home. However, Emily was doing all this work alone during the Covid pandemic. The silver lining in this was while Emily realized how much work puppies can be, she grew to want to adopt one of her own.

Mom and her five babies

During the pandemic, shelters started closing slowly. Emily knew she had to act fast if she wanted to fully commit to adoption. With COVID, it was hard to book any personal appointments so she applied for several dogs online through Petfinder. When she saw the photo of Bowie she knew he was the one. Emily went to the shelter to fill out some adoption papers. Once the paperwork was settled they just brought him out saying “he is all yours.” She never even met him before and now, she owns this puppy. Three years later, Emily adopted Bowie’s new best friend, Sky.

Sky (left) and Bowie (right)

Emily added Sky to her family a little over a year ago. Sky will turn two in February. While Emily knew she was ready to adopt a new friend for Bowie, it was still a hard decision to make being in her early twenties. She goes on to share the struggle of living alone in a new city, and the amount of money that goes into caring for an animal. “But it wasn’t about the money for me,” she says, “I would drop any amount of money on these dogs for anything they needed.” “I would take away from me to give to them.”

Being a dog mom presented Emily with some challenges. One is that she can not leave them alone all the time. She has to walk them, entertain them, feed them, and take them to the vet. Emily recently traveled out of town for five days and paid one of her friends around $450 to watch them. “It’s a commitment, I can’t travel as much anymore.” This can be a challenge for a young twenty-year-old in adopting a dog. This is why fostering was a short-term easier option for Emily before she had the financial stability to adopt two of her own.

Emily made it her mission when fostering to either find them a new home or, continue fostering them longer. She refused to send them back into a shelter. “I always knew they were going to a better place, they were never going back to the shelter.” With Ringo, she ended up fostering him for a little over a month because he had nowhere else to go. Ringo also tested heartworm positive, which is a very expensive treatment for a dog. Because of this, it was hard to find someone who would want to do that and pay for all of it. Luckily, that family still took him in.

Bowie and Sky were a blessing for Emily. She loves to see their friendship grow and her love for them even more each day. If Emily had not fostered before adopting, she would not have known all the commitment and love that needs to go into a dog. Or, all the physical, social, and mental benefits that result from her dogs.

Bowie and Sky continue to keep Emily active, by forcing her to walk them three to four times a day! By walking them to dog parks in her area, Emily has met several people. “When the dogs play, the owners talk,” Emily admits it was hard to adjust to moving to a new city in her early twenties where she knew nobody. But by walking her dogs around her complex, she has met a community of friends who also have dogs. She said they still plan dog birthday parties for each of their furry friends. Emily has also formed relationships through fostering and rescuing at her local shelter. They know they can always call Emily when they need a dog properly cared for. Obviously, now that she has two dogs of her own, this is not the case anymore.

Emily encourages others to educate themselves on dogs and hopefully foster too. There is a stigma around rescuing versus adopting from a breeder. Some people perceive recuses as being more “sick,” or having other problems. This is clearly wrong and not always the case. Emily grew up in a household that only took in rescues, all of which were healthy and continue to live their full life. If it was not for Emily’s background of fostering, she may have never been led to adopt sweet Bowie and Sky. Upon ending our interview, Bowie chewed on one of Emily’s airpods…” I still love him despite the pain!”

Do you want to start your fostering journey? Fill out this survey here to get started.

Subscribe to our newsletter here:

https://canineconnections.org/follow-us/

Check Out Our Socials:

Facebook | Instagram | TikTok | Twitter