Miss Maggie May's Rescue: Grant Report
How did this grant help your organization and the pets in your care?
We used the money to offset the cost of much-needed training for dogs who have been in rescue for a while and one who was very scared of human interaction. Our goal was to help eight dogs. Four of the dogs did not make it to training: Two got adopted and are doing great in their homes, one passed away from kidney failure, and the other one has been responding well to the training his foster is providing.
The stories of the other four are below.
It helped reset a few of the dogs so that we can start getting them to adoption events, building up their confidence and helping our fosters to better understand them and continue helping these dogs to be all they can be.
How many pets did this grant help?
4
Please provide a story of one or more specific pets this grant helped.
Sabrina (first and second photos) was born in rescue over three years ago. She was adopted at 4 months of age and came back to us a month later due to a family emergency. She was adopted out again a few weeks later, and again returned to us due to a changed work schedule. Sabrina was going to adoptions at our local Petsmart twice a month. In the last year, she started to get a little reactive towards other dogs, and not too happy when people would approach, so she started to stay home. We had her evaluated and it was found that she was attached to her foster family and was being protective. Our trainer started working with her by taking her out and about and letting her know the world is still okay. Sabrina will be attending an adoption event this month, but another foster will be handling her. The second pic is a goofy photo of Sabrina not wanting to get out of the trainer’s car when she was brought back home, the first is Sabrina at a cafe. Meet Sabrina here.
Zelda (third photo) came to us very pregnant, and very scared. She couldn’t walk, she was so pregnant. Her foster was only able to handle her and pick her up because she couldn’t run away. Zelda gave birth four days after she arrived. Her foster continued to try to handle her, but as the pups grew, Zelda kept finding places to hide. You could see that she wanted human interaction but was scared of it — she wouldn’t even eat in front of people. Zelda’s foster was eventually able to pet her and give her ear scratches, but very slowly. Zelda started to turn around a little bit after a year in rescue, but only with her foster mom. She was okay with the large resident dog, but not the other dogs or the other adults in the home.
We had to get her over that final bump in her road, so we had her evaluated and it was determined that she would benefit from a board-and-train situation in our trainer’s home. She has made great progress and soon will be returning to her foster home. She still needs a little more work, but our trainer will give her foster the tips and guidance to continue working with Zelda and building up her confidence.
Two other dogs also went into board-and-train situations. Beau needed a little bit more manner training than we could provide and went into a day camp/boarding situation. He is now attending adoption events. The fourth photo shows him from our Adopt Love Adopt Local event here in Tucson. Meet Beau here.
Fifi has been in rescue for more than two years and started getting too protective of her foster mom with other dogs while out in public. She will be attending adoption events again starting this month. Meet Fifi here.
