If you’re tuning into the blog, you’ll notice I am barely catching up on foster dog #6’s story as I’m actively writing and sitting with foster dog #7! Guys, after fostering for Big Dogs, where I would have a dog for at least a month, it is crazy to me that we’ve helped 2 dogs find their forever home, and are working on our third, in a month!!! But seriously, how awesome is that.
Meet Roo. After taking a break for the week, we picked him up on Friday, January 25th. He is approximately a 3 year old Pit Bull mix who was recently returned to the shelter after having been adopted for about 7 months. His first stay in the shelter was almost a year long after he was brought in as a stray off the reservation.
Roo’s story isn’t uncommon in Arizona. So many dogs are found roaming the streets of Phoenix, including our own Roo(ster). However, he was hands down, without a doubt, the most terrified and saddest dog in the shelter last week.
After adopting Ophelia, Josh recommended Roo. He knew Roo did much better in a home and that he desperately needed out of the shelter. Fortunately, another awesome One Love volunteer, Kirsten, overnight fostered Roo more than once during that week, until we could meet him. As I saw the videos of him on Instagram, I questioned how much he really needed us. Weren’t there other dogs who maybe needed us more? After all, here he is playing, running around, and asking for belly rubs. He seemed just fine.
I kind of hinted to Josh, there are so many to help, how do we choose? And he said, just wait until you see this dog in the shelter; he really needs out.
I couldn’t believe the change in dog from what I had seen on Instagram to the one who laid before us in the outdoor kennel. He would not come say hi, did not move, and literally lay there trembling. I could not believe it was the same dog. Once Josh took him out to the play yards, he would not look at, or even acknowledge us, and just wanted to go straight back to his kennel. Whereas Rena couldn’t wait to leave, Roo wanted nothing but the ‘comfort’ of his cement home.
So we brought him home, did our usual introductions, and immediately he started playing. But in between playing, was a lot of pacing around and running from window to window. We weren’t sure if he was looking for something, or someone, or really just didn’t know how to relax. But other than that, he was the same dog I saw in videos.
Fast forward 3 days and this dog is a total ham. He loooooves belly rubs, running as fast as he can, and playing with Rooster and Rufus. He is completely respectful of the cats and old lady Prim and has calmed down a lot.
We are focusing on making him slow down a little bit, in order to not be so reactive of things. For example, he has a pretty bad habit of bolting passed you, which can be so dangerous if a door were left open. This also isn’t very fun when he about knocks you down trying to get out of the baby gate, or door at the same time as you. This is also when Prim gets run over the most, because she’s slower to come in and out and Roo just bolts right over the top of her– not cool man, not cool.
So, while we are letting him decompress, run like a wild man outside, and just letting him get used to his new surroundings, we are also teaching him how to be the best version of himself. When his forever family comes along, we want them to only know this version of Roo, and not the dog we saw in the shelter that day. I am hopeful he’s going to get adopted fairly quickly; who doesn’t want a dog who gets along with people, dogs, and cats?! Either way, he’s with us until that perfect family comes along, and you can be damn sure I’ll be extra picky with this one.
