Several of you have been following Jessie’s foster story via the great updates from foster mom, Abby. Mom kept us updated every week on her progress; so much so that we couldn’t keep up publicly, but were elated to know how well she had been doing these past five weeks on a personal basis. This was the family’s first time at fostering and, despite all of the encouragement to “fail” like so many of us, they held steadfast to their mission of being a foster … and they succeeded!
Check out what happened yesterday via her latest entry below – great news all around!
Fostering: It’s Like LinkedIn for Rescues!
By Abby (Knight) Symonds
- Jessie (aka Tessie) with her new family
Yesterday, Sunday, was an emotional roller coaster. Since we first opted to be a foster family, we were asked if we were going to be a foster failure. A foster failure is rescue speak for having your foster dog become your forever dog.
Well, I am proud to announce we are a foster success. Our Jessie went home with her forever family yesterday. While it was sad to say good bye to her, I am overjoyed that our fostering her exposed her to new potential families. Her new forever home is with one of my best friends in the entire world and his family.
My friend has always wanted a Jack Russell. He and his wife had had to put down their German Shepherd in the spring. As every dog lover knows, a house is not a home without a dog. So yesterday they drove up from Alabama to my house, and we all drove up to the rescue.
There were so many highlights from our visit there!
- Donna and the rest of the volunteers got to see Jessie for the first time since we brought her home just a short 5 weeks ago. As I blogged before, when you foster you don’t notice the small changes. She was Jessie to us. When she left the rescue on July 12, she was a timid cowering little girl. But yesterday, the Team Russell got to meet our confident, sassy little girl who wasn’t afraid to steal a toy from a mini Dachshund with a Napoleon complex.
- As an extra bonus for all you counting forever families, my friends also adopted one of the tiny Chi puppies. I believe she has since been named Caroline. And Jessie is now Tessie (I saw that one coming.)
- We brought Boe with us and did a little speed dating. We are excited to announce that after she gets spayed, the maybe-a-little-Doxie, maybe a-little-Corgi, definitely a whole-lot-of-love dog formerly known as Bunny will come foster with us. (Us being able to rename her to Molly was a condition of the deal.) She and Boe playing out in the field at the sanctuary together had us in stitches–four big ears flapping in the wind!
Why foster?
- The satisfaction of success – even the little ones. Hearing everyone exclaim how much more confident Jessie was yesterday made every white hair on my black couch worth it.
- The joy of a successful adoption – I got text pics from their drive home of Jessie snuggled in for the ride, looking out the window, playing in the yard once they got there. There is no greater feeling then knowing I was a part in making this family complete.
- The added exposure for the Sanctuary. My daughter said we cheated because our friends adopted Jessie. I said yes, but that’s not cheating. That’s expanding the market. It’s like Linkedin for rescues. Our fostering Jessie means she was exposed to people who might not have known about her or the sanctuary.
But we started a wall last night of pictures. We hope one day to have it filled – with all our successful fosters. Right now, we only have one very special picture up there. But we can’t wait to add more.
Want to Foster?
Have questions about your commitment as a foster? You can find out everything you need to know on our Foster A Dog page. We do need to mention that, although we appreciate the offer from other states to foster, all potential fosters should live in the Atlanta area to make vet runs and/or to bring the dogs to adoption events or to meet prospective parents.
