Selena

Remember Selena?  She was one of the first dogs I ever fostered.  She'd been sitting in a shelter for many months before I brought her home.  She wasn't house-trained and seemed to have no idea how to behave in a house.  She had a lot of energy, and she spent all of her time at adoption events barking non-stop.  I feared if I didn't bring her home as a foster dog she would never get adopted.  So she came home with me, and we started working on house-training and manners.  And she was the first dog to give me that great feeling of success as a foster mom, knowing that I made a difference in helping them become more adoptable.  After two months, she had greatly improved.  She was house-trained and much more well-behaved, although she still had that non-stop energy level.  She was adopted to a family with several young children.  Unfortunately two months after they adopted her, the family decided to return her when they found they had another baby on the way.  So she came back to my house, and I feared she would again take months to find a home that wanted a high-energy dog like Selena. 

Selena is wonderful - she is always so happy and just enjoys life.  She reminds me a bit of Noelle in that way.  But also like Noelle, she is not an easy dog.  She knows what she wants, and she is very determined and focused.  And if she doesn't get her energy out through exercise or play with other dogs or other energy-reducing activities, she can make life difficult.  So I feared that finding the right home for her would take some time.  I'm happy to say that I was wrong. 

The day that Selena came back, I remember a lady named Pam coming up to her and asking about her.  Pam said she'd been thinking about Selena for a long time (Selena had been going to adoption events for several months before she was adopted) but the time had not been right to adopt her.  And now that Selena had been returned, and circumstances had changed, Pam thought maybe she'd be interested in adopting her.  I tried not to get my hopes up.  So many times people express interest in a dog and it doesn't work out for one reason or another.  But I agreed to take Selena to Pam's house and introduce her to her other dog.  So the next day Selena and I went and met Pam and her dog, and they hit it off very well.  Pam decided to adopt her, and I waited every day for the next few weeks for a phone call saying that Selena had too much energy and it wasn't working out.  I remember a few months later Pam came into PetSmart and stopped to say hi.  Her arms were covered in bruises which she said were from Selena's rough play.  I thought "OK, this is it - she wants to give her back."  And who could blame her?   So I was surprised when she said she was just there to say hello and wasn't planning to return her.  I figured right then that Pam was someone special, and Selena was one lucky dog. 

Recently I ran into Pam at PetSmart again and she told me how well Selena is doing.  Pam went through obedience classes with Selena and said that really helped as well.  Even after almost two years, Selena has as much energy as ever.  She now has a blanket that she carries around with her everywhere.  It's great to see how happy she is and how well she is doing.