I’m sure you’ve heard the term “forever home.” It was originally adopted (pun intended) by animal welfare organizations to impress upon people that pets are not a temporary accessory, they’re a lifetime commitment. We do everything we possibly can to find forever homes for the animals in our care. We reduce barriers to adoption. We educate potential adopters on the importance of vaccinations and veterinary care. We also work with hundreds of transfer partners; rescue organizations, other shelters, and individuals who specialize in medical and behavioral rehabilitation. We even have a palliative care program that supports home care for animals who may be chronically or terminally ill. In short, our goal is to find a forever home for every animal that comes through our door. When we can’t find them a home quickly, our anxiety kicks in because we know, the longer they stay, the greater the chance that their health or their temperament will deteriorate.
Our aging shelter was designed using outdated animal welfare concepts. 30 years ago, dog wards with kennels across from each other was a common approach to reduce costs and utilize space. We now know that when dogs are facing each other for days, weeks or months at a time, their stress rises dramatically and their health worsens as a result. Cat rooms located adjacent to dog wards have a similar effect, increasing stress and making the cats more susceptible to upper respiratory infections.
Despite the obstacles inherent in our current building, our team does a fantastic job. While other organizations struggle to keep animals healthy inside old or failing facilities, we have developed one of the most successful and robust foster programs in the country; keeping animals temporarily in homes until we can find them a forever family.
The one obstacle we can’t overcome is time. We know that the longer the stay, the more likely the animal is to develop health or behaviour problems. That’s why we were all so nervous about Blaze. This young, high-energy boxer mix arrived in April of last year. He quickly established that he didn’t like other dogs and he hated going back into his kennel. He was exactly the type of dog that would decline in a shelter like ours. We did our best to provide enrichment and training but more than a few times during his stay, we weren’t sure he’d ever find a home. Each week our Quality of Care Committee would talk about how he was doing, and each week they expressed concern that the longer he stayed, the worse he was getting. In November, seven months after his arrival, we finally found a foster home for him. That felt like a massive victory. We watched in wonder as his foster volunteer sent us videos of Blaze learning commands, playing in the yard and even ringing a bell when he needed to go out. When he was returned to the shelter over Christmas, our fears returned too. For a while, he stayed in my office, but he hated coming back in from his walks and he started to become destructive. We could hear that giant clock ticking away on his potential.
On March 30^th, 356 days after he arrived, Blaze returned to the shelter one last time. He played in the foster room, cuddled with the staff and then, almost a year after bouncing through our door, he bounced out with his forever family. The happy tears were flowing throughout the building but, if we’re being totally honest, we cried tears of relief too because we knew that Blaze was one of the lucky ones. Despite showing dog aggression and barrier aggression, we were able to find him a foster home and eventually a forever home. Unfortunately, that relief for Blaze was replaced by anxiety over Maggie and Claire and Caillou and so many others. Your support and donations give us the flexibility to provide this level of care for this length of time. If you can’t donate, maybe you can open your home to an animal in need. Fostering is a critical tool especially for long-term stays.
In the meantime, we’ll continue to cry when we find that elusive forever home, we’ll cry harder when we can’t, and we’ll live with that underlying stress, because in the end, the successes always outweigh the failures. It’s a small price to pay for finding forever homes.