This is a happy-ending story.  Meet my 8th foster, Martie.

Martie was extremely shy in the shelter.  In fact, last November, when I met Martie, she wouldn’t get off of her bed in her kennel.  People had to pick her up and take her outside, where she was a little more comfortable, but still wary and anxious.  In fact, I actually wrote about working with Martie in the shelter in this post.

So, after that post, Martie went into a two month foster with someone else over the holidays.  While I was fostering my seventh foster, I got a call from the SPCA saying that they wanted to see how Martie handled the change of moving to a different foster.  Since I worked with her before, and I knew what to expect, I agreed.

Within the first day of her foster time with me, she bonded.  She would follow me around, run and jump around in a playful manner, and interact with my dogs.  Now that we knew she bonds easily to a new person, we needed her to overcome the last obstacle, the shelter.

As soon as she comes into the shelter, the sights and sounds overwhelm her and she would shake and retreat into herself.  She wanted to be right by my side.  So I took her out to the play yard and we ran and played there.  I took her back two more times, focusing more where she was most comfortable, outside in the play yard.

When I took her back to the shelter the last time, so she could be put back on the adoption floor, she was still unsure. I had a long debriefing talk with both the previous foster and the behaviorist to figure out what would best suit her into getting adopted.

Well, I’m happy to say that last Sunday, she was adopted by a sweet, loving family with three other dogs.  She is going to do so well, and I wish her the best in her new home!

Have you ever worked with a timid dog?