Four Dogs Who Were Out of Options

Many dogs we take in came to us at the end of somebody else’s list.

Sometimes a shelter is full. Sometimes a dog has been waiting too long. Sometimes the case is too medical, or too complicated, or too big for anyone else to say yes to. When that happens in Northwest Arkansas, we are the call people make.

Here are four of their stories.

George

George was part of a 20+ dog hoarding situation that no municipal or county shelter would assist with. Dozens of dogs left behind in horrid conditions in a house that was ultimately condemned.

We pulled multiple dogs out of that terribly neglectful situation. George is now adopted and thriving.

Juniper

A vet tech spotted Juniper wandering as a stray and quickly realized she was pregnant. She brought Juniper to us, and Juniper soon gave birth to eight large puppies.

She was a wonderful mom, but she was young and vulnerable, and her puppies grew fast. Before long she could not keep up with feeding them, and they needed formula to thrive.

That is where donors made the difference. Juniper and her puppies got supplemental formula, vaccines, microchips, and spay and neuter procedures for mom and babies both.

As the puppies grew they moved into foster homes in pairs.

All eight puppies found their forever homes. And Juniper’s story came full circle: the veterinary tech who first rescued her adopted her. One stray mom with eight puppies on the way became nine dogs in loving homes.

Ace

Ace spent his entire life on a chain.

When he came to us he was emaciated, his skin was in terrible condition, and he was heartworm positive.

The person who first stepped in to save him had good intentions but was in over her head, and Ace’s future was in jeopardy all over again.

That is when we said yes. Ace went to live with Matt, our director of training, where he finally got the love, structure, and attention he needed.

We never expected him to wait more than 600 days for a family. But we never gave up, and neither did Ace. He blossomed while he waited, growing into the good dog he was always meant to be.

Then the day came. Ace found people with a true love for rescue dogs, and he fit right into their quirky little pack. We live for the updates.

Six hundred days in rescue are not free. That is what donors pay for.

Monster

Monster arrived at a local shelter terrified of the world around him. Shut down and operating in survival mode, he would try to bite anyone who came near him, including the Good Samaritan who tried to help.

Shelter staff did everything they could, but Monster kept declining. He avoided interaction, refused affection, and was at serious risk of euthanasia.

Our team had just enough room to say yes.

Because he is small, we could make space for a behavioral case. What he needed most was not shelter. It was time, patience, and people willing to meet him where he was.

In foster care he began healing, first with our executive director’s family and later working with our director of training. He formed a close bond with his foster sister Nova and rarely left her side. With consistency and trust, he showed us the dog he was always meant to be.

Monster has since been adopted into a wonderful and patient home with another Pomeranian brother that has become his best friend.

What these four have in common

Not one of them was an easy dog to place.

A hoarding case nobody would touch. A pregnant stray with eight puppies on the way. A dog who had never known anything but a chain. A dog who was feral and biting. Every one of them was, on paper, a reason to say no.

That is the part of rescue that does not fit on a flyer. The dogs who need the most are the dogs who wait the longest, and the shelters we work with are not refusing them out of indifference. They are full, and they are out of options.

So they call us, and whether we can say yes depends entirely on what we have on hand when the phone rings.

What it takes to say yes

A dog stays with Big Paws an average of 28 days. In that time we cover their vaccines, microchip, monthly preventatives, food and supplies, and their spay or neuter. Our direct cost for that comes to about $140 per dog.

Ace waited more than 600 days. Juniper arrived as nine dogs instead of one. Monster needed months of behavioral work before he could even be considered. The average is what we plan for. The exceptions are what donors make possible.

Give once, and you cover one dog’s whole stay. Give monthly, and we already have what we need before the next call comes.

Join Us and Save a Life Today!

Big Paws of the Ozarks is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit rescue in Fayetteville, Arkansas. EIN 46-4740246. We work with shelters across Northwest Arkansas, including Fayetteville, Springdale, Lowell, Centerton, Washington County, and the Humane Society for Animals.