New fosters

Last week I brought home a sweet but shy female named Birdie. She's the probable dobie/pit mix on the right in the picture below, and she wasn't doing well at the shelter. She was scared to death, but she didn't seem to be a fear biter. Nevertheless, she wasn't going to do well being put up for adoption because she would bark ferociously as stangers approach her. The good news is that it doesn't seem to take much to move from "stranger" to "trusted friend." I brought her home as a foster from the Charlottesville-Albemarle SPCA to see if I can get her better socialized. Ideally, I'd like to get her to the point that she's not scared of strangers and then return her to the SPCA to be adopted.


Justin (as in "just in time") was originally in a shelter somewhere near Richmond, Chesterfield maybe. I don't know how he came to be there, but he was adopted out by an apartment dweller. The landlord changed his mind about allowing her to have a dog and she was in the process of returning the dog to the shelter when a volunteer from another rescue group found the tearful woman in the parking lot with Justin. This other volunteer ended up taking the dog home, but she contacted VGSR about taking on the dog.

I drove to Richmond today to pick up Justin and he is a wonderful dog. He was a bit intimidated by me at first but he later tried to climb over the crates in the back of the van to get up to the front seat with me on the drive home. He will get a lot of interest from potential adopters if I put him on the VGSR website. However, I have two potential placements for him that I know of already. It would be nice to place him that way so I can't have to deal with all the emails and inquiries from marginal applicants.