A few years ago, I was doing my daily ritual of scrolling through social media when I saw this older dog, in need of a foster family, so she could get pulled out of a gassing facility. You can imagine the horror - my immediate thought was - "That's us. WE can do it. NO WAY is this pup getting gassed!" The plan was, we'd foster for a bit and one of our friends, neighbors or family will fall in love with her. Easy. No problem.
We already had a pup named Olive who we got as a baby (she was born in the rescue), but we knew we could and had to do much more to help. So here was our chance to be FOSTERS and luckily I had spotted Annie and the adventure began.
She was so thin and barely able to walk when she arrived from Project Hope Animal Rescue in Coldwater, MI. My husband carried her around the house - up and down the stairs to get anywhere we were - she was never able to do stairs very well. And as is so commonly the case our "foster plan" completely worked - It only took 24 hours to find the perfect family to fall in love with her - Us (foster fails). We decided she needed (we needed) our (her) love and care FOREVER to become the adorable boss she was always meant to be - and that is exactly what she did.
Annie was awesome and funny and bossy. She gained weight and strength - she taught Olive to use the doggy door (a task we had failed at, despite using it ourselves as an 'example'). She was very different than Olive - she was hesitant to show affection almost as if she didn't really know what it was. And honestly, we didn't blame her - who knows what she had experienced. But we love hard in our house and she caught on quickly. Even to the point that if she barked just long enough she would get a pupcake (we cave easily and are weak pup parents). Once she escaped the backyard and barked outside the front windows back at the house for us to come outside and take her for a walk. She just waited in the front yard. Crazy - my heart nearly stopped - she was out there ALONE!!! She found a dead squirrel and chased me around the yard with it (Everyone gets a good laugh at my expense on that one). She loved mud and had a knack for finding it and getting right in. Let's just say, she was wild and the adventures were many.
Annie's life was very full. We loved and traveled and spoiled and played and barked and started a business together. That's right, Annie became the CBM (Chief Barketing Manager) of Doggy Do Good - our small family business. Her life inspired us to do more good. Even since her passing, we feel her legacy goes on as our business grows. She was a founding member and we work hard every day to make her proud.
Though she had finally found a wonderful home she came with a myriad of health troubles: she was deaf, had few teeth, cancer, her legs began to give out, in the last few months of her life was having seizures. As is often the case, her time with us was not long enough. Two and a half amazing years after she came to live with us, we had to say goodbye, from a brain tumor. We set up a hospice blanket bed in our home and (with vet supervision) she was comfy and loved right until her eyes closed for the last time.
She will be in our hearts forever and we are so grateful to have had her in our lives. Foster failing was a true gift. Thank you for following our story of Doggy Do Good and us - this is how it all began.
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