A foster parent’s job never ends

PetSmart - Catherine Mabe

This story is part two in a three-part series about The Foster Experience. Check out "The foster experience" to read the beginning of the story of Velma.

Velma Sue is one of the sweetest cattle dogs you’ll ever meet. She weighs in at a petite (for cattle dogs anyway) 35 pounds and has typical cattle dog markings — lots of blue and black speckles with a mask over one of her eyes. She loves people, loves to play, and especially enjoys a good tug toy or game of fetch. But when Velma’s Pet Parent met with some unforeseen circumstances, he was forced to give her up.

Velma Sue was lucky enough to land in the capable arms of New Hope Cattle Dog Rescue & Re-Homing located in Phoenix, Arizona, and more specifically, in the home of veteran foster mom Cindy Morris. Cindy, who has been fostering cattle dogs for two years, had already welcomed over a dozen foster pets into her home, so when it came to introducing a new dog to her already-established pack, she had a routine in place.

“Velma was very timid at first but I expected that because she’d been moved from home to home before New Hope took her in,” Cindy explains. “When she first arrived at my house though, all went well with her introductions to my own dogs, Cheyenne, Captain and CJ. And it wasn’t long before she fit in perfectly with my motley crew.”

As Velma Sue, with the help of Cindy, her husband and daughter, and their dogs, began to come into her own, Cindy decided she was ready to begin attending adoption events. It was at one such event that a potential adopter filled out an application to adopt Velma Sue. Cindy followed up by conducting a home check and an interview of the potential Pet Parent and felt confident when she left Velma Sue in her new home that it would be a good one. 

Regular updates from the adopter assured Cindy that Velma was “a keeper.” That is, until she got a call saying that Velma had gone missing from her new home. While on a hike with her family around a mountain lake, Velma, who was off leash, became scared when some wild horses approached. Being so new to her home, the further she ran, the more she got lost.

That’s when New Hope Cattle Dogs sprang into action. A New Hope crew of volunteers made up fliers with Velma’s photo on them and headed out to the area where she had gone missing. They posted the fliers and even put a call in to the local Sheriff. Not too much time passed before New Hope was alerted that Velma had been found. But she was in bad shape.  

Velma, in her fearful flee, had run through some cactus and her belly, muzzle and legs were covered in spikes. The people who had located the lost dog had found her on the side of a highway (which she had actually crossed) and had attempted to remove what they could of the cactus and gave her water. Cindy credits them with saving Velma’s life.

Cindy, along with two other New Hope volunteers, picked Velma up from the good Samaritan and took her to the emergency animal hospital. The hospital planned to use anesthesia to make the cactus removal more comfortable for Velma. Even so, Cindy knew the recovery process would be a painful one because Velma’s body was essentially covered in painful wound sites that would take time to heal up.

Cindy kept in touch with Velma’s adopters who, since the incident, had decided that things weren’t working out with her. New Hope also felt it would be in the best interest of the dog, who had already been through so much, to be placed with another home. So when Cindy got a call from the hospital saying she could pick up Velma, she was on her way.

“I left right away. I didn’t want Velma to have to be there for a second longer than necessary,” Cindy says. “We got home about midnight and I had to carry her into the house since she was still too groggy to walk. I carried her to my daughter’s room and got her comfortable in bed with her.”  

While rescues, including New Hope, really put potential adopters through a rigorous screening process — including having them fill out an extensive adoption application, contacting personal references and conducting a home check — these rescue organizations and their volunteer foster parents are always prepared to take one of their dogs back should they need to. Like every other dog Cindy has taken in, she knew when she said goodbye to Velma that her door would always remain open to the special girl. “Once a foster mom, forever a foster mom,” Cindy says.

And so, the morning after picking up Velma from the hospital, Cindy helped along the healing process. Velma’s muscles and the pads of her feet were very sore so Cindy took her to work with her. She slept most of the day but slowly came back around and by the next morning, was actually playing with Cindy’s dog CJ. “What a resilient and strong dog,” Cindy says.

When it came time again to find Velma Sue a home, Cindy was up to the task. And it wasn’t long before she found herself introducing Velma to a mother and daughter team and their dog, Beau (a 3-year-old male Golden Retriever-Cocker Spaniel mix). Beau and Velma were fast friends. There are even two cats in the family and by all reports, Velma loves to play with one of them. They even sleep together on the bed!

“It’s the perfect adoption story for the perfect dog,” Cindy says.

In the final installment of the foster series, meet Cindy’s foster dog Dayzee Duke who came to Cindy carrying a litter of puppies and 18 buckshot pellets in her belly.

Comments