We are back to it, the original mission of Furever – fostering a dog on the journey to a furever home. Now privileged to share in the rehabilitation of Henry, rescued with 48 others from a hoarding situation in San Antonio, TX. Sixteen of the dogs were pulled by 3 different rescue groups; 33 were euthanized a mere 2 days after the seizure. Niagara Dog Rescue is the Canadian rescue partner. https://www.facebook.com/oldskyharbour49/

Adopt a Dog’ Here’s Henry

Henry is a sable-coated dog about 25 lbs, about 18″ high at the withers, of indeterminate age. Breed-wise, its anyone’s guess. Imagine a Schipperke (pronounced “SHEEP-er-ker”) body crossed with a tiny German Shepherd, including tail, and you’d be in the ball park. His coat is thick and sable colored – it varies from light yellowish-brown to dark brown, nearly black over most of his body with some whitish hair in his thick ruff, and black face, tail and stripe down his back. His left eye has suffered some damage, or perhaps he was born that way – the eyeball is there, its sighted, and it is inset and smaller than the other. Curiously he tends to face new people and things with that left eye.

Personality-wise, Henry is still revealing himself to us. We do know that after a week in foster care, he knows and responds to his name, comes when called when he is inside, will go into his crate on command, takes food and treats from the hand, waits to go through the door, will stand for leash on/leash off, and now follows on leash. We walked him leashed in the backyard for the first week. He appreciated the repetition of following the same routine and route; having expectations met calmed him. Now he is starting to be more adventurous; we took our first street walk today (day 8) and he did great, no pulling, no circling, no panic with cars passing.

Henry is not a noisy dog. The only time he vocalizes is when he truly needs to go outside or has a physical need like an empty water bowl. He does get excited for dinner, eats well, and has favourite treats. He is reliable potty trained. Now that he know what to expect, he gets excited for walks outside, and when people come home. He sleeps quietly overnight in his crate, and is crated while people are out of the house, typically for up to 6 hours per day.

He has been slowly introduced to the three resident chihuahuas. He ignored them at first (understandably, they are the size of guinea pigs!), now hangs in the same room with a tail wag greeting otherwise without fuss. We will be introducing him to more, and more varied dogs over the next few weeks.

He has been cautious with new people at the house, not approaching them but willing to drive by and be in the same room, no barking or fearful reaction shown so far.

He is happy to hang out and sleep on the sofa while we work on projects in the same room. He’s just as happy to be on his own in his room independently while other things go on in the house.

Getting Familiar

In the last two days, we have been increasingly able to pet Henry. He enjoys scratches under the chin, behind the ears, strokes on the sides, and a little massage on the shoulders. As he becomes more confident in his interactions with people, specifically with “his person” when that happens, it is likely he will come to love being loved, just as any rescue dog does.

Henry is not the only dog still awaiting a furever home. Charlie, Carlos, Ashley, Simba and Christopher are also survivors of Skye Harbour with Niagara Dog Rescue. If you are interested in saving a life or two, please visit https://www.niagaradogrescue.org/adoption