Ken’s Comments:
For anybody who has been around For the Love of Dogs or followed some of the rescue stories in which I have been involved, Angel is no stranger. If there ever was a sad case that was brought to me, where the dog was completely defeated it was Angel. She spent the entire first two and a half months she was with me living in my laundry room. She pooped, peed and ate in there. Nobody and nothing could get anywhere close to her. She was extremely afraid of people and wanted nothing to do with any of my dogs. At the time, the only being that could get close to her was a small kitten I had just adopted. The kitten was really curous about Angel, kept hanging out in the laundry room and eventually Angel bonded with her. For more on her back story click here and here…oh and have some tissues on hand.
Unfortunately Angel was returned to Heavenly Creatures last summer when her adopted family thought it unwise to keep her. I immediately took her back under my roof. She was comfortable with me and mine and settled back in like she had never left.
In September, Heather approached me inquiring about the possibility of adopting Angel. I was overjoyed with this idea. Heather is an administrator on the For the Love of Dogs group, is a very dog knowledgable person, has a great home for a dog like Angel and even more importantly, as I said in her earlier success story , I consider her family. Them taking Angel into their home meant I knew Angel was going into a great home, I could see her progress and see her on an almost weekly basis. It was better than I could have hoped.
The placement would not be without challenges. Heather and Ed had Champ who was used to a single dog household, they also had young twins. This could have created problems for a skittish dog like Angel. I was very proud to see Angel step up to the plate and take it all in stride. The adoption happened over time, allowing Angel to slowly adjust.
Angel is now settled in and quite the integral part of their family. Angel will ALWAYS have a place with me and mine but I am so happy she has found a great new forever home.
Here is her story from Heather
It seems like I've known about Angel ever since I joined For the Love of Dogs, going on 5 years ago. I knew she had had a rough life, and that she had a special place with Ken because of it. I had the opportunity to meet her a few times over the years when Ken was dog sitting, but because she had a home, I didn't think anything else of her. Until last summer. I found out that, after giving her a home for a few years, her family decided not to keep her anymore and left her with Ken. I had already been thinking of getting another dog but hadn't done anything about it to that point. I knew as my then-2 year old twins got older, we'd be gone more often to various activities, so I wanted Champ (our beagle mix that we had adopted from SPCA in 2010) to have some company. So I told Ken that if he was willing, I wanted to see how she and Champ got along and walked together, after I got home from vacation as it wouldn't be fair to unsettle her again so soon.
About a month later, we were home and settled from vacation, so I approached Ken on the walk and asked to take Angel. Champ was curious about her, Angel was interested in him but not me. She refused to look at me the entire walk around Quidi Vidi. And she was clearly nervous and unsettled every time I tried to pet her. I took her again the next day, and she slowly started looking at me, but only when we stopped. The third time I walked her, she was looking at me for guidance the entire walk, and had noticably grown more comfortable with me. By walk four, she came voluntarily out of Ken's vehicle to me, and let me leash her. Then I decided the time was right to see how Champ would deal with having her in "his" house. Ken took her over for a visit, during which time Angel mostly kept to herself, with a few interactions with Champ.
Naturally, I wanted to know more about her background and what I might potentially be getting into with her, especially since I have two preschoolers as well. That's when I found out she had actually been picked up as a stray years earlier, and sat in a shelter for about a year before Heavenly Creatures took her into their care, and brought her to Ken for help. She was adopted by a family who decided they could no longer keep her, and now here she was, once again living with Ken. She was extremely skittish, and nervous of people, particularly men - although she was great with other dogs. My kids and I loved her, Champ seemed to enjoy her company, and she seemed happy enough with us, so I decided to try to convince my husband to adopt her. It wasn't easy, but he finally relented, and she's been living with us since the end of September 2014.
In that time, she's really come around at home and walking. She's settled in really well, and faster than we expected. She's definitely more comfortable, and is very happy. She initiates play with Champ, loves back and belly rubs, and quickly learned to stay in the dog bed when we eat in the kitchen. Within a week, the dog who wouldn't get on the furniture even when invited was sleeping on my bed. We had two sets of company stay with us over Christmas, and she was great with everyone. We couldn't ask for a better addition to our family!