I first got involved in rescue right after college when I adopted my puppy Scooby, a chow chow/collie mix, from the SPCA in Roxbury, MA and then started volunteering there. One soon became two when Angus (the cocker) joined our little pack. Angus was severely abused and not on the adoption floor. It was either come home with me or be euthanized due to overcrowding...so we know what happened. I wasn't able to touch Angus for the first 2 months I had him and I relied heavily on his brother to help me show him that not all humans are horrible. Working with Angus taught me a lot about rehabilitating dogs and made me more passionate about rescue.

When Scooby died Angus became depressed so I decided to get him a sister! And so Patti (or Patti is Popular as she was known on FB) the beagle mix came bounding into our lives. I was taking Angus to one of the groomers at Wagtime so the owners were happy to help me select a sister for Angus. With Patti, we learned all about resource guarding, separation anxiety, and perfected our howling at fire engines game.

After I adopted Patti, a small stray dog followed us home after one of our evening walks. He was a feisty little chihuahua mix who loved to mark and try to dominate other dogs. Don Juan, as I called him, became my first Lucky Dog foster. I reached out to LDAR for help and they got him up to date, neutered, and found him his forever home. A few months later on the way home from a 4th of July party, a dog darted out in front of my car. I missed hitting her by only a few inches. Someone had dumped her in the park near my house and when the kids started setting off fireworks, she ran. I followed her into an alley with a bag of dog treats and she was in my car in under 5 minutes. Again, I reached out to Lucky Dog, who helped me place her. Soon after, I started handling at events and then became an official foster.

When Angus crossed the rainbow bridge, Patti enjoyed being an only dog... for about 2 months. She decided she liked our foster Theodore so we foster failed. When he arrived, poor Theodore was overweight and bald from not being treated for a thyroid condition. He also had muscle wasting from being tied to a tree and not getting sufficient exercise. A few months of thyroid meds about 15 gallons of salmon oil later, Theodore's hair grew back. That spring we did lots of rehab and I became an adoption coordinator.

That first summer I taught Theodore how to swim. While he is by no means a strong swimmer, he is the most enthusiastic swimmer I know. On our summer adventures, he can often be spotted WAY out with canoers and paddleboarders, always wearing his signature hunting orange life vest. Safety first! Theodore is, by far, the easiest dog I've ever had. He likes to spend his days sleeping on the couch and has helped make countless fosters feel safe and learn how to ask to go out. He occasionally posts to his IG account (@theodorepudding) between naps and his underwater treadmill and laser therapy sessions (for his spinal and hip arthritis). Last summer Theodore decided to try fostering and took on three kittens. He misses them every day but doesn't miss the litter cleanup.

After adopting Theodore I joined the LDAR puppy team. I have always loved being the adoption coordinator for mom + puppies when we have them. I took on a little black pittie momma named Troian and her 8 pups. All her puppies got adopted and finally, she did, too, only to be returned because she had cancer. So she came to my house as a foster and was accepted into the pack. She was adopted out a second time and returned again, this time for separation anxiety. So off to the oncologist we went and turns out her mast cell tumors were only a grade 2 and Dr. Glassman at Friendship got them out with good margins. And soon after it was another foster failure for us, a name change for her, and our little pack grew by one. Since then Miss Sassypants has had a CCL surgery, found out she is 100% American Staffordshire terrier and has become Instafamous (@misssassypantsthepit). She recently found out she enjoys beer gardens when she attended an LDAR fundraising event at the Wunder Garten.

The Lucky Dog family has been instrumental in making me a crazy dog mom. It's the best job I've ever had and might be the only job I've ever been any good at. I have enjoyed all my roles at LDAR-- driver, handler, foster, ad hoc lost dog coordinator and adoption coordinator. I also enjoy attending or working the annual fundraising events, especially Casino Night and Wags 'n' Wine. The volunteers at LDAR are amazing and I hope you'll join us for laughs, unplanned cleanups, and all the other things that go into making a difference for a homeless dog or cat! To learn more about volunteering for Lucky Dog, email us at [email protected].