Blog

Marlee - 7/12/20

Name/Age: Marlee - 5 y/o

Family Members: Sofia & her husband

How long has Marlee been in the family? Foster since January ’20, officially adopted in April 20’

Profession: College Student/ Student Teacher

Location: Atlanta, GA.

Nicknames: Mar, Bunny, Sunny Bunny

5 words/phrases that best describe Marlee?

  1. Affectionate

  2. Velcro Dog

  3. Sweetheart

  4. Misfit turned docile couch potato

  5. Lil Mama - we call her our resident bunny rabbit! HaHa

What makes Marlee unique? Resilient regardless of her past life. She has become somewhat of a breed ambassador.

Happy Girl!

Rescue Story: I went to visit dogs at my local Lifeline shelter to see if I could take home a dog with their “weekend warrior” program (basically 2 day temporary foster) because I was planning on going on a hike the following morning. I stopped by with 30 minutes till close with a dog in mind. When I arrived I found out she had been taken home to foster only a few hours earlier. I messaged a volunteer friend asking for a recommendation, and she told me “Sandy” needed a break. I had seen her previously but never had desire to meet her due to her intense and not so nice kennel presentation. I took her home anyway and she won me over so fast! She first got to the shelter when picked up by AC as a stray. She was later reclaimed, then showed up as a stray once again. After a few months, she was adopted, then found as a stray yet again a few weeks later! After returning that time, she spent about 300 days in the shelter. She was labeled as “challenging” by staff due to her kennel behavior and only had a couple of volunteers willing/able to walk her. We decided to adopt her once she completed her heartworm treatment!

First week at her Foster soon to be forever home!

What is your favorite pastime as a family? We live next to the Chattahoochee trail, and she loves going for walks there. She also loves a good car ride, and is aware that a starbucks run means a cup of whipped cream for her! She is also super affectionate and likes to squeeze herself onto your lap to cuddle!

What is life like since you rescued Marlee? She has totally transformed since her shelter days, Marlee is a totally docile sweet baby now. Even my mother (who was previously scared of pit bull type dogs) adores her and asks for photos all the time! She has made herself at home and we all absolutely love and spoil her the way she deserves to be loved. She completes our family!

Photographers Note: Two things I want to touch on regarding Marlee. First of all, her ears are the cutest things on the planet. (see photo below on how they lay on her head in a relaxed state). They remind me a little draw bridge and when she see/hears something of interest they unfold and go up. So adorable……

The second thing is shelter behavior. Marlee is a great example of how you can’t judge a dog by how they are in the shelter. Shelters are very stressful places for most dogs, especially one that has spent 300 days there. If you give a dog an opportunity to relax and decompress you may find yourself the perfect forever best friend. There is not a single sign of the stress she experienced in the shelter in this sweet girl. She was happy and loved being able to explore the trails, very curious and all about the sniffs. This did not prevent her from giving a couple thank you kisses to the photographer when we were all done. So happy that Sofia and her family gave this girl the chance she deserved and now she is definitely living her best life!

Ear evidence!

Anha - 7/4/20

Name/Age: Anha - 7 mos. old

Family Members: Rebecca & one foster dog sister

How long has Anha been in the family? 3 months

Profession: Recently graduated from graduate school at Emory University

Location: Atlanta, GA.

Nicknames: Baby or Baby Shark

5 words/phrases that best describe Anha?

  1. Loving

  2. Goofy

  3. Smart

  4. Friendly

What makes Anha unique? She has the biggest grin and a special way of force loving you with more weight than she actually weighs.

A taco with a smile!

Rescue Story: Anha’s story is a little vague, she was abandoned at a neighbors house. This neighbor allowed the children of the neighborhood to take her to the park multiple days in a row, unsupervised. She ended up biting one of the kids that was on a swing. She was then turned into Fulton County Animal Services as a bite case at just 3/4 mths old. She was in the shelter for a few weeks and I took her home to foster. She had worms/fleas/mild case of mange but is now healthy and crazy happy! She is by no means vicious but was very afraid of children and large males when I first met her. We have been working hard on our training and now are totally fine with everyone except children running straight at her. Luckily this is something we can mostly prevent and continue to work on.

Sweet Ahna at the shelter before heading to her forever home.

What is your favorite pastime as a family? We love to go out to meet dogs and people at patio’s all over Atlanta

What is life like since you rescued Anha? More chaotic, but definitely better! She keeps me on my toes and laughing.

Social Media Account: She is on Instagram: @drinkingwithdogsatl all the time with our patio hopping adventures, but doesn’t have her own account

Photographers Note: Rebecca volunteers at Fulton County Animal Services and that is where she and I met. She helped me pull dogs to photograph before one of their big adoption events a while back. I told her about this project so when she adopted a pibble of her own she reached out. I know Rebecca fosters a lot of dogs and I asked why this one? Why was Anha the foster fail? She said because of her background she didn’t want her falling into the wrong hands & I am pretty sure that adorable pit bull smile won her over in a second. Anha is a very well trained puppy, she did so well for the photo shoot and I even got to experience the “force love” that Rebecca mentioned above when she bowled me over while getting into my lap! It’s always a bonus if you get some information about a dogs history when adopting from the shelter, as a tool for training and socialization, not for judging. Rebecca is the perfect person for Anha in that regard because she will work with her on her fears and ensure she is setup for success throughout her life. I mean seriously have you seen a more adorable smile on a pup??

Auggie - 6/28/20

Name/Age: Auggie - 7 yrs old +\-

Family Member: Debbie

How long has Auggie been in the family? 1 year

Profession: PR/Advertising/Marketing/Sales

Location: Decatur, GA.

Nicknames: Handsome, Sweet Pea

5 words/phrases that best describe Auggie?

  1. Enthusiastic

  2. Handsome (People always stop and tell me that)

  3. Lover Boy

  4. Snuggle Bug

  5. Opportunistic Eater

What makes Auggie unique? He sticks his head in the shower to lap up water dribbling down my hand. So we have to play the watering game where I keep water running down my arm for him and he keeps lapping it up. He must be one of the happiest dogs on earth. He only barks if he wants to be let out in the yard, or when someone rings the doorbell. (Or hears one on tv.)

Rest and Relaxation time!

Rescue Story: He lived at a car repair shop and was apparently left there by a former employee. He learned my voice from my frequent visits (with two older cars) and would come out to see me. Owner saw how much we enjoyed each other and one day he shouted out, “You want him?” and I said “Yeah!” There are no puppy pictures of him. I’d love to see what my handsome boy looked like when he was a puppy. The first night together, he kept getting up and licking my face. Was the best sleepless night ever!

Auggie at the shop before his life changed forever!

What is your favorite pastime as a family? We take car rides to Ace Intown Hardware. Everyone there knows him; he barks when we go in to let everyone know he’s here! I’ll hear “Hey, Auggie!” from the back of the store. Many employees and customers pet him, and employees give him treats. Then we go outside and sit in the chairs and watch the world go by for a while on nice days. It’s good socialization for him.

I’m always buying new squeaky balls. He goes nuts over the sound, and he usually kills it in five minutes. I have to keep the spares in the trunk of my car so he can’t get to them. We play with three balls at a time so I can keep him chasing one instead of him playing keep away.

What is life like since you rescued Auggie? Best decision I ever made! The house was cold and empty; now it’s full of sunshine with him here and we’re both smiling a lot. He truly is the light of my life! Auggie got attention at the shop, but not much affection. He’s always by my side, and I sing him to sleep every night. He loves to rearrange the pillows and steal my space in bed. I have to help him into bed since he tore both his CCLs chasing squirrels for the first time just after I got him. We slept on a mattress on the floor in the den from September through April between his two surgeries. He has a large fenced-in yard, and a shady neighborhood to walk in with lots of four-legged and human friends to greet. We’ve made friends with so many neighbors and everyone knows him! Before he only had short leash walks on a concrete sidewalk, he didn’t have any doggy friends, and he didn’t know what to do with a yard. Now he has a best friend, Jack, the standard poodle, and we have play dates in our yard since it’s fenced in.

Photographers Note: Had some firsts with Auggie’s photo shoot. When I arrived he was pretty shy at first but warmed up quickly. For those who have volunteered with SALA before you know I use a squeaky duck to get the attention of my furry subjects. I also don’t allow the dogs to get to the duck because it was the only one I found that I can easily squeeze with my knees or arm pit, and can’t risk it getting destroyed. Well…I did not take into account Auggie’s love of all things that squeak. When he saw the duck it was game over. I quickly tried to hide it in my bag, which was on top of a little table. NOPE…he jumped on the table and wouldn’t give up; not even a treat would change his focus. So I let him have it briefly ( the first dog to win possession of the duck) while Debbie went inside to get his ball. Then he was all about the ball and could careless about the duck. This also led to I believe our first bow tie shot with a ball in mouth (looked back and couldn’t find a past volunteer but of course there have been a lot) and it’s pretty adorable; maybe need to start a new trend!