Forrest Goes from Alabama to Vermont – Adopted!

The weekend of August 7th, I visited the Hale County Humane Society and met a young pup, then named Boy. Boy won the heart of the shelter’s director, Dee Sullins, and like many other times, Dee asked me to take this dog into our rescue. Unfortunately we are FULL, and adoptions are slow. However, Katie Bourque, a long-time Dog Liberator follower, asked how she could help. What’s wild is Katie lives in Vermont!

It just so happened that Dee Sullins was trying to arrange transport for other dogs in his shelter to Vermont. So I asked Katie to help. Not only did she arrange transport, she volunteered to foster Boy, who is now named Forrest, for The Dog Liberator!

We will be working with Katie in establishing a presence in Vermont, and look forward to the opportunity to save more dogs not only from the South, but from shelters and pounds in her area.
Katie is located in Underhill, Vermont, her zip code is 05489 for anyone who may be interested in adopting Forest.

So far, her description of Forrest is that he’s affectionate, totally housetrained, and quiet as a mouse! We are working on breed identification, and will have more details soon. You’ll find lots of photos on his facebook photo album.

As a side note, I must repeat myself once again, that anyone who wants to rescue can. You do not have to have a business, or be a 501c3. If you have the room, and the time, anyone can pull a dog from a shelter or pound, or foster for a rescue, and make a difference in a dog’s life. The reward is when that dog is adopted, and the dog makes a difference in his new owner’s life!

One of the reasons why this rescue is not named Southeast Herding Dog Rescue, or Pet Rescue by Gisele is because when I first started to rescue, I wanted to create a model that could be replicated. I didn’t want to box myself in and be labeled. I knew I would focus on saving death row dogs, but hoped that one day I could facilitate the start-up of other rescues, possibly throughout the country. It’s been just a little bit more than a year since I started The Dog Liberator, and I believe that very soon, we will have other Dog Liberator’s scattered everywhere!

Katie wanted to get involved, and now… she is! We welcome Katie and Forrest to our rescue, and Thanks!

October 7th Update:

Well, all I can say is that Forrest is off to a roaring start! Katie is fantastic and Forrest is thriving. When he arrived he was quite scared. Why wouldn’t he have been? He had been on a 1,000 mile journey. He had gone from the deep South to the far North. He had moved from a shelter to a home. Yeah, I’d call that quite a transition for a little puppy! Katie has sent these amazing photos of our boy. Looking at them, I think that he is a Pointer/Brittany Spaniel mix!!!

Let me share with you the update Katie sent me with all the details. Notice the efforts she is making to instill confidence and security in this little darling:

Forrest was a perfect choice for his name – he really is Forrest Gump-like! So, let me tell you about him: He is the sweetest most mellow puppy I have ever met. He must have some collie in there somewhere – he is way too smart to be just hound/lab mix. His freckles and coloring I’m guessing are from collie or spaniel?? He also does circles around me in a collie sort of way when we gets excited. From what I know about him, he has been at the shelter since he was about 8-10 weeks old, and is now 21 weeks. He is very shy and will actually pee if a stranger tries to pet him or startles him. (Just so you know – Forrest was so scared for the first few days that I had to pick him up and carry him everywhere – he would just cower and try to hide, or lay down and pee. I was a bit worried at first – he almost acted like a feral dog for the first few days.)

The day after I picked him up I took him to my boyfriend’s home for the weekend. Forrest was mauled by his 3 little girls that poured more love on him than he had ever experienced before! I knew he was going to be completely safe with kids right away- he is such a gentle little soul! They wanted to give him a bath and I agreed. So, two of our little ones 11 and 9 yrs old plunked him in the tub and gave him the worlds longest bubble bath. Poor Forrest just sat there – like a perfect angel.

I clipped his toe nails that same day (again he was perfect) and we practiced getting him used to other people besides me. He doesn’t take his eyes off me and tries to follow me everywhere – clearly I became his person very quickly – everyone else is scary right now. He loves his crate and is now coming out on his own to investigate things and see where I am. His house training has been awesome! Not a single accident in the house, but I do lots of outside potty runs so he has lots of opportunity to go outside.

He has been to the park twice – had to carry him past the football game – way too many people – but then he settled in with myself and a friend and walked on a leash like a pro. He is so in tune with me that he stops if I stop and he looks up at me every couple of steps, he pokes my hand with his nose as we walk every now and then too. Mostly he walks on the back of my heels or with his side glued to my calf. He does dive into the bushes if a stranger approaches and I have to carry him out. His doggie skills are excellent – he has met all kinds of dogs – he’s happy to see them but it’s clearly not a big deal either- Forrest is very neutral with other dogs- just sort of “there”. He doesn’t care about cats or chickens – we checked that this morning.

He really is 100% sweetness! I’ve taken away bones, food, treats and toys with no problem. Tested him with my big male shepherd while he was eating – no problem at all. His biggest issue will be overcoming his shyness with people. So, it will be important that he have a person that will keep him safe as he gets used to them, and is patient with his shyness. He will need someone willing to put some time into getting him used to the world – as he was in the shelter for most of his puppy life. He IS coming out of his shell and starting to act like a normal puppy. He is going to be a great dog!! I just love his gentle nature. He may always be a bit submissive with people, but not necessarily a bad thing. I find it easy to deal with dogs that are this way – he watches my every move and connects with his eyes a lot. He does have those very soulful eyes that just gaze at you like your his hero. As I’m writing this – he’s sitting on my feet with his head in my lap, just gazing up at me…….

All this in just a few days. I have no doubt that Forrest is going to absolutely bloom and be an amazing dog for someone. Could it be you???

April and Lee have adopted Forest, and I hope they send us updates as he settles into his new home! Thanks Katie! Awesome job!