Cinder

In September of 2009 I decided I wanted to become a foster mom. Basically that means that a dog from the shelter comes and lives with you until they are adopted by a family. It is a great relief to the shelters when they have foster families because the dogs do better and that opens up another spot for another animal who would otherwise be put down. So I contacted 4 Paws Animal Rescue, a really awesome program in Logan. I told them I wanted to be a foster parent and they asked me to pick a couple dogs off their website to meet. So I chose a couple and we set a time to meet at the PetSmart. I took Wrigley with me because I wanted to make sure he would be okay with the dog.

Lisa, the 4 Paws director, had brought two girl dogs for us to meet. One was named Dolly and she was a beautiful black lab and great dane mix. The other dog was named Cinder and she was this old, fat, drooling black lab. But the minute we walked over Cinder perked her ears up and started sniffing Wrigley. Lisa was amazed and said that Cinder had never ever acted like around any other dog. Long story short Cinder came home with us. The poor girl had already been through 3 families in her 6 years of life. Her first family she had lived with since a pup with her sister. They suddenly died and both dogs were taken to the pound and eventually picked up by 4 Paws. Cinder’s next family had her for a few months and then brought her back because the wife did not like having a doggy shadow. The third family had lost their home and were no longer able to take care of her. She was returned to 4 Paws shortly before I met her. She was in a sad shape; dirty and shedding with long twisted nails that made it hard for her to walk, she was 75 pounds with a limp, and had a broken front tooth and an ear infection. 4 Paws gave me some medicine to put in her ears.

Wrigley and I took her home and she spent the first night curled up in his kennel on his fluffy bed. The next day I made an emergency grooming appointment with PetSmart and she came out looking like a shiny new lady. We got her nails ground and she no longer had a hard time walking. Since I was her foster mom the goal was for her to be adopted. I was so upset one day when Lisa called and told me a family wanted to adopt Cinder. I called my mom crying and she was like well what did you think was going to happen. When that family fell through I decided that Cinder would be better off with me than anyone else. So on Thanksgiving I made the adoption official. You should have seen how excited she was to get her new collar and tag. She was so funny about it, like she knew she finally had a forever home. Since then we had her broken tooth pulled, started her on arthritis medicine, and she is down to 60 pounds. Cinder has the goofiest personality and loves her brother Wrigley. He has been much happier since she became apart of our family as well.