I adopted Glee in May 2012. I kept her ABR name because glee is what I feel when I look at her. Glee makes me happy everyday. Glee came to me as a foster on Super Bowl Sunday. I was not looking for another dog, I had my little pug, Izzy (pictured right), who has been with me for nearly 9 years. Izzy and I were two peas in a pod. Quite frankly I was not looking to foster, just to volunteer. I lived in a studio apartment and felt it would be way too cramped for a big dog. But, ABR desperately needed fosters. They assured me that it would work; if it didn’t just bring her back. I committed and went and picked up Glee.

Glee was not always gleeful. She was sick with a horrible case of kennel cough, heartworm positive, very underweight, and, at times, surly towards my pug. She needed to be medicated multiple times a day, she growled at all dogs when out for walks and even growled at some humans. I started to think what had I gotten myself into.

I think Glee was holding a distrust inside her from whatever had happened in her past. I just decided to move forward and show her life is different now this is not acceptable behavior. So, everyday with lots of consistent, gentle correction, and a consistent schedule that she could rely on she completely and very quickly turned around. She learned to love and trust again. She found her “glee”, in abundance.

When she was finally healthy enough to start going to adoption events I could not part with her. The decision was clear; she had become another pea in our pod. Izzy and Glee are now best friends. It is hard for them to be apart. Glee worries if she can’t find “her pug” when we are at the dog park. The dog park! The dog that used to growl at dogs and humans, plays with dogs and stops by the humans for pats. I’m amazed. Because from where we started out she has come leaps and bounds. She is a park favorite everyone just loves her. I often get comments about how beautiful, kind, and gentle Glee is.

People will ask if she is purebred Boxer. I used to say, “yes, just not well bred”. Now I say, if asked, “she is part Boxer and part awesome”.
At first it bothered me that I was going to be a “foster failure”, but I now see her as a “foster find”. I would never have found such a perfect, kind, loving, wonderful dog who has added so much love and joy into my life if I had not opened my home to a foster.

I did worry that I would just fall in love with all my fosters, but that hasn’t happened either. I have fostered twice more since I adopted Glee and, although the dogs were lovely, they were just not for me. I was the person that was giving them a safe, warm place to stay while their new family was waiting to find them.

This year Glee is my Christmas gift. It is my hope that she knows how much glee she has bought to my life and that I truly appreciate her everyday. Thank you ABR for helping me open my door to fostering so I could add “Glee” into my life.