Mary Ann came to us on August 27, 2022 after being found living in a backyard with no food or water by our Humane Officers. Mary Ann was emaciated, and had never lived life the way a dog should. She was reluctant to trust us at first, who wouldn’t be after being shown no love. Mary Ann, however, quickly opened up to staff and volunteers and very quickly became one of our favorite residents. Her treatment and recovery included several weeks of feeding schedules to build her weight back up. It also meant getting lots of TLC from us here at the shelter, that way we could show her she was safe and would get the life she deserved.
A month after arriving at the shelter, Mary Ann was fixed and moved on the adoption floor. We were eager for Mary Ann to find her home and knew that it wouldn’t be long. Mary Ann had such a great personality and she really blossomed after spending a month with us. Unfortunately, adoptions
had been slow and Mary Ann was continuously passed up by adopters. This is discouraging to staff, and Mary Ann, but sometimes finding the perfect home is worth the wait. And in Mary Ann’s instance that was exactly the case.
Mary Ann transferred to our GCI Prison Program in October to get her out of the shelter. The prison program is a partnership we have with the Grafton Correctional Institute to get our dogs out of the shelter and give them the opportunity to learn some basic obedience skills! The dogs in the program, including Mary Ann, get one on one time with handlers and learn commands such as sit, down, stay and heel. It also gives us a chance to learn more about the dog’s habits and personality. Mary Ann spent two months in the program, and returned to the shelter in December.
On January 5th, it was finally Mary Ann’s time! Adopters walked through the door and wanted to meet her. They fell in love with her, just like staff and volunteers had, and took her home that day! It is always extra special when we are able to get updates on our dogs, especially ones so deserving of a wonderful home like Mary Ann. Thankfully, her adopters reached out to us recently to provide us this amazing update!
“Since day one, Mary Ann has been the PERFECT dog! She is so gentle and patient and is truly thriving and loving life. She likes off leash deep woods hikes and digging/running around at the beach! She wades in the water but hasn’t quite taken the plunge to swimming yet, but you can tell she will. She loves going everywhere with me – to work, shopping, to restaurants – anywhere they allow dogs! She attracts A LOT of attention everywhere we go because she is so well behaved and confident. People tell me every time I take her out that I’m so “lucky” that she is so well behaved and I tell them it’s not “luck”! It’s all the great training she received at the GCI training program! We are SO GRATEFUL for all your hard work. She has been such a blessing. She snuggles and naps just as hard as she plays. She loves her soft bed and blanket. She digs GIANT holes at the beach and lays in them even when it’s not even that hot out. I call them pit pits. She snores and barks in her sleep sometimes!”
