When a law enforcement officer brought Anna to San Diego Humane Society last fall, employees wondered whether she’d ever had a relationship with a person before. The chow mix was extremely shy and overwhelmed by the sounds and smells of the shelter. After some care, Anna was technically fit for adoption, but SDHS felt she needed something more.
“She was going to be a project, not something just anyone could take home,” says Megan Schmidt, an alternative placement specialist at SDHS’s Escondido Campus. “Dogs like this do deserve a second chance—that’s where our relationships with rescues come in.”
SDHS sent a video of Anna to
A Wish for Animals, a nonprofit pet rescue in Dana Point. The rescue sent someone to meet Anna, and even before she was transferred to their care, A Wish for Animals was already receiving inquiries. They immediately started the process of vetting the potential adopters—getting videos of them, their home and their other pets.
“Anna needed a rescue to step in and try to help her,” says Toni Eakes, A Wish for Animals’ president and founder.
Within a couple days, they’d found an adopter—a woman who works from home and has another dog who’s similar to Anna. “It was somebody that knows the breed, so we felt very comfort-able,” Eakes says.