By Jarissa Aquinde, Positively Woof Rescue and Adoption Story Editor
Marla was adopted by her forever family in September 2014, when she was just five months old. She was given to shelter/animal control in Pasco, WA at three months old and was adopted once before but then returned. Mikey’s Chance Canine Rescue of Kennewick, WA pulled her from the shelter, named her Marla, and placed her in foster care for two months. She was spayed, got up to date on all her shots, and beat kennel cough!
Marla’s forever family found her online and knew she was the right dog for them from the moment they saw her! The last of their pair of Min Pins had passed away, and they really wanted to rescue a medium to large female dog that wasn’t too hyper, but still had enough stamina to go running and hiking with. The rescue took a while to process the applications, and her family was SO excited when they found out their application to adopt was approved! On the three hour drove to pick Marla up, her forever mom wondered what she was doing adopting a dog, sight unseen, but she had nothing to worry about!
Marla’s foster family did an amazing job with her and she was already potty and bell trained. She’s now three years old, and she’s a great mix of energetic but not too crazy. She almost never barks, loves walking, running, hiking, playing with her adopted fur-sister, Dottie, and is OBSESSED with food and treats. She has several little idiosyncrasies: she constantly licks everyone on the mouth (including leaping straight up to do so to unsuspecting strangers and visitors), pulls on the leash at the beginning of every walk (no matter what harness or training technique her mom tries), hates being touched when she’s sleeping, and hides in her crate if you even touch the drawer with the toenail clippers. Her forever family loves EVERYTHING about her!
Dottie was adopted in May 2016, when she was about a year and a half old. Her forever mom had been following Saving Great Animals Rescue (in Seattle) on Facebook for a while and they were constantly asking for fosters for dogs being rescued from kill shelters in CA. They had posted a video from a shelter of two female Pit Bull mixes, in which the shelter worker said that they needed immediate rescue or they’d be euthanized the next morning. Thankfully, SGA committed to rescuing them. Dottie’s forever mom had finally gotten her forever dad on board with the idea of fostering and possibly adopting a second dog. When she got an email from SGA regarding urgent fosters needed, she saw the dogs from that video on the list and she just had a feeling that they needed to foster Dottie (she was named Dottie by SGA, who had only seen pictures of her, but decided it fit because of all her spots). Dottie was pulled from a disgusting shelter in northern CA and transported up the coast with a van load of other dogs being rescued by various organizations.
Dottie’s mom and her human brother met the van at a truck stop about forty minutes from their home. She was dirty, underweight, had a scar, some scabbed cuts on her leg, and had tapeworms. The shelter had vaccinated her, but had not bothered to spay her yet because they planned to euthanize her if nobody had adopted her or rescued her within three weeks. The paperwork from the shelter said that she was found as a stray on the streets in Modesto, CA.
Dottie immediately found her way into her forever family’s hearts. She loved her human siblings and played so well with Marla. Within five days, Dottie’s mom emailed the rescue and asked for adoption paperwork. They got her vetted and spayed and now she’s healthy as can be! She is patient, gentle and the biggest bed-hog and snuggle dog ever. She also rarely ever barks, and she’s great with other dogs and humans (not great with small critters, however – she almost ate their guinea pigs!), and loves to be active, but isn’t hyper. She’s an awesome ambassador for her breed (Staffordshire Terrier)!
Follow this adorable duo on Instagram @mutts_in_suburbia
