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| Woody and Buzz in their shelter plea photo |
In February of 2012, Woody and his littermate were posted on the Orange Cove facebook page. Orange Cove is a rural shelter that is strictly animal control and at that time there were no adoptions from that location and only one volunteer to network the animals. This volunteer was pleading for someone to take these two in and that their time would be up that day as there was no room at the shelter. I could not resist their cuteness and the panic in her post, so I volunteered to foster them. They went to a local family that weekend and the family’s young boy named them Woody and Buzz. Unfortunately, Buzz did not survive the weekend, and so starting on Monday, I fostered only Woody.
I found Woody to be extremely cute and charming. He has a very sweet demeanor, big brown eyes, huge ears and long legs - he looks very much like a baby deer. The first adoption event I took him to, I was so convinced that he would be snapped up immediately that I brought all of his toys, food, leash, blanket and collar with him so that the lucky adopters would have everything they needed. The last adoption event I took him to was in March of 2013. I had long since stopped bringing his bag of possessions to these events. It is still unbelievable to me that he was not adopted in an entire year!
Woody was among the first group of Chihuahas to be approved for a lifesaving program that transported Chihuahuas and Chihuahua mixes to the Minnesota Animal Humane Society. He had been with me for so long that I had gotten very attached and had a very hard time letting him go. I got news from the Minnesota program organizer that he had been adopted only 4 days after his arrival! I still felt that I had abandoned him by letting him go and agonized for two weeks before contacting the organizer to see if I could communicate with his adopter. The adopter was willing to give me adopter’s email address and we soon become Facebook friends, as well. Woody is now “Roscoe” (which means “from the deer wood”) and he has an amazing life! He started out with just the adopter, and is now part of her new family with two twin boys! The adopter posts pics of him regularly and it always cheers me up to see him.
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| Woody in his new Minnesota home |
This Chihuahua program has been highly successful. The program started in 2012 with a test group of 15 dogs and got fully underway in March of 2013. The Central Valley has sent 1,494 of these small breed angels to date. Minnesotans have come to know and love Chihuahuas through this program and they have become very popular. Chihuahuas fit into many lifestyles, are highly portable when Minnesotans are flying to warmer climates for the winter and they have even converted big dog aficionados with their winning personalities. They are adopted on an average of 1-3 days, once they hit the adoption floor.
Shannon Wilson
Woody's Foster Mom
#havehopegivehopebehope #animalcompassionteam #workingtogethertosavelives
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