Hello from Delilah & Hannah Sullivan

Best pals sleep ear to ear	We’re always singing your praises

Happy Summer to our AARF pals!!

WOOF!!!

We decided to visit our local PetsMart store on a Saturday morning looking to adopt a new puppy. We had been thinking about it for a while now and the time seemed right. Tramp (aka Scrappy Doo), as we call him now, was lying in the back of a crate while four other rambunctious puppies begged for attention. He paid us no attention and could seem to care less about anything or anyone around. We knew we wanted him that moment! His foster Mom explained that he had been a stray recently saved from a kill shelter. They had told her that he was not trainable, feral and would not be able to find adjust to a home. She felt differently and spent time working with him.

We are glad she did. It has taken some time for Tramp to trust us and sometimes he still holds his judgment. Tramp has now become one spoiled doggy and a great best friend. He is a wonderful guard dog and lets us know if anyone is walking within 100 feet of our home. He loves road trips, long walks, our daughter and his Wooby (a stuffed bear dressed in a bunny costume). Doesn’t he just look like the happiest little man alive... and they said he wouldn’t love or trust.

 

Kathi-

I finally have some pictures of Travis for you. He's doing well. I signed him up for obedience classes at Petsmart and he just graduated from the intermediate class today. He's very smart and well behaved. Two pictures should be attached. Hope you are well.

Stephanie

 

Here are a few recent photos of M&M (Maya and Magnolia) so that you can see how the girls are getting along. Maya continues to be a high energy pup but loves to be cuddled and scratched as well. Thanks to you for giving her a good start.

Sherry

 

Hi AARF!

My name is Jessica Greene. My husband and I adopted a beagle puppy named Amber in March. I just wanted to give a quick update and let you all know that she is doing so well and we absolutely love her! She quickly attached to our 3 year old Beagle, Elmer, and they are best friends. Thank you so much for all of your hard work and for giving so many amazing dogs another shot at a happy life! I have attached some pictures so you can see how she has grown!

Thanks

I am so excited! He is so cute! Thank you so much for sending me the pictures!

The pictures below are when he was 4 months old. Please share them with Janet and the rest of AARF.

Thank you, again.

Love, Tyler

Janet & Debbie:

We have had Harley (aka Juno) for 2 ½ months now and thought you would like to know how she is doing. She has doubled in size and weight since joining our family, but she still isn’t as big as her siblings. She is very playful and full of energy! We named her Harley because she runs full throttle and wide open when she is awake.

She is on her second bed and third teddy bear! We haven’t found much that she doesn’t destroy fairly quickly during the teething time. We are definitely keeping the toy company in business, but we love seeing how happy she is when a new toy arrives!

We can’t thank you enough for letting our home be her furever home! I have attached a picture so you can see how she is growing.

Marcie, Bill, Cora & Harley

Dear Sandy and family 'pack' :

I can't believe it! It's only been 6 months since I found my forever home. And I'm LUVVIN' it!

I am the perfect match for the resident dog in my new home (see our cute pics enclosed) and I'm so good everybody loves me. Being adorable cute doesn't hurt either. And my new pack leader can get sympathy for me with one word when people ask about me! All he has to do to get a big 'aaawwww' is say Katrina!

But the Katrina storm is in my past and my confidence is up. I have settled in wel. Now I have a nice house and a 'people couch' or bed to sleep on. And I get the best dog food, snack biscuits every morning, plenty of play time racing atround the back yard after my playmate and chasing squirrels! I'm walking on air!

I was the star of my obedience class and everyone remarked how attentive I am and how well I responded to the 'clicks and treats' !

And guess what, Sandy ! When you and your human daughter came to see me in April ... I was so happy I screamed ! I went wild and made weird noises I was so happy !

And you know down inside my little Boxer/pittbull heart, that I will never forget you. I will always know somehow that you took care of me for an entire year until the right person came along to adopt me. It's really beautiful when things just work out right..

.

And someday when I cross the Rainbow Bridge (it's near heaven's door) for as long as it takes for you to arrive. That's because you were my real adopter and caretaker first. You loved me enough to keep me safe for as long as it took to find my permanent home. And I will love you forever for that.

Love, Lydia

(adopted October 2008 by Doug Henninger)

I just wanted to give you a Danny update! He went to his first cook out at grandma's house last night. He loved it of course. He is so so so sweet with the babies. My 6 month old niece is facinated with his chair and is red collar and he hung out wherever she was all night. He also met some of our volunteer girls the other afternoon. Their principal invited Danny and me to speak at their pride assembly. I still can't stop calling him Danny, lol. I am not sure we will end up changing his name. He also is really gaining feeling back. I think part of the issue was nerve damage. I came up with a very creative diaper for him and involved shaving his rear to make clean up more sanitary for him and the clippers tickled him. He was wiggling all over the place and he can definately wag his tail. It is pretty common for nerve damage to come back with feeling all at once. The areas feel like they are being stung by bees for a couple days and then all of a sudden you have total feeling again. Anyway, it is early here and I am rambling. I just wanted you to know he is loved and that he also loves dirty laundry. I used to run around in the morning pick it up and leave it in front of the basement door to go downstairs, now it ends up ALL over the dining room. :) Oh well. :)

Maggie Stafford

Dear Aarf:

About a year ago, I saw this strange Corgi/ Terrier mix of some sort at Petsmart on Broad Street. I was instantly enamored and asked how I could take him home that day! I already had a Pomeranian, cat and bird at home, so I took Mercury home to foster him to see how he reacted with the other animals. Well, the first day I brought him home, he ran in circles in the backyard with Layla, our Pomeranian and I knew he was the newest member of our family! Little did I know though that the gods were also adding another new member to our family! Its been a year now, since we adopted Mercury, whom we’ve renamed Hercules and our son is now 6 months old! Hercules is his dog now and is so good with him. They sleep together, play together and Hercules helps clean the food off of his hands all under the watchful eye of our Pomeranian! Attached is a photo of Hercules and our son. We are so happy to have him as part of our family.

Thanks Aarf!

JAMIE BRADSHAW

Janet and Cindy,

Here are two of your great AARF pups! It's very hard to get a picture of them together, so the best I could do was a picture as we're headed out for a walk.

Fergus and Frank (aka Moe) get along great. Fergus took a shine to Frank immediately. They play together all the time - wrestling ,chasing each other around the yard, etc. I thought Fergus would be jealous for at least a week, but he has demonstrated once again what a great dog he really is.

Frank is doing really well. He was very easy to crate train. He walks well on the leash, doesn't get into too much in the house (though he loves shoes) and loves yard work. He is very sweet.

They are terrific!

Marcia

Hi Kathi,

Just wanted to give you an update on one of your foster pups. Briggs (aka Linus) will be 1 year old this week. He also graduated from Obedience school today. He was fondly referred to as the "class clown" but passed his test with flying colors. I've attached a picture of him. He's grown into a beautiful dog.

I hope his brother and sister are doing well (Charlie & Lucy). Please pass on any updates.

We're all looking forward to the warmer weather so we can start going back to Stony Point with Briggs

and his dog brother Sam.

Hope all is well with you - take care,

Kris Griffin

Rick, Shelley, and AARF,

Just wanted to send an update on Dega (short for Talladega, formerly Monty). We adopted him in September of 2008, when he was about 40 pounds. He is just about a year old now and creeping up to 60 lbs. The only problem is he still thinks he can sit in your lap! He is a wonderful dog, has good manners, plays well with other dogs, and loves loves loves to chase tennis balls and frisbees. He stays fit by running with us and roaming around the Bandy field park a few times a week. All in all, we think he is pretty happy, but we know we are extremely happy with him!

Warmest Regards,
Jordan and Beth Lyn

Here are some pictures for you to see, hit the slideshow button in the top left:
Click Here

Moose is doing great!

Winsor with his brother, Rudy (a former AARF dog) and his foster dad, Rick

Buck at his new home

Pearl in her new home.

Teddy Bear and his sister, Lexi

Hi Sandy.

Here are a few pictures of Rudy (the one in black) with Porkchop. Feel free to share the pictures with others at AARF - I am sure they would like to see how much he has grown. I will send you more later. He is such a good boy.

Hello to all of you at AARF.

Just wanted to give an update on Andi.

My wife and I adopted him in March of 2007 after seeing him on the AARF website and pestering Cindy to death to make sure we could get him. We visited him at a stand at PetSmart on Broad and he came home the day after we bought our new home. Everyone was wonderful to deal with and the adoption process was smooth and easy. He was slightly hardheaded and difficult to housetrain but once he got the hang of it he has never looked back. He has been such a joy to us and everyone that we have come in contact with, and has one of the sweetest dispositions of any animal we have ever come across.

We adopted a sister for him from the Richmond SPCA after hearing about her story. She was a 6 month old black lab/ whippet mix that had been brought in with a broken leg and lacerations from a car accident and nobody wanted her. He fell in love at first sight and they are inseparable since and spend most of their time relaxing on the couch and looking for food and or trouble. They both have just turned two with Andi in January and Sweetie in March. We just wanted everyone to know how great AARF is on helping these animals find forever homes and wanted to update all with AARF and Cindy his foster mommy on how he is doing.

Thanks again
Jason and Victoria

Hi Debbie,

Thank you so much for Tanna. She is absolutely adorable & a great fit for the family. Attached is a picture of my son with her. With the warm weather lately, they have been running & playing in the back yard! She also will play "fetch" for hours. She's very good at it!!! Anyhow, thank you again. Please pass this on to her foster mom!

Jennifer

 

 

 

Hi Debbie,

Just wanted to email you to say thank you again for giving us Abby (Dora)! It was exactly one year ago today that you brought her to our house, so we're celebrating today like a birthday for her. She's enjoying a raw hide at the moment. We're getting ready for a big car ride to visit family members for the holidays so that's a special treat for her too. We hope you and your family have a wonderful Thanksgiving. We are truly thankful for Abby and for AARF for rescuing her!

Thanks again,

Serra and Clayton De Arment

 

Dear AARF:

I recently adopted Bruce (now called Fitz - middle in picture), who was fostered by Ashley Nollen of AARF. I cannot put into words how much I appreciate the work she put into fostering this wonderful dog. I am so grateful she rescued him from the King William shelter. I fostered a lot of kittens while I lived in NJ. I know how much effort and love goes into being a foster parent. So I appreciate in a very special way Ashley's care of Bruce/Fitz. His transition into our household has been seamless. I've had dogs before - and had two when Bruce/Fitz came to join us - so I know it generally takes quite a bit of time for everyone to get acclimated to each other. It feels like a miracle occurred in my house, with how peacefully everything has gone. It feels to all of us, and I believe to Bruce/Fitz, like he's come home. Bruce/Fitz has gotten my very shy rescued Beagle, Daisy, to play with him every day for the past four days. They play tug, chase, wrestle. She has not done this with any of the many visiting dogs we've had here (we watch many of our friends' dogs regularly). She trusts him, and she has fun with him. It's beautiful to watch. My other dog, Shelby, a very large Rottie/Dobie rescue, accepted him into the household completely within 48 hours of his arrival. Ashley knows the details about what happened. The point is that I can't thank AARF and Ashley enough for the excellent work done for the animals you help. I know it sometimes seems like a thankless, endless task - but you all need to know what a wonderful gift you've given me, and my dogs (and cats!). Keep up the great work. Thank you all for your dedication and time.

Mary Robinson

Louisa, VA

Dear AARF, Rick, and Shelley:

It has been almost a full year since we adopted Tori from the AARF & we wanted to send you an update and a thank you note for saving her! She has become an asset to our family and a best friend to our toddler! They are contantly playing catch or tag and cuddling up on the floor together to watch movies. We attached a picture of her - its one of the few we have of her sitting down instead of blurs of her playing!! Tori is a blessing, to all of us, and words can never express how thankful we are that you made it possible for her to be in our lives. The past year has been nothing but wonderful with her!! Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!!

Sincerest Regards,

Tiffany, Jimmy, & Matthew

Hello Shelly and Rick,

I wanted to thank you again for saving Louis / Spooky for us. I can’t begin to tell you what a great addition he has been to our family.

We had the whole family over for Thanksgiving (including our 5, 4 and 2 year old grandchildren) and he was the hit of the day. The picture below (and attached) is a photo of Louis running in the backyard chasing balls with the little grandchildren – they absolutely loved him (and he loved them).

We took Louis to Midlothian Animal Clinic last Tuesday and they found him to be in perfect health. The vet reviewed his AARF records and they recommended two more inoculations. We also now have the medications to continue him on Heartguard and flea and tick control. We also had them inject an AKC identity chip, per your suggestion.

Just an FYI - I was pleasantly surprised to find out that Midlothian Animal did not charge for Louis check up when they saw his AARF adoption papers.

Hi Shelley and Rick,

I was surfing the AARF website and saw Dexter's "Adopted" status still listed and thought you might like to know how he's doing.

It turns out that he has a mild form of Epilepsy and takes Phenobarbital twice daily for it. The vet can't tell us why, just that some beagles have it.

He has done really well with the electric fence and has run of the yard (3/4 acre) pretty much 24/7, but does sleep in my room at night.

He also has taken up squirrel hunting and has caught several that I know of. EEWW! He does still enjoy vegetables and I slip him some when making a salad.

One of his funniest habits is to raid the firewood pile and drag logs around front. He also snatches peices of cut wood when my husband is working in the shed.

We have found very few toys that he doesn't destroy. He is a large dog in a medium sized body.

He is also the sweetheart of the street and several of our neighbors really love him. He stands in the front yard and barks until they come to visit him.

Hope all is well with you. Thanks for fostering Dexter.

Kathy Theado

Just wanted you to know I was thinking about you. Meeko has settled in nicely and even did (pretty good) when the trick or treaters came around last night. Terry took him on a car ride to go pick up his son so Meeko missed most of the action. The one really cute thing was when Terry was getting ready to leave with Meeko in the back of his car, this group of kids was coming up to the door and I heard one of them say "Look! There's a mummy in the back of the car!" I told them it was not a mummy, it was a doggie.They were REALLY impressed when they found that out!

Attached are some pics of Meeko being....well, Meeko. He does seem to like being on his back more than anything! I can't believe how lucky we got with getting such a sweet dog!! I don't know if all white Huskies are like him or not, but this one is a SAINT!!! He hasn't met a stranger yet. Everyone who sees him is scared until about 2 seconds later when he licks them and then shows his belly. I LOVE THIS DOG!!!! He spends half his day with Terry (working from home) and half his day with me (I've been on medical leave for the past 6 weeks). I'm almost wishing I didn't have to go back to work!! I'm going to miss him some kinda fierce!!

Thank you again for allowing us the opportunity to have him in our house!!He is the BEST dog EVER!!! And he "sings" a whole lot better than my other dogs did when the sirens come by.....the other two couldn't carry a tune :)

Shockey (formerly Socks)

Dear AARF,

Eric and I adopted Socks (now known as Shockey) last October. Shockey is the perfect companion for us - he is protective and snuggly! He loves children, which is evident when our nieces and nephews visit. His favorite is our 20 month old niece Elizabeth. She calls him "Hockey" and thinks he rules the world! He, in turn, is very careful around her and protects her against our cats!

Shockey is amazing! We adore him so much, and can't imagine life without him. We are very thankful to Jeff and Ginny for training him in all the right ways! Shockey sleeps with us and has his own couch in our den! Shockey is the best dog in the whole world and we love him more than words can say.

Eric and Sarah Froden

PS - the attached picture is Shockey with our young niece Elizabeth.

Brandon

Just wanted to let you see how happy Brandon is with us! It's been a year since we adopted him from AARF. He was very shy and didn't like my husband really but he tooked to me and my two girls. He's now very loving to my husband (Jim) and licks on both of us in the mornings when the alarm goes off. He very friendly and loves to meet new people and animals. He loves to play and we recently bought him Thumper (stuffed rabbit) to play with since he chewed up the last one. Thanks for all the hard work that AARF does.

Sue, Jim, Danielle, & Rachael Buck

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