When Kelsea McDonough introduced home three 16-week-old foster puppies in May of 2021, she knew her work was lower out for her. Novo, Noah and Nash had been in an overcrowded shelter and have been “extremely shut down,” McDonough informed The Dodo.
“I was told they were scheduled to be euthanized at 3 p.m. the next day if not saved,” McDonough stated. “Everything in me knew I was going to save these dogs.”
Because of their tough begin to life, the three dogs have been extraordinarily timid when McDonough first introduced them home. But Nash was on a completely totally different stage.
“All three puppies were brought to me in one single blue kennel. When I opened it, I started to cry immediately,” McDonough stated. “They were covered in dirt, skinny and glued to the back of the kennel. They just wanted to be invisible.”
McDonough stated that she observed Novo and Noah have been very protecting of their brother Nash, and even when all three have been hiding behind McDonough’s bathroom, Nash was barely seen.
“Nash was at the bottom of the pile, with Noah and Novo directly on top of him,” McDonough stated. “Nash was heavily protected and physically covered by his brothers. I knew then that the trauma of whatever they had gone through affected Nash most. His brothers both knew to protect him from the harsh world they once experienced.”
And when McDonough tried to deliver Nash exterior, he was petrified and wouldn’t let McDonough put him down.
“When it came to Nash, something was just different,” McDonough stated. “From the first day I saw him shielded by his brothers to the first day I tried to take him outside and he wouldn’t let me go, I just knew he was supposed to be mine.”
Nash wasn’t McDonough’s first foster fail. During quarantine, she fostered two puppies with an organization known as A Wish for Animals, and each she and her mom fell in love with the dogs.
“They’re now my mom’s soul dogs, and she says daily how significantly they’ve changed her life,” McDonough stated.
So in January 2021, after a significant life occasion left her feeling low, McDonough determined to offer fostering a go for a second time.
“After a breakup of 10 years and failed engagement, I felt like I had lost almost every part of myself and hit what I can only describe as rock bottom,” McDonough stated. “I found it very difficult to let anyone into my empty world at this time in my life but also knew the path to happiness was almost impossible to go through alone.”
When McDonough noticed how terrified and sad Nash was, even after his brothers started popping out of their shells, she knew precisely what he was feeling, and that she wanted to assist him.
“I realized that [Nash] and I didn’t heal as quickly as the rest of the world,” McDonough stated. “We were sensitive souls that felt the weight of the entire world with very little knowing of how to trust it. His path would need as much patience and grace as mine had.”
Slowly however certainly, the 4 of them started therapeutic collectively, with Novo and Noah having the ability to see happiness on the finish of the tunnel a bit clearer than their brother.
“We [became] a family — one whole unit with many broken pieces,” McDonough stated. “Where we were once shut down and left without hope, we were now safe and found so much comfort in each other. We started to live again. They brought me so much joy.”
“Every day they got better, and I did too,” McDonough stated. “They eventually ate without much coaxing, learned how to play without feeling like they were in trouble and wouldn’t fall asleep without being rocked (which become my favorite memory of them).”
Once the puppies started to develop greater and began enjoying and being extra social, McDonough knew it was time to search out them endlessly properties.
“We didn’t meet by accident, and the process of letting go was difficult for all of us,” she stated.
Noah and Novo discovered properties with loving households immediately, and McDonough lastly made the choice to undertake Nash for good.
“We became a bonded pair — and when he met Lou (my shepherd), the three of us immediately felt whole,” McDonough stated. “He was so much further behind his brothers in his healing process, and I knew I was so much further behind the rest of the world in my ‘healing after heartbreak’ process too … Nash officially became mine on June 11, 2022, and we haven’t spent a day apart since.”
Now that he’s settled into his endlessly home, a few of Nash’s favourite actions embrace frolicking via meadows, enjoying with Lou and McDonough’s mom’s dogs, looking the window on lengthy drives, and enjoying together with his stuffed animals — all of which have helped him become a way more assured and comfortable canine.
McDonough stated that fostering and rescuing dogs might be overwhelming due to the ache and trauma in a canine’s previous. But she’s realized to let previous narratives go and focus her consideration on offering the very best second likelihood at life potential for her fosters.
“There are so many beautiful hearts in this world that have opened their homes to these dogs. I am so thankful for every single one of them,” she stated. “Every [dog] that is saved is an ode to the belief that what was once broken can be found and put back together again with gentle hearts.”
