"We have two cats in the home who had both lived with a dog before, and we adopted a dog from foster who had lived with, and ignored, cats in a previous foster home. I assumed that this meant the introductions would be smooth, and I probably didn't do as much as I should have to make sure the introductions were gradual. Our cats were not afraid initially and were existing as they had been, but our new dog began randomly chasing them when they were rolling around, playing on their own, or even just walking into the room. My cats became quite scared after a couple of days of this and began hiding under my bed all the time. I was very worried about what I had gotten myself into because I certainly didn't want my cats to be living in fear, and I wasn't sure what the chasing meant. I even spoke to my son about potentially not being able to keep our new dog if she couldn't get along with the cats. I really wanted to make our new family work, so I reached out to the dog's foster mom for advice. She pointed me to the Lifeline Animal Project Adopters Facebook group, and said that people there might have experience with this. I made a post there and received lots of good and practical advice, and I began working on implementing some of it. The change didn't happen overnight, but it wasn't so long either, and before I knew it the cats were emerging again, and the chasing stopped completely. We are now a very happy family and I couldn't imagine life without our very good pup and kitties!"

"We adopted Callie in February 2020, and the first couple of weeks were tough. First, she was just getting over giardia when we took her out for weekend warrior, but the lifeline team reassured us the meds would work. Then, she shredded the brand new bed we put in her crate for her to try and make her more comfortable with crate training. Callie, known as Cheer at the shelter, was a big girl when we got her (60 pounds), and she had no clue how large she really was. She would get so excited when meeting new friends that she wanted to jump to greet them. As she grew, people were less enthusiastic about forgiving her greeting style. (She is currently 95 pounds!) Finally, she had sores on her elbows from laying on the shelter concrete that we thought might never heal. We tried everything - our veterinarian at the time thought she may have an auto immune disorder - but none of the meds would work. we had to bandage the elbows multiple times daily to keep her from getting blood all over the house. It was driving her crazy, and us too! Finally, they healed up nicely and we never had this issue again. We really committed to training her and I’m happy to report that today she is our heart dog and is so loved! We cannot imagine our life without her. Every bit of stress and uncertainty in the early days was absolutely worth it!"

"I fostered a mixed breed pretty girl back in 2020 when I bought my first house. I know, silly to take on a puppy while I’m getting situated in a new house. But I really wanted a big dog! It wasn’t easy at all. I thought she was very relaxed, but she ended up being a very hyper 8 month old puppy. She had so much personality and love to give so I was excited. Thankfully, she was house trained when I got her somehow. I ended up keeping her foster name Peach because she was so sweet and loving. Well she was a failed foster, because I adopted her. I thought about returning her because her energy was too much after I had a car accident, but Peach became my emotional support animal during hard times. It really took a lot of training, patience, and understanding on my part. She would nibble a bit playing which was scary for me because she’s a big dog. This is where Lifeline and training come in. They gave me tips and tricks to help us. Walking her 2x a day, correcting her when she does something wrong, and rewarding her when she does anything right. I started to walk her consistently and be more patient with her. If she didn’t get a command the first time, we’d do it again but not so much that she can’t focus. Because she doesn’t do well with longer training sessions, it has to be in increments. I built a better relationship to understand Peach’s needs. Today, Peach has the same personality and we continue to train to keep her on track. She’s my road dog and she’s lived in multiple states! I wouldn’t trade her for the world. If you’re thinking about getting a puppy, do it! It won’t be easy, but with work, love, and patience you can do it! I’d suggest giving the dog time to get used to a new environment as well. But I promise you won’t regret saving a dog at Lifeline!"