Cooperative Living March/April 2020 - 11

situation, to foster.
Operation Paws
for Homes
" The dog you take in to foster
means that OPH has room to pull
another dog from a shelter and then the
shelter has room to take in another dog.
So when you rescue one dog, you're
really rescuing three dogs. "
It also helps that the people who
adopt dogs Shannon-Reed has fostered
send her updates and photos. " There are
only about six families I don't hear from
regularly, but if I reach out, they'll email
me right back, " she says.
Caring for a litter of puppies means
extra work every day. On one recent day,
Shannon-Reed did four loads of laundry
- just for the puppies.
" But when I look at those cute puppy
faces and know that if OPH hadn't pulled
them [from the shelter] they'd be dead,
that makes it all worthwhile. And the
older dogs are so grateful, " she explains.
Besides having the puppies to cuddle
and play with, her favorite part of
fostering is " to go and see the arrival of
the transport van, to see the dogs' excited
faces when they get off and all the happy
people. "
Shannon-Reed, a native of Tunnelton,
W. Va., also serves as OPH's puppy
coordinator.
" I work with the OPH shelter pullers
to get pregnant moms, moms with babies
or puppies [by themselves] into
appropriate foster home situations. It's a
balance between the needs presented by
the shelter and the wants of our fosters.
Some fosters prefer litters, some prefer
single puppies, some prefer moms under
30 pounds, some want fluffy puppies. "
Besides this matchmaking to get as
many puppies as possible out of the
shelters, she works with OPH fosters
and veterinarians to make sure the
puppies get the medical care they need.
EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED
Some foster dogs have happy endings
despite very rough beginnings. ShannonReed
prefers Labs and other large dogs,
but she accepted a spirited five-monthold
Chihuahua-mix puppy named Tides,
one of nine puppies from a hoarding
Clockwise from top left, Bradley,
James, Barbara and Ashley ShannonReed
with their fosters.
co-opliving.com
Rechecking the shelter's paperwork
revealed that at least one of the puppies
had a heart problem. Shannon-Reed took
Tides and two other puppies to a
veterinarian who diagnosed Tides with a
grade six heart murmur, the worst
murmur the vet had ever heard.
The odds of surviving were low.
Tides' only chance was open heart
surgery, which was risky. The puppy got
through the surgery, recovered and was
later adopted.
EACH YEAR IN THE U.S.
ANIMALS ENTERING SHELTERS
3.3 million dogs 3.2 million cats
ADOPTED SHELTER ANIMALS
1.6 million dogs 1.6 million cats
Source: ASPCA
" I was never a small dog person, "
Shannon-Reed says, " but this little
Chihuahua thought she was a Lab. She's
doing fine in her adoptive home. My
daughter and I drove to Pennsylvania to
see her in May. "
Isabella, a Lab-shepherd mix, was
another success that began with a
healthy serving of dog hostility. " She
hated my husband and son and was so
out of control that I had to send her to a
boarding and training facility, " ShannonReed
recalls.
When Isabella returned after two
weeks of training and antibiotics to cure
her ear infections, " she was a different
dog and fine with my husband and son.
She was adopted three days later. "
Zekke, a beautiful solid-white husky
mix with ice blue eyes, " was a handful.
No one wanted to adopt him because he
wanted to nibble everything. He had to
learn a lot of manners. We had a puppy
boot camp for him, " Shannon-Reed
recalls, adding that Zekke is thriving on
a farm with his forever family.
Not all foster situations or adoptions
are successful. Sometimes a dog stays in
multiple foster homes before being
suitable for adoption. And sometimes
the adoptive family returns the dog,
as Crystal's adopters did.
Crystal and her brother, both deaf
border collies, needed very patient
adopters. He was successfully adopted,
but she displayed autistic-like traits and
was unable to live in a suburban setting.
Now Crystal has a place as ShannonReed's
permanent foster dog. She has the
quiet structured routine she needs, is
vibration-collar trained for safety and
knows about 20 hand signals.
Crystal has her own special outdoor
area with a roofed playhouse to protect
her from too much sun and her own
private room in the house. Her adoptive
mom still visits her.
" I've learned to roll with the
punches, " Shannon-Reed declares. " If all
five puppies who are here now went to
adoptive homes on Tuesday, I could have
more on Thursday. But it's always my
decision which dog I'll take and when. "
Landers and Shannon-Reed are
realistic about the problem of too many
homeless animals, especially in small
communities with small municipal
budgets. But they know they and the
other OPH volunteers and fosters are
making a positive difference, one animal
at a time.
" Our rescue reach is limited by our
foster availability, and with every new
foster and adopter comes another life
saved, " Landers says.
Shannon-Reed wishes more people
knew that " fostering is vitally important.
Yes, it tugs at your heartstrings, but you
are helping, even if you can only foster
one dog because the need is neverending. "
Noting
OPH's many types of
volunteers - social media posters,
fundraisers, grants writers, fosters, dog
transporters, vet partners, adoption event
coordinators, and more - Landers says
that " each team is a vital part of the
puzzle that we fit together to get these
deserving dogs a home. " 
To learn more about fostering or other
volunteering with OPH, visit ophrescue.org.
March-April 2020 | Cooperative Living | 9
http://www.ophrescue.org http://www.co-opliving.com
Cooperative Living March/April 2020

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