Sonny Goes Home

I think we are all in need of a happy update right now, so we are excited to share the news that our handsome bully boy, Sonny, has been adopted!

Sonny is one of our longer-term pups in the rescue and has come such a long way. He was rescued as a stray when he wandered up to a kind woman in a parking lot. She was immediately moved to help him, as the area is known to be a dumping ground for dogs who are injured or sick after being used as bait dogs. Sonny was so underweight at 23lbs (he’s now 60lbs) that she thought he was a puppy. He had wounds all over him, and a scar around his muzzle where it appears it had been taped, he was frail, and he needed immediate medical care. This kind woman reached out to rescue for help, and that’s how Sonny came into our care. That was almost 15 months ago, and it took a lot of committed people to make this happy ending possible.

We want to thank, Laine, Sonny’s first foster mom in SC, who took him in when he was weak, starved, and terrified of everything. She nursed him back to health, and her calm, nurturing energy and dog pack helped him regain his confidence. Once he was healthy enough to travel, Sonny came to DC, where he has been fostered for the past 11 months by Erica and Jeremy, our incredibly committed Pit pup fosters. Bully fosters like Erica and Jeremy are few and far between, for the same reasons these dogs often go unadopted, and we are so fortunate to have them on our team. They helped Sonny with his socialization, worked on his leash issues, and gave him a stable, loving home until we could find the right family. They didn’t know how long this commitment would be, but they believed in Sonny and were his greatest advocate.

The final key ingredient was finding a great adopter who understood that settling in a dog like Sonny could take a little more time. Clay and Rebecca had great energy when we met them, and they also had a calm, social dog, Babies, in their home, which is just what Sonny needed. Sonny tends to mirror the other dog in his life, and his new pup buddy is a little older and wiser, and the perfect companion for him. Clay and Rebecca are an active couple, committed to Sonny’s daily exercise and playtime. They live in a quiet neighborhood, and Sonny now has a big back yard to romp and play in with his favorite orange bucket. Most importantly, they were committed to making it work.

Sonny has been in his new home for a few weeks now, and Clay sent us this update:

Sonny is settling in with us perfectly! We have been taking all the pictures. He has been great with Babies, is doing well at home, loves his treats, and his new bucket. He just loves being around us, and we love having him here. The biggest impact so far is that we are just more busy. Sonny makes Babies more active, which is a good thing to keep her young. We have had to adjust some scheduling and get used to a big strong pup demanding some lap time. Other than that, the only other thing is having to run the vacuum more often to pick up little Sonny hairs. It really has been as seamless a transition as we could have hoped for. He’s next to me right now, snoozin’ it up.

We love all of our dogs, but stories like this make us extra proud of our volunteers. Thank you to the application and home visit teams who helped us find this great family, and the fosters who gave Sonny time to find his way home.