A note from Caroline, Havane's awesome and dedicated foster mom:
I was a volunteer at the emergency shelter for the 527 dogs rescued from Paws R Us
I was a volunteer at the emergency shelter for the 527 dogs rescued from Paws R Us
kennels in September. On my first day there, a female boxer caught my attention: she
was following me all around from her crate with her big sweet and scared eyes. She let
me scratch her ears, and did a very timid boxer wiggle… From then, I knew I had to do
something for her. So when the dogs started to be placed in foster, I decide to be her
foster mom.
On Sunday October 30th, we drove to Lachute, signed the paperwork, and put her in the
car. The ride home was something for her: she was terrified, pushing against me as
hard as she could to be reassure. Her first encounter with a real home was so sad…
She knew nothing, and everything was scary for her the floor, the furniture, us moving,
walking, talking… we lived very quietly for a few days! She didn’t even know how to
handle the 3 steps in front of my apartment we had to take her in our arms at first. The
only two places she was feeling safe was her crate and the couch, although it took
many days for her to be brave enough to jump on it. Still now, she craves for her place
on the sofa and it’s her spot each time she’s unsure about something.
I wanted to call her Heaven, but it wasn’t so cute with my French accent… So here
comes Havane!
Slowly, one day at the time, Havane is making progress in discovering the world. She
bonded fast with me and my 9 years old boxer Igor, and started to show us more and
more of the cute little boxer pal under all the weight of those years of abusive breeding
and horrible living conditions. She explored gradually the rest of the apartment, she
wags her tail to welcome visitors, and she makes a party and asks for cuddles to the
ones she knows. She loves a good scratch on the head, and can get almost pushy to
have more! She is learning what dog toys are for, and tries to invite them to play… she’ll
need some courses I think! When she’s happy, she gets completely crazy, jumping
around, pawing, and play bowing, and doing the funniest expressions. She encountered
the cats she’s very interested but respects them when they tell her so. The outside
world is still something to deal with, but she turns in circles for appeasement a lot less,
making it a lot more pleasant to walk on leash! She still needs some work on potty
training, has she never before had the chance to go potty else where than where she
lived, eat and sleep. She’s around 5 years old, and chances are that she was born at
Paws R Us kennels and breeding there to fill the pet shops with puppies for all those
years.
New things and places are still making her nervous, but she gets over it faster every
day. She’s becoming a real little bundle of joy, as boxers should be. Now spayed, teeth
cleaned and micro-shipped, she’ll continue to learn about what a real dog life should be,
until she finds her forever home… a home with dedicated, calm and patient humans,
who are home often with a fence yard where she will learn to run free. She could live
with cats, a respectful dog or be the only furry pal of the family. She enjoys older kids,
didn’t meet young ones yet, but it would be preferable for her to be in a calm home with
adults only in her everyday life.