A Forever Home Rescue Foundation
Finding forever homes for dogs in need
Trevor is a Champion!
Dear AFH: Super news from Trevor (aka Baxter adopted 2014). Trevor is special. I knew that when he came to be part of our family. I have had 5 rescues, past and present. All have trained in several sports with me, obedience being one of them. We have had success at the Novice (CD) level, but in over 15 years of training and competing we could not break through to a higher level. Until now. Trevor is the very first of my beloved dogs to earn an Open title in obedience in any venue. On August 1, 2021, Trevor earned his Companion Dog Excellent (CDX-C) title from the Companion Dog Sports Program (CDSP) at the age of 7 in Frederick, MD from the A class: 194.5 (1st), 194.5 (1st), 193.5 (1st). Trevor had to overcome a very rocky start with fearfulness, reactivity, and separation anxiety so that makes his achievement all that much more heartwarming. Love him to the moon and back! Thanks for allowing me be his forever Mom.
Yours, Diana Hong & Trevor
Worldgate Athletic Club and Spa Donation Drive
A Forever Home was the lucky recipient of the Worldgate Athletic Club & Spa‘s donation drive. They set up donation boxes in the lobby of their facility, making our doggies the recipient of collected food, treats, toys, and leashes. As dog lovers they were happy to find ways to help us with our important work by spreading awareness to their members, as well as, collecting donations. We are indeed grateful and look forward to partnering again with them in the future!
worldgateathleticclubandspa.com I facebook.worldgateathleticclubandspa I @worldgateathleticclubandspa
Sally Turns 17!
Chris
Eagle Scout Success!
We would like to thank Colin Haywood for making A Forever Home the recipient of his Eagle Scout project. When he originally asked to help AFH, we requested that me make a shelf to go over our metal crates. This was not an easy project, but he took the idea and ran with it. Colin paid for all of the supplies himself, using his stimulus check, and found all the volunteers to do the work. The shelf he created was extremely durable and ran the entire length of the unit, accommodating more supplies than what we had originally requested. He also added more stands to hold up our metal crates, giving us more useable space. In addition, he completely reorganized our storage unit. Without prompting, he helped clean out all of our broken crates by re-assembling them to see which were missing parts or were damaged. He also sorted out all of our supplies, provided them new containers, and made an easily understood, organized unit. Finally, he provided a step ladder for the unit so we could finally get to those hard-to-reach items on the top of the shelves that kind of just got tucked away and forgotten. This work was done in just a few weeks and went way beyond what we expected. Colin showed great leadership and organizational skills and we could not be happier. Thank you Colin for making our lives so much easier!
We’re On Tik Tok!
Check it out. A Forever Home is on TikTok. Take a peek, like us, and forward to your friends!
Raffle Winners Announced
The winners of our gift card raffle are Susan Green and Angela Kummel! Congratulations ladies. We also want to thank everyone that participated for helping us raise more than $3,000. We also would like to thank our anonymous donor for gifting us the cards and coming up with this fantastic raffle. The real winners, of course, our homeless dogs and pups. Thank you for making this a great Fourth of July!
Would You Like to Try Fostering?
Foster parents are the most valuable of all our volunteers. Without them, lives could not be saved. This time of year, many of our foster parents are unavailable, but the number of puppies needing rescue continues to mount. Fostering is an extremely rewarding experience; you get to play with puppies all day long and then see them off to loving forever homes! We provide everything they need: crates, puppy pens, food, and medical care. You provide the love and care. If you would like to try fostering a litter of pups or provide a temp home for fosters going on vacation, we would love to have you. Please e-mail [email protected] and we will give you more information.
Forever Tails – May 2021
Things are looking up and changing quickly in regards to the pandemic. Hopefully we will be able to see you all in person soon! In the meantime, read all about what is going on in the rescue.
In this issue: Volunteer Spotlight – Chantal Follett, Edward’s 5K Fundraiser, Dogs in Hot Cars, In Memory, Please Help George, Pandemic Pets, AmazonSmile, Girl Scout Award Project, Leash Training Tips.
Missed Deeply – Hercules
Good Afternoon, I am writing to notify you that our pet, Hercules Gwin, has passed away. We adopted him from you while living in Springfield VA in 2007. About 5 years ago he developed diabetes and quickly went blind, but he remained an active, loving part of our family with the help of another rescue dog we added to the family, until this past Sunday. His mobility was severely limited and the diabetes finally took its’ toll on our sweet boy. Thank you for the chance to add this precious dog to our family. He will be missed deeply, and will be in our hearts forever.
Sincerely, Kelly
One of a Kind: Miles
June 1st would have been our dear, sweet, goofy Miles’s 15th birthday. He crossed the rainbow bridge on August 31, 2020 after a valiant battle with heart disease. It has taken us a long time to process his passing which explains the delay in writing this memorial.
We adopted Miles from A Forever Home on August 4, 2006 when he was only 8 weeks old. He was the smallest of the “Millie” litter (we decided to keep the name from his foster family) and looked microscopic next to his siblings. I still remember my parents skeptically asking me, “Are you sure that’s the one you want?” But as soon as I picked him up, I knew he was destined to be a member of our family.
Miles brought life to our household amid difficult times. Even if we had nothing to say to each other, we could talk about him for hours. The sounds of his paws click-clacking on the hardwood floors, his disproportionately booming bark from a 20-pound body, and the nonsensical conversations between him and us echoed throughout our house all day long (except during nap time, of course!)
From day one, we could tell that Miles was highly intelligent, but also extremely stubborn. This trait showed the most when we received his congestive heart failure diagnosis. The cardiologist prognosed that he had about six months left but our headstrong boy made it through a full one and a half years. Even the day before we put him to sleep he was galloping around refusing to give up the croissant he snatched from our grocery bag.
The past nine months have been incredibly tough. The house seems empty now without Miles’s “tippy-taps” or “kurkures” (the sound of him digging furiously on our furniture), especially during the pandemic. He truly was my best friend and companion who grew up and stayed by my side from coast-to-coast. We will be forever grateful to Miles for the 14 years he spent on Earth with us and will cherish every single memory he gifted to our family. Thank you, Miles, especially for giving me a reason to get out of bed each morning.