Shiloh & Spencer

Nearly 5 years ago, a cocky 2 year old chocolate female named Snickers came to LRR from Pennsylvania. LRR folks still chuckle over how she intimidated another male labby who was also along for the ride. Poor Duke was on his way to his new home when Snickers was picked up along the way. This "princess" had poor Duke cornered for most of the trip so she could stretch out. Anytime he tried to get more comfortable, she showed him her pearly whites. Such an initial impression was not the best, but as Snickers became more comfortable with her foster homes and the other dogs, she at least learned to tolerate these other canines (and was very affectionate to people). We wondered who might want such an arrogant gal, but along came a single guy who nearly described Snickers to a T as the dog he wanted. He adopted this girl with the attitude, renaming her Shiloh.

Over the years, Gary and Shiloh would come to the picnics, and the joke became that he got exactly what he asked for. Still, it was clear that dog and Dad were devoted to each other. We would also badger poor Gary about being a foster home for us each time we saw him, and finally he decided that he and Shiloh would be an emergency foster home for when we had emergency rescues or when a foster home had to stop fostering for awhile. We discovered that Shiloh could tolerate the older male dogs the best, so Gary's home soon became fondly known as the "geriatric foster home." Since older dogs are often in the system longer, Gary wound up fostering far more often than he expected. Even though we would rotate the dogs out, they would seem to find their way back to Gary and Shiloh several times before their adoption. Some of these dogs also had Heartworms, so Gary and Shiloh provided a wonderful place for them to recuperate from their treatments.

Finally, LRR got a call about several dogs in Gloucester County, VA. Among them was a 5 year old black mostly English male who was heartworm positive who LRR dubbed Spencer. While Spencer made the rounds of foster homes, it seemed he would always return to Gary's house, and from the wag in his tail, it was clear Spencer was at home with Gary and Shiloh. Even Shiloh warmed to him a bit. After months with LRR which included getting his heartworm treatment and several adoption prospects which fell through, Gary decided it was time to give Spencer a permanent home. Obviously, Spencer already considered himself at home there, and the adoption was done. Gary had gone from emergency foster home to adopting a second dog! Shortly after that, Gary took a job transfer to Louisville, KY. We sure miss having Gary and his "kids" closer to attend events, but we know two LRR rescue labbies have one of the best homes ever.