A 'Foxy' Family Member

Foxy’s new family had never owned a pet.

Written by Ron Peltier

“We are so lucky to have Foxy as our family member,” explains Michelle Tsu, who adopted Foxy from Heaven Can Wait a few months back. “In fact, we (Michelle, her husband and daughter) benefit more from him than he benefits from us,” she says.  She understands from her recent experience with Foxy what research demonstrates again and again—owning a dog can improve your life–literally. Dog owners typically exercise more (via walking the dog), have lower blood pressure and cholesterol, and report being happier among other benefits. Adopting a dog can save your life.

But Michelle and her family had never owned a dog before, so she was a little nervous. Michelle decided that having a new family member to experience with her daughter was worth the chance. However being dedicated to finding permanent homes for its dogs, HCWS does not like to take chances. Foxy is a graduate of the “Pups on Parole” program, (all of HCWS dogs graduate from the program before being adopted) and as such he was well trained. Indeed, Michelle says “The best part I like about Foxy is he understands our demands and follows the house rules very well. He is so smart that you can’t resist loving him.”

One of things about Foxy that endears him to Michelle and her family is his personality. Like many companion animals, Michelle says that Foxy can sense her moods. Foxy even seemed to sense that he was about to be adopted as Michelle talked with the volunteers. Foxy is also a chicken. Michelle says that “Foxy is so chicken that his own shadow frightens him.” So maybe Foxy is not the best guard dog, but still he is an important member of the family.

Having worked with HCWS to adopt Foxy, Michelle and her family could not be happier both with the process and Foxy. She says, “I wanted to thank the Heaven Can Wait volunteers for encouraging me to have a great pet like Foxy.” Michelle recommends adopting an adult dog from HCWS because “they are trained already.” It is nice to take a dog home who already understands the commands ‘sit’ and ‘stay,’ but not having to house-train your new champion is much better. To see if you’d like to take a dog home, please browse through our dogs up for adoption http://hcws.org/adoptions/dog-adoptions

Dogs rescued by Heaven Can Wait go through our Pups on Parole program where they learn basic commands, leash walking and other skills to help them live in a family environment.

Heaven Can Wait Animal Society has lots of great cats and dogs that are ready to be adopted into new homes.  Cat adoptions are held from Thursday afternoon through Sunday and dogs are adopted Saturdays at Petsmart in the Arroyo Crossing Center off I-215 and S. Rainbow.