Simple fact: fostering animals for a humane society saves lives. It helps prevent sickness and stress for the animal and keeps the population lower at the shelter.
“Foster families truly make such an incredible difference at LCHS that it is impossible to think of what we would do without them,” said Liz Friedenfels, manager of the Lincoln County Humane Society. “Fostering is also beneficial to the human family as well. It’s a great feeling to take someone in need under your wing and help them on the next step of their journey in life.
One foster family in Merrill recently encountered a foster pup named Buffy that is so special that she secured a spot in their hearts and their home.
Buffy, a dark brown pit bull mix, is about 5 months old. She was brought to the shelter as a stray after being found wandering in the cold alone.
“She was a wonderful pup while she was at the shelter, she just didn’t seem to get adopted,” Friedenfels said. “Maybe it was the fact that she is a pit bull mix and labeled by many as a dangerous breed. Maybe it’s because she has dark fur and therefore, was another victim of the ‘black dog syndrome’, where black or dark dogs are less likely to be adopted for a variety of reasons. But whatever the reason, Buffy patiently sat waiting for a family that would love her forever. And still she waited. And waited.”
Buffy was so good-natured that staff decided to send her along to a fundraising event. She would be the “meet and greet” pup representing the shelter that evening. She did a great job, wagging while people petted her head and looking slightly puzzled when people backed away from her after hearing her breed described as “pit bull mix”. She looked cute at the right moments and convinced many people to give her plenty of treats. Jeni Hinz, the shelter volunteer with her, simply fell in love. As she drove back into town with Buffy in the car, she couldn’t bring herself to leave Buffy that night. She called shelter staff, asking permission to bring Buffy home as a foster pup until an adoptive family could be found.
She was introduced to the other dogs in the home and did very well. She loved snuggling in the bed and getting lots of love and affection.
Buffy’s foster family had an event filled weekend. They had Christmas parties to attend and lots of people to visit. Buffy’s foster dad, Greg, took her outside for a potty break before he left the house for the evening but she refused to go. She kept returning to the front of the garage. She sat and growled at the door, which was very out of character for this mellow pup. Convinced that Buffy was trying to convey something to him, Greg put the other dogs back into the house and took her into the garage. When he opened the garage door, Buffy immediately ran to the box used to store the ash from the furnace. The ashes had been left outside, even in the mist and rain, for two days before being put into the box. When she got to the box, the inside was glowing red and the box itself was charred and hot. Buffy had saved the house from starting on fire and her canine friends from being caught in a devastating, possibly deadly, situation.
“There was no question that we were keeping her,” Jeni said. “She saved our house – the least we could do was offer it to her.”
Buffy has been renamed Cinder as a reminder of her incredible act and has been officially adopted into her new home and family.