I have loved animals, dogs specifically for as long as I can remember. I begged my parents for a dog, every time we walked past an adoption event, I wanted to rescue all the dogs. We had pets growing up and they were such a huge part of my life.

When I went to college I volunteered at a local animal shelter since I couldn’t have a dog of my own. My mom always said I needed a diploma and a job before I got a dog but I told her it sounded way better when you said diplomas and dogs. I graduated and the first thing I did was adopt my dog Cooper. He is absolutely my soul dog.

Cooper had a tough go at life before I was lucky enough to find him. He was brought up from a high kill shelter in the south and it was fate that the day I was looking for a dog was his first day available for adoption. He was 9 months old and terrified of all people and anything that moved or made noise. The shelter staff said it might be tricky because he was so nervous and not to expect much but I sat down and he came right to me and the rest was history.

Cooper is what got me so invested in helping get dogs out of shelters. I felt relieved to have him but so sad that there were so many amazing animals just like him that were living in fear. I had to help and when I moved to Arlington I thought what better way to help than foster dogs with Don't take my dog Foundation.

I decided that I wanted to foster puppies and I didn't want to start slow so we started fostering four 10 week-old puppies, Azalea, Aloe, Abby, & Aster. Anyone that knows me, knew I wasn’t going to be able to resist. We foster failed and gave Cooper his best friend Zailey (formerly known as Azalea). We got Zailey adjusted from puppy life and as soon as we were ready we started fostering again.

We have fostered 12 pups in the last 8 months and have been loving every second of it. I love going to the events and meeting new people, making awesome friends within the Lucky Dog community and watching amazing pups come out of their shells and find their forever homes. I love it so much that I’m planning on becoming an Adoption Coordinator soon to help even more pups find their happily ever after.

While it is hard to see the dogs we foster go, it is so cool to hear how they are doing and watch them find their people. Working with rescue animals is such a rewarding experience. I feel lucky that I found Don't take my Dog Foundation and have such an awesome community of people who love animals as much as I do!

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