Mozey in foster care
My sweet Mozey’s story began for me in the old iDog discussion forum where a member of the forum posted her pictures with a bit of backstory. On November 26, 2011, Mozey was caught by a Good Samaritan and brought to the Animal Rescue League of Western Pennsylvania. She had likely been on the streets of Pittsburgh for quite a while; she was skinny (47 lbs.) and very, very afraid of noises. She was also already spayed; someone must have loved her at some point! Mozey passed her behavior evaluation but was sick and was not ready for adoption yet. Her foster Mom, a staff member at the shelter, immediately recognized that Mozey (or Mimosa (the flower) as she was known then) would not make it in the shelter environment. It was too noisy and too scary, so she took Mozey home as a foster dog. That turned out to be such a gift for me; I would never have known about Miss Mozey had all of these events not happened. The agency staff, including Mozey’s foster Mom and I kept in touch via email. On December 22, the vet cleared her for adoption and travel, we made arrangements for the adoption. I left RI on December 27 and got to Pittsburgh on the 28th. I met several iDog members, and (more importantly) I met and adopted my sweet girl. We headed back to RI and got home on the 29th.
Mozey was scared of all the sounds around us—something dropping in the house or a dish clinking in the sink—it all scared her and she would run into the back bedroom and hide. On walks, she wanted to go, but her head and tail were down and she just plowed forward. If she heard barges and ships on the bay or a halyard hitting the flagpole, she pulled to get home as quickly as possible to hide.
Fast forward to 2015: She loves her walks and can’t wait to go, though she’s not really interested in exploring new roads. She sniffs, her tail wags, and she trots along a very happy girl. She has become accustomed to the noises and most don’t really bother her—except fireworks and thunder. She’s put on 10-12 pounds and looks great.
Fast forward again to 2016 and 2017: Mozey began visiting her “Grandma” (my Mom) at her nursing home in November and that turned out to be a way to find Mozey’s true calling. (Prior to that, Mozey stayed home with Grandma when I went to work.) I worked with her at the nursing home, visiting other residents as well as Mom. We always thought she would be good at pet therapy—it turns out she is a natural! She completed her temperament testing and credentialing evaluations in 2017 and joined the Blue Heron Pet Assisted Therapy team
Blue Heron Pet Assisted Therapy 