Stormie

#13-048 Stormie, age 2

MATCHED

As you can see from the photo, “stormy” isn’t exactly the word anyone would choose to describe this redheaded sweetheart’s personality! It’s hard to imagine a little dog looking any more relaxed and content that she does, snoozing away in her armchair. She’s all settled into her soon-to-be-forever home and as happy as can be.

But getting to that peaceful, cozy spot did require going through some rough weather. Stormie moved into her original home as a pup, where an unfixed boy Golden was already living—and before you can say “maybe we should spay,” Stormie was the devoted mother of nine chubby pups! Once the kids were out of the house, however, the young mom decided to kick up her heels a bit. A real talent for zipping out doors and squeezing through fence gaps emerged… along with a penchant for trotting to the neighboring property and chasing the chickens (well, she IS a farm girl. We have it on paper that she really was born in a barn). The chickens’ owner was none too thrilled and let Stormie’s family know it: “Either keep her confined or rehome her, or else.”

And they really did try, but all it took was one of the kids leaving a door or gate open, and zoom! Off to visit the feathered friends again. The last straw came on a rainy, muddy mid-April morning when clever Stormie, finding herself tightly gated into the backyard, used her doggie smarts to bounce on the trampoline and thus scale the fence (if you can’t go under it or through it, go OVER it). “That’s it,” decided her exasperated family. “Please come get her NOW!”

It took our volunteer three tries to get Stormie into the car (“I had to tackle her in the driveway”), so she wisely decided not to take the slippery (literally! remember, it was raining) pooch into the clinic until she’d recruited a tech to come out with not one, but TWO slip leads. Escape attempts foiled, Stormie settled down. The next afternoon, she arrived in her foster home. Her new mom and dad report that Stormie is doing great in her crate, loves sleeping on beds and chairs, knows SIT, likes to be brushed, and especially likes motoring to work with mom every day.

Why would any dog want to roam away from a family like this one? “Not me,” says Stormie, who has now decided to limit her Houdini skills to making the occasional item disappear from the countertops. “I am home to stay!”