Blue showed up at our doorstep one day last November when he was found right outside the offices of our Hopalong Foster Program in Oakland. His warmth and exuberance won the hearts of our staff instantly.
We scanned him for a microchip, hoping to reunite him with a family who might be missing him. We found one, but it led nowhere — his previous owners couldn’t be located. So, Blue’s story with us began with no knowledge of where he’d come from, only where he needed to go: somewhere safe, and eventually, somewhere permanent.
Blue moved into foster care with our partners at Happy Hounds in Oakland, where he quickly made friends with every dog he met. But like many large adolescent dogs, Blue faced a longer wait than many of the other animals in our shelter for his forever home.
Our veterinary team found he was dealing with giardia, kennel cough, and oral papilloma virus — a lot for one young dog to carry. He also hadn’t received any training. He was a jumper, prone to greeting people with his whole body when he got excited, which meant families with small children weren’t a good fit for him.
None of this was Blue’s fault. It just meant he needed more time, more care, and more patience than a dog who arrives already healthy and house-trained.
While Blue recovered, he had to be kept apart from other dogs. Our friends at Happy Hounds took this as an opportunity to work with him on some basic training so that, once he was fully healthy, he was also more polite.
After many months of treatment, training, and play, Blue finally met his forever family at an adoption event. He’s now a loyal, devoted companion who adores his new mom.
Blue’s journey wasn’t quick, and it wasn’t simple. It took veterinary care for three separate illnesses, months of foster housing, patient behavioral training, and the willingness to wait for the right match.
None of that happens without your donation to Marin Humane. Thank you for making sure animals like Blue get all the time, treatment, and care they need until the right family comes along. You didn’t just help Blue get healthy. You helped him become ready for a home that will love him for the rest of his life.
