The Muller Family, consisting of Joey, Barb, and Joe, joined DAWS in February 2019 as dog and puppy fosters. After a brief orientation, they got their first dog, Gordie, a senior Boston Terrier who they quickly fell in love with. He was in pretty rough shape and over the course of three months, the Muller’s nursed him back to good health. Barb shares, “We were very close to being foster failures, but he found a wonderful adopter and helped us continue our journey of fostering.” To date, they have fostered nearly 50 dogs!

Fostering animals is a crucial part of saving lives and assists in reducing overcrowding in shelters. It also helps prepare animals for adoption by giving them a chance to live in a home where they can fully express their personality, work to overcome fears, or recover from trauma. “We know in our hearts that fostering makes a huge impact on many of these dogs’ lives. Some have medical conditions, others are timid, and then there are those that just need a quiet place to decompress before they make the transition to their new beginning. It’s a wonderful feeling to get to see all these dogs go off to their furever homes! We pride ourselves in teaching these dogs basic manners and skills,” explains Joey.

Since fostering, the Muller family has learned a lot more about dogs: what different breeds are called, how different they behave, how to tell a dog’s age from their teeth, how to train them, how to handle puppies, etc. It has been an extremely rewarding experience for the whole family to partake in. Not only have they met some amazing people along the way, they have memories to cherish for a lifetime. One of their favorites was with a sheltie they had fostered named Ginger. Joe exclaims, “Ginger was adopted to a family who had five other shelties! It was amazing to see one person holding five dogs of the same breed on a leash as they all got to meet their new sister. It was an instant connection!”

Karen Pasieka, DAWS’ Intake and Puppy Coordinator says, “The Muller family has been a mainstay of our foster program for many years. They have fostered special needs dogs, rambunctious pups, bonded pairs, waggy-tail puppies, and everything else that comes through rescue. We are so grateful to the Muller’s for always being there for our pups. What a great way to finish our year, honoring this most wonderful family and their volunteer commitment to DAWS.”