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The life of a shelter pet is a routine and predictable one. The first day is always scary, but after that, days begin to bleed into weeks and slowly into years. That’s why, at the Gulf Coast Humane Society, we give our sheltered animals a change of pace during the holiday season. Home for the Pawlidays is our biggest fostering event of the year. Foster parents get to bring home shelter dogs from December 23rd through December 28th and give them a week of holiday cheer and a taste of what a home can be like.
Some of these foster parents get so attached to the shelter pet in their care that they adopt the shelter animal soon after fostering. We in the animal care business like to lovingly call this occurrence a “Foster Failure”. Foster failure stories happen more often than you think, and we are elated when they do!
Coa Coa, was transferred to the GCHS from Corpus Christi Animal Care Services in July of 2018. Coa Coa was 4 years old at the time and was transferred in with her litter of puppies. Coa Coa was aggressive with other dogs and would nip when she got too excited. This made placement for Coa Coa hard to come by. A year came and went and no matter how hard the staff tried, no one was interested in Coa Coa.
December of 2019 finally rolled around and the Home for the Pawlidays program was in full swing. Coa Coa was put into a home with a lovely lady named Briona. Over the course of that week, Briona and Coa Coa became closer and closer. Briona knew that she couldn’t let Coa Coa go home to anyone else. So, Briona brought Coa Coa back on the last day of the fostering event and decided then and there to adopt her!
Since that faithful “Gotcha” Day, life for Coa Coa has been anything but predictable. Briona loves seeing the sights and makes sure that Coa Coa is always riding along as her co-pilot. Coa Coa experienced snow for the first time with Briona; she was not impressed by the cold wet stuff on the ground. Coa Coa learned that she prefers the ocean and enjoys going on boat rides and airplane flights with her fur-mom.
With Briona by her side, Coa Coa has driven to Minnesota and Louisiana and currently resides in California! Coa Coa is fully enjoying the pleasures of RV life with her sister Daisy, the English bulldog. Coa Coa has also fit quite well into her role as big sister to two little human girls.
Aside from her travel adventures, Coa Coa is now enjoying a life full of Netflix marathons, cuddles, puppucinos, and waking her hu-mom up every morning with sloppy kisses. Coa Coa spent over 592 days at the GCHS, that's over a year and a half. Now, at 7 years old, Coa Coa gets to experience what this world and love has to offer.
Coa Coa wouldn't be where she is today without Briona's choice to become a foster; we would love to have more fosters like her! We urge anyone who would like to foster for us to visit our website, https://www.gchscc.org/foster, or email our Volunteer Coordinator at volunteer@gchscc.org to get started! Fostering saves lives and allows shelter animals to blossom into the loving companions they were always meant to be!