The tricolor American foxhound mix zooming around the Alexandria yard at the speed of a cheetah looks to be about 11 months old rather than the dog’s actual 11 years. But that’s only one sign of the recent transformation of Louie the super-dog.
Louie’s journey began in January, when he first came to the Animal Welfare League of Alexandria (AWLA). Although he passed his shelter medical exam with few issues, Louie displayed a sad look and seemed emotionally flat, recalls AWLA Veterinary & Foster Care Manager Elena Carver. Reports of some bite incidents in his previous home meant Louie needed to meet AWLA Behavior and Training Manager Joe Miench.
“Louie was pretty fearful and shut down at first, having a hard time walking on a leash,” Miench recalled. “I brought him into my office to see how he would do, and he seemed tense, mainly staring at the door barking.” He showed little interest in edible treats. But patient work with Louie by Miench and some specially trained volunteers slowly warmed him up until he was tolerating walks outdoors. After less than a month Louie was enjoying walks with the shelter’s general volunteers; most reported that the only challenge was he would put on the brakes when he thought the walks were coming to an end. Louie also had proved to be a finicky eater, so staff switched to hand-feeding him some of his meals in the special environment of the visitor room.
The AWLA team realized that Louie could benefit from a break from the shelter environment, so to give him a change of scenery, Carver matched him with a foster caregiver. Beginning in late March, one of the AWLA’s foster caregivers took care of Louie off and on at her home, with all of his food and other supplies provided by the AWLA. The caregiver grew to adore Louie, and when she had to return him, expressed teary feelings about parting with him; Carver saw that he had flourished in foster care and decided to seek another foster right away.
Alexandrians Nina and Jim Tingley first spotted Louie in his kennel at the shelter. Because their house had started to feel empty after losing their dog to cancer a few months earlier, they decided to try fostering at the AWLA, where Nina also served as a volunteer. “Louie was just lying there in the corner of the kennel, and it broke my husband’s heart,” Nina Tingley recalled. “He kept talking about him.”
When they returned to pick him up, Louie came charging out to the parking lot with a volunteer and jumped right into the Tingleys’ truck before they had even had a chance to touch him.
Louie relaxed quickly at the Tingleys’ home, perching next to them on the couch, slowly leaning against them and finally plopping into a lap and falling asleep. Nina worked on teaching him new tricks and skills, asking him to “sit” and “wait” before he would eat his meals, which he was now enjoying voraciously. He now relishes running at top speed around the back yard and accompanying the Tingleys to the tennis court, where he lies on a towel just “looking cute,” Nina Tingley said. But his favorite activity remains riding in Jim Tingley’s truck. As Louie “wrote” to the shelter:
I went on LOTS of car rides this week because, well, that is just my favorite thing to do. Jim conveniently parks his truck right in front of the house, so when we go for a walk, I just plant myself right next to it and refuse to go left or right. After a minute or two, Jim and Nina get the hint (and the truck keys) and I win.
After two months of watching Louie blossom, it was clear to the Tingleys that the dog was with them to stay. “I just couldn’t bear the thought of him having to go to another new household,” Nina Tingley said. “And he filled a void for us.” Louie was officially adopted on July 26.
Louie returned to the shelter briefly with the Tingleys to finalize the adoption. “He held his head high, he was so confident,” Carver said. “He greeted everyone and then went back over to the door as if to say, ‘Mom, let’s go.’’’
From his arrival at the shelter in January to his July adoption, Louie had become one of the shelter’s longest-staying residents. “The whole story just reminds us that, no matter how despondent an animal might seem, all it takes is one special person or family to turn it all around,” Carver said. “The new owner could give them the new lease on life that they so deserve.”
This story was originally printed in the Alexandria Gazette on August 31 (page 6).