New Beginnings

For many of the Missouri dogs going to foster or adoptive homes the future is about new beginnings. For the first time in their lives they can be a cherished member of someone's family and have a warm safe place to sleep at night.

Over time, they will adapt to their new lives but for now there are many firsts to be experienced. Having the opportunity to watch a dog make the transformation from living on a chain to having a real life can be rewarding but it’s heartbreaking as well. With every new experience comes the realization that they have never had the opportunity, until now, to experience it.



Playing with a toy, walking up a flight of stairs, going for a walk on a leash, living inside (and going to the bathroom outside) these are all new things to these dogs. They are incredible animals and they learn but it’s the hard work of the caring people that take them in that allows them to learn all of experience all these new things.

It takes patience to teach a dog that the table is not a look out and isn’t for standing on, that if they sit still the collar will go on faster and they can get outside and that they have the rest of their lives to give love and be thankful--they don’t need to do it all at once.

Thank you to every person that opened your home and hearts to these dogs who desperately needed a second chance. To the groups and individuals who drove long hours to get them to their foster homes and to the Humane Society of Missouri who made this all possible.

It takes a village.