Top 10 Happy Tails of 2023: Meet Kori

As 2023 comes to a close, we're taking a look back at all of the lives that we’ve saved thanks to your support. While there are really more than 950 stories we could tell, we've chosen 10 dogs to highlight that include long stays, medical cases, seniors and a newborn puppy. Thank you for making each of these stories possible, and for being part of another amazing year of lifesaving in 2024!

Today is dedicated to Kori, who spent 346 days in foster care. From the first day she arrived in NYC to the day she was adopted she never gave up in finding out what it was all worth: finding her adopter, Scott.

With her expressive eyes, and fur markings that looked like a heart on her face, Kori kept getting looked over during her time in foster. When a dog is waiting for so long, it’s not unheard of for them to move fosters multiple times, as no one quite plans for a temporary stay of one year. All of Kori’s fosters saw how special she was, including the folks at Lead your K9 where Kori spent some time getting top-notch training. We refused to give up, no matter how long it took, and that her person was out there. Well, we were right.

As Kori waited, Scott noticed her online, and also noticed that she never had her moment in the weekly Happy Tail roundup. He read that Kori was bouncing around from foster home to foster home, but never took that as a negative sign. Instead, Scott understood that Kori was clearly so special that Muddy Paws wasn’t willing to give up on her.

“I thought if there was any dog worth putting in the time for, it was Kori.”

Scott decided he would take a chance and give Kori the shot that everyone had been waiting for. He read that Kori could be a little wary of strangers but didn’t hold it against her, moving around so much couldn’t have been easy on anyone! Kori was a little bit apprehensive to Scott during the initial meet and greet with a trainer but Scott saw how affectionate and trusting Kori was to her fosters and felt confident she could get there with him too.

During their trial adoption week together Kori and Scott very quickly adjusted to a routine. In fact, Kori was very vocal if they got off schedule by even 10 minutes! “[Kori gave] me her ‘roo’ howls (which are very difficult not to laugh at!)”. Soon, Scott began to see Kori’s goofy and robust personality finally emerge. It became clear to Scott why so many people refused to give up on Kori despite her being in foster care for almost one year. That one week Trial Adoption Period signaled an end to Kori’s 346 days in foster care and marked the beginning of the rest of her life with Scott.

Today, Kori loves to play, stare out the window and growl at nothing, spot cats and squirrels on walks, and be an amazing adventure buddy to Scott. Together they’ve gone camping, hiking and swimming. Scott is working on teaching Kori how to stay inside a tent as she’s learned how to be an escape artist on camping trips.

“It feels like the several months I've had her flew by quickly, and I can't believe how lucky I am.”