12 Days of Happy Tails: Meet Elsie!

As the year winds down, we're taking a look back at all of the lives that we’ve saved thanks to your support. It’s another year of 12 Days of Happy Tails — stories that touched the hearts of our staff and volunteers. We hope you enjoy reading them as much as we’ve loved all of these special pups.

Today’s Happy Tails, our grand finale, is the story of beautiful Elsie, a sweet 3-year-old Southern belle who came to us in February from our partner shelter in Georgia.

After Elsie’s arrival in NYC, she was quickly adopted but her new family sadly had to return her to us due to some behavior she was exhibiting. She wasn’t adjusting well to the big city noises that she never experienced down South. Elsie was mouthy, super nervous and very overstimulated. Of course, we welcomed Elsie back into the MPR pack, and quickly went to work trying to figure out how we could help this sweet lady.

One of our amazing pack members Chloe heard about Elsie and quickly set us up with her friend Emily, who had been looking for a dog. Emily also lived in a quiet area and had a fenced in yard. We hoped the “country setting” would set Elsie up for success. Once we were in touch with Emily and boyfriend Bryan, Emily said they “knew immediately we had to step in and help her.”

We talked Emily and Bryan through Elsie’s challenges, and set up multiple training sessions for her so they could learn how to give her the structure and encouragement she needed. Emily and Bryan were instructed to try and keep Elsie below her anxiety threshold and also spent ample time teaching her how to relax and reduce the mouthiness she had been exhibiting. Our whole pack was rooting for Elsie - she had made so many improvements while in foster, and we were so thrilled when the day finally arrived for her to be available for adoption! Since Elsie was a more challenging placement, she was available for “foster to adopt” (FTA), essentially the potential adopter has the opportunity to bring a pup home to see if it is a good match for their home. Elsie went to an FTA, but after a short stay, it turned out that she was just too much for the potential adopters resident dog.

Little did we know that when Emily and Bryan heard Elsie was coming back they decided they weren’t going to let her get away. They said, “when she returned, we knew we could not lose her again, so we officially adopted her (BEST DAY EVER).” And because they were her fosters, they knew exactly what Elsie needed – a loving environment, a place to run, as well as additional time to decompress and let her true self shine through. Now Elsie is living her best life in Brooklyn.

Emily and Bryan say “Elsie is the sweetest and most loving dog. She won't hesitate to cuddle up to whoever is on the couch and instantly loves whoever says hi to her. She loves watching action movies, laying in the sun, playing with other fur friends, giving lots of kisses and hugs, and LOVES snacking on all food. Elsie has changed our lives in the best way, and she is just another perfect example of how much fostering/rescuing can change a dog's life for the better.”