WILLOW

WORDS FROM WILLOW’S NEW ADOPTER: In October, 2020, my heart was absolutely shattered when I lost my precious Poppy. She was 14yrs old and had been my fur baby for 10 beautiful years. After losing her, I felt completely purposeless and knew immediately I needed to care for another rescue. On one of my really down days, I reached out to Tonina (Diary of a Curvy Girl) on Instagram, commenting on her post of her beloved fur baby. We ended up chatting for a while and after hearing how heart broken I was over Poppy's death, Tonina reached out to Kim Desautels, a friend of hers and founder of RAD. Kim called me immediately and asked about my lifestyle and what I could offer a rescue. She right away had a precious dog in mind: RAD had just come back from Lebanon with a bunch of dogs in need, including Shade, a young shepherd mix.

When I met Shade at her foster, Collette's, I immediately fell in love. She had gone through so much trauma in her life and yet she was clearly so eager to love. She warmed up quickly and showed me her belly to receive rubs and give lots of kisses. I knew that day that this would be my new family member; she would offer me unconditional love and that purpose I so needed and in return, I would give her a safe and comfortable home and even more love!

RAD has been so great through this whole process! By the time they reached out to me i was getting frustrated with how few available dogs there were in Montréal so RAD literally swooped in like superheros! They brought me more than I needed to care for my new fur baby and were also super good at communicating. I was really grateful to be introduced to other Lebanon rescue adopters too through a Whatsapp group.

I gave her the name Willow after adopting her; as a testament to my previous dog, I decided any and all of my future dogs would be named after flowers or trees. Willow seemed perfect for my new girl.

Willow is a bundle of affection, always eager for snuggle time. She has recently discovered snow and absolutely loves it! As she gets more and more comfortable at home, her quirky personality continues to come out - what a goofball she is! She makes lots of funny noises when she's her happiest (i call them sea-lion noises) and she's a real smart girl - she's learned quite a few commands already!

I am so excited to continue discovering Willow's quirks and to continue working on her confidence! She deserves a fear-free life and I'm determined to give that to her...in between kisses and snuggles 😊