Today, a dapper black-and-white pup gleefully hops around the yard with his new family, laps up pup cups with sheer abandon, and snuggles in close every night on the couch. You’d never guess that not long ago, Cricket could barely walk. When the young puppy arrived at Jeffersonville Animal Shelter, a Best Friends Network Partner in Indiana, his legs were bowed, making it difficult to stand or move.
After a veterinary exam, the team learned Cricket’s bowed legs were likely due to spending much of his puppyhood in a crate with inconsistent access to food. “Within two weeks out of the crate and proper nutrition, you could already see improvement in his mobility,” shelter director Kristie Ashcraft says.
But the effects of his early life went beyond mobility issues. Cricket became protective of his food and snapped at people and dogs who came too close during meals. Fortunately, thanks in part to a grant from Best Friends Animal Society, the shelter had recently launched a new dog foster program to help dogs like Cricket grow, learn, and thrive. Best Friends’ goal is for all shelters nationwide to reach no-kill, and people who step up to foster pets, either with Best Friends or any animal shelter or rescue organization, play a vital part in reaching that goal.
Tammy Jo Hallman, Best Friends national shelter support specialist, started working with the staff at Jeffersonville Animal Shelter in 2023 to help them reach a 90% save rate (the percentage of animals who leave a shelter alive or are still there waiting for an outcome), the benchmark for no-kill…