My husband and I adopted Hannah on June 23, 2019.  We went through a rescue called Paddy's PawsLinks to an external site. in Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin. This rescue works with other agencies in Houston, Texas to bring up many of the homeless dogs and dogs who would otherwise die in kill shelters to Wisconsin.

There were several steps for adoption within this agency before we even looked at dogs.

1) We had to fill out a rather lengthy application formLinks to an external site.. This form included providing references who the agency called to verify we would be good pet owners.

2) We had a home visit.  A woman named Jodi came to our house and checked out that we had space for a dog and did a lot of educating us about rescue dogs and some of their peculiarities. 

3) Once we were approved after the home visit, we had to answer a questionnaire via email about what we were looking for in a dog. You can find that questionnaire in this ePortfolio under "Paddy's Paws Questionnaire."

4) The rescue agency sent us links to dogs that fit our profile and Hannah was the only "big dog" who fit our criteria and had a known history of getting along with cats.  We met her as she got off the transport van from Houston and took her home right away.

The above photo is from the day we adopted her. This photo makes me a bit melancholy. On one hand, I'm so happy that she's a member of our family. On the other hand, she is showing signs of being super stressed in this photo, including the panting tongue. She's also very scrawny in this photo and her fur isn't in the best shape. All of that being said, that's how Hannah came into our lives.

Hannah was about 1.5 years old when we got her. She was about 45 pounds.  She's some sort of shepherd mix, but it's not clear exactly what she's mixed with.

Her foster parents' contact information was on the paperwork we received from Paddy's Paws and we contacted the foster to learn that Hannah was so skinny she snuck inside their fence to play with their dogs.  She was a matted mess, with open wounds, scars, and patchy fur. They rehabbed her in Houston for a few months, getting Hannah's vaccinations; socialized with people, dogs, and cats; attempting to get her skin cared for; and basically losing the "street dog" patina that she originally had.  We're very grateful to her foster parents and stay in regular contact with them - we follow each other on Instagram.  They're very grateful for updates on how she's doing and we're grateful to see the work that they do with other foster dogs.