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Opening your home to a foster dog is a great thing to do. Fostering gives homeless pets a cozy place to stay away from the shelter, where they can receive lots of love and socialization while they look for a “forever home.”
While it can be a great experience, it can also sometimes be hard for foster parents to part ways with their new friends after growing attached. But at the end of the day, you know they’re going to a good home, and they’ll always be in your heart.
That’s what one sweet story shows, after a little boy wrote a sweet note to his foster puppy’s new family, praising her as “the best dog.”
Maggie, a pit bull mix, was rescued by North Shore Animal League America, a nonprofit rescue in Port Washington, New York, last year after being found as a stray. According to People, she was too young to be adopted, so the organization had to find the pup a foster home.
Maggie soon found a perfect foster home with the Duncan family in Louisiana. Everyone fell in love with the puppy — especially their six-year-old son, Roman.
The family made it clear to young Roman that Maggie was not theirs to keep forever, and that the puppy would eventually go to a new home once she was old enough.
While he understood that his new friend would move on eventually, he formed a close bond over the holidays: he got to know her, learning how much the former stray loved cuddling and playing fetch.
So when it came time to say goodbye, and Maggie was transported back to the North Shore Animal League to find her forever home, Roman made sure her new family would know just how special she was.
When she arrived back in New York, NSALA realized that Roman had sent along some adorable hand-written letters and drawings, addressed to Maggie’s future adopters.
In the letters, he calls Maggie the “best dog you could ever ask for,” listing the many great things about her, like how she’s potty trained and “loves other dogs” and “loves kids.”
The 6-year-old lets the new family know that Maggie loves cuddles and playing fetch — and most of all that she loves “to be loved.”
“That’s why she is the best dog ever,” Roman writes. “We love Maggie, I hope you do [too].”
The letters also contain drawings of the adorable puppy. Roman reportedly slipped the notes in, and they were a heartwarming surprise to managers at the North Shore Animal League once found.
“I was so touched,” Karla Agostinello, rescue team manager with NSALA, told Today. “It’s hard (for fosters) to put the animals on the truck. So I do get a lot of letters from adults — but children, not many. So this is why it touched my heart so much.”
While Roman and Maggie are separated, NSALA says they are working with the puppy’s new family to connect with Roman so they can keep in touch.
And it’s clear that Maggie’s time with Roman and his family made a permanent, crucial impact on her. Agostinello says that Maggie is “doing great” in her new home, and it’s all thanks to spending her formative months in a loving foster home.
“Her time with this family was very beneficial to her,” she said. “Foster families are so important because they’re the pet’s first stop … they’re instilling a foundation of love and care.”
And it’s clear that Maggie has left a big impression on Roman, too. NSALA says they hope this sweet story inspires more people to consider fostering dogs.
What a sweet story. While parting ways with your foster dog isn’t always easy, Roman handled it great, giving the sweet puppy a home in her formative months and writing such sweet words to her new family.
It goes to show the impact a dog can have on your life in just a short time, and vice versa. We know Maggie and Roman will be in each other’s hearts forever.
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