Our newest permanent foster, Navarre

From time to time, RMGDRI takes in a dog that is clearly not ever going to be a good candidate for adoption, usually because of an incurable medical issue. Navarre, who’s about 4, just became the newest member of the permanent foster club. We think his coloring is properly described as ‘fawn mantle’ – isn’t he gorgeous? And this boy is BIG! His foster mom, Lori Rice, says, “He can drink out of my kitchen sink!”

Navarre is about 50 pounds underweight, and we think he was kept in the kitchen of his former home his entire life. Unfortunately this sweet boy has Wobbler’s disease as well as spondylosis, along with an old hip injury that went untreated, meaning that his mobility is limited and will become more so over time. The good news is that after five days on medication, he is already showing great improvement and he can probably have a good quality of life for some time, maybe as long as a year.

At RMGDRI, we don’t want to put adoptive families through the heartbreak and expense of taking in a pet that suffers from medical problems as serious as Navarre’s. But we do have great vets who work with us, and generous donors who help out. So when the rescue is financially able, and we have a willing foster family, we do try to accept dogs and place them in a foster home for as long as they’re with us. “It’s always hard to put them down,” says Lori, who has had two permanent fosters before Navarre. “But even if you can give them just six months of knowing what it’s like to have someone care, it’s worth it.”

Lori says Navarre is “the sweetest dog on the planet. He has an ear infection right now and though cleaning it clearly hurts him, he doesn’t move and he’s so gentle.” Navarre won’t be lonely – Lori has two Danes of her own (both adopted from RMGDRI) and a ‘rat dog’ as well as five teenagers.

Our ability to take in dogs like Navarre is partly a money decision, like it or not – if we don’t have funds to support a permanent foster, we can’t take them. Please consider contributing to RMGDRI this year, to help us take care of Navarre and all the dogs like him who need us so badly.