Buster Brown is sleeping in his brand-new dog bed near the fireplace in a cozy Alameda home. The tawny 7-year-old starts snoring, and the couple sitting on the couch behind him laugh with delight.
Buster is surrounded by toys, including old favorites from his past life, and many new ones. He has plenty of places to rest his head, but he has made the man’s foot into his pillow.
Three red Christmas stockings hang above the fireplace. One has a big white paw print.
We don’t know what dogs dream about. But we wonder if during his one and a half years in the care of Friends of the Alameda Animal Shelter (FAAS), Buster ever dreamed of having a life like this. A family to call his own. The warmth, security, and love of a forever home.
Maybe Buster didn’t dream about it. Maybe he didn’t know such happiness could exist. But we dreamt about it for him from the beginning, when he arrived at the shelter in spring of 2023.
Buster quickly became a favorite of many staff and volunteers of FAAS. His happy attitude, his life-loving smile, his lowrider stance worked their ways into our hearts. Everyone loved the way he “made biscuits” with his toys in his kennel, and always wanted to take a stuffie on a walk.
As much love and care as we give our animals, it was heartbreaking to see him standing at his kennel door with a toy in his mouth, wagging at passersby, ever hopeful, but rarely having anyone come see him for adoption.
We were thrilled when he got to experience home life this summer and fall, thanks to two wonderful volunteer foster families. These foster experiences confirmed our faith that Buster Brown would make an incredible pet.
Home for the holidays
After Buster returned from his 2.5-month foster in October, we decided to do everything we could to get him a forever home by Christmas. We started a social media campaign: “Help Buster Brown find a forever home before the holidays.”
A couple who saw one of our earliest posts came in to walk Buster Brown. They came back a few days later, and took him to Crab Cove. They decided to foster him through Thanksgiving. We were so happy he’d have another break.
Buster returned to FAAS on November 30.
But it would be his last time here, and he never saw the kennels on this visit.
His fosters, Jake and Martyna, had fallen in love with him. They were here to adopt Buster Brown. Word spread quickly among staff and volunteers, in person and by texts. We were all over the moon for Buster!
A loss, and a new life
A week or so after Buster’s adoption, a staff member went to visit Buster and the couple to learn more so we could tell this beautiful success story, and maybe inspire others to adopt longterm shelter residents.
During the visit, Buster snuggled on the couch with Jake and Martyna, chased a ball in the back yard, and kneaded his favorite toy – a purple octopus given to him by one of his fosters. (If dogs could purr, that’s exactly what Buster would be doing.)
Jake and Martyna lost their previous dog, Bojack, in August. He had been rescued from Thailand, and died from cancer at 10 years old. After three months of heartache, they were looking into getting another international rescue when they saw Buster on our socials, and decided to take him on that first walk.
“We loved his friendliness, and he was so cute,” says Jake. “We got him in the car and he laid on me as I was driving.”
They quickly realized what a very good boy he is. “He’s very well behaved, he’s housetrained, he knows sit and stay and doesn’t pull the leash, he’s trained really well. He’s so affectionate,” Martyna says. “He’s a great dog. We really saw that during our fostering.”
“He’d been at the shelter so long,” Jake says. “We decided he’d become part of our family.”
Jake and Martyna didn’t mind adopting a senior dog. In fact, they wanted an older dog.
“Those are the best years,” says Jake. “We missed out on those with Bojack.”
These days, Buster can be found following Jake or Martyna around his new home, though he’s not shadowing them as he did in the beginning. He’s getting more secure. He doesn’t seem to feel his heart drop if they’re out of sight, because he knows they’ll come back.
He’s also enjoying big, off-leash hikes and jogs around the Bay Area. They discovered that he’s excellent off leash. He tries to stay between his folks as much as possible – never wandering off, loving being part of a family, part of this team he’ll be with for the rest of his life.
At night, he sleeps deeply. He snores so loudly that when he’s in the same room as his folks, they have to wear earplugs. They don’t mind.
“Buster is worth it,” says Jake.
Thank you to everyone along the way, from volunteers and staff who walked and took care of Buster, to his two amazing fosters, Zara and Carol, and especially to Jake and Martyna, who made a very good boy’s dream (and ours) come true!
If you’re interested in adopting this holiday season, we’ve got so many wonderful dogs, cats, and rabbits who would love to go home forever for the holidays, as Buster did. Two of our dogs – Samantha and Bordeaux – have been with us about as long as Buster, and Bordeaux is a senior.
As you can see from Buster’s story, fosters are vital to the work we do on behalf of the dogs in our care. Sometimes people hesitate to foster because they feel they’d get too attached to the animal, and vice-versa. But we hope stories like Buster’s show how fosters are stepping stones to a final destination of happily-ever-after. If you’re interested in fostering, please fill out a foster questionnaire, and someone will get in touch to talk about opportunities that fit into your life and schedule.
PS While an animal is being fostered, we take care of all food, medical, and other expenses!
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