‘Sweet’ dog with a ‘quiet elegance’ is struggling at NC shelter. She needs a new home
A “sweet” dog is struggling at a North Carolina shelter — and she needs a new home.
“When Riley was surrendered, we were told she had never barked. Not once,” the Watauga Humane Society wrote March 8 on Facebook. “She was the quiet type — gentle, reserved, soft as a whisper. Now, in the shelter, she barks all day, every day. Not because she’s found her voice, but because she’s overwhelmed.”
Riley is up for adoption after she landed at the shelter in January. She was surrendered when her family moved and couldn’t keep her.
At the shelter, Riley has become known for being graceful, with a “quiet elegance that’s rare in a big dog.” The 83-pound mixed-breed pup also has shown off her kindness, the humane society wrote in an online adoption profile and in an email to McClatchy News.
“She is incredibly sweet, and we’re confident she’d be a wonderful companion in a home,” communications coordinator Danielle Deschamps wrote in the email. “Outside the kennel, her loving personality shines through, but inside, she’s beginning to show signs of kennel stress, which is always a concern for a dog’s well-being.”
As the 4-year-old pup waits for a second chance, the shelter is trying to get her to spend as much time outside as possible. But workers would “love for her to find a home soon where she can truly thrive,” Deschamps wrote.
As of March 11, the shelter’s website listed Riley among the dogs waiting for new owners. Details about the animal organization’s adoption process can be found at wataugahumane.org.
“The constant noise, the unfamiliar faces, the stress of waiting — it’s wearing her down,” the shelter wrote. “Kennel life isn’t for her. She needs a home, a safe place where she can finally exhale.”
The humane society is in the mountain town of Boone, a roughly 85-mile drive west from Winston-Salem.
