- Kentucky-based journalist Kate Howard shared a heartwarming story about accidentally reuniting with her former foster dog in a now-viral Twitter thread.
- On October 14, after attending a friend’s memorial service, Howard was surprised to see a dog “plop” down on her front yard.
- After recognizing the dog’s name, Winnie, and her distinct markings and ears, Howard realized she had fostered Winnie months prior.
- Now, they live around the block from each other and can see each other all the time.
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On an undeniably rough day, Kate Howard received the best kind of mood booster. In a now-viral thread, Howard explained that she was sitting on her porch, “enjoying the sunshine,” after returning home from a friend’s memorial service, when a dog decided to start relaxing on her front lawn.
Today I was sitting on my porch, enjoying the sunshine and the rest of my day off after returning from the memorial service of a friend who died far too soon. A woman and her dog stopped at my yard, and the dog plopped down on my grass. 1/
— Kate Howard (@JournoKateH) October 15, 2019
The dog’s owner immediately called out to her furry friend, who was named Winnie, but she did not budge. The name Winnie immediately rang a bell for Howard, who had fostered a puppy by the same name almost a year prior.
Howard had been so upset to return Winnie after fostering her for a few months that she wasn’t sure she should foster again. “I was so worried about whether she found a good home that I asked the shelter to put my name in her file in case she was ever brought back,” Howard wrote. “An unfortunate, but not uncommon outcome.”
Howard and Winnie's new dog mom figured out that Winnie had been welcomed into her forever home that very same month, November 2018.
Here's Winnie a year ago, and what she looks like now.
This immediately registered because last November, I fostered a dog for the first time over Thanksgiving. She was a soft wiggly baby puppy I named Winnie. I cried for three days after she was spayed and went up for adoption, worrying about whether she had found a good home. 3/ pic.twitter.com/KDFiHKcGzG
— Kate Howard (@JournoKateH) October 15, 2019
It was beyond comforting for my first foster dog to turn up on my front lawn today, her fur still soft and her ear still crooked and her tail still wagging. Here she is in all her grown-up glory and I hope she warms your heart too! #RescueDogs #AdoptDontShop 7/ pic.twitter.com/aEChtd83cY
— Kate Howard (@JournoKateH) October 15, 2019
It turns out that Winnie's new mom had lost a dog not long before she found Winnie on the shelter's website, and she immediately fell in love. She even got to the adoption site early to make sure she was first in line to adopt Winnie.
Read more: 10 important things to consider when you decide to adopt a dog
After talking with the new owner, Howard figured out that her home - which she had only moved into a few months prior - was around the block from Winnie's forever home.
"I would have been at work, not on my porch, this afternoon if not for traveling from the memorial service of my friend Heidi, a tremendous lover of dogs," wrote Howard.
The next day, Winnie got to meet Howard's dog, Foxy. It went well.
Side note: Winnie loved foxy more than foxy loved Winnie 😂 pic.twitter.com/Xtjx6veLRF
— Kate Howard (@JournoKateH) October 15, 2019
Sometimes, dogs know what we need more than we do.
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