Pet Profile single view | PAWS Chicago

Gibson's Story

The adoption of Gibson has a story of its own that Brian knows about and was not something I expected to occur. I have wanted to volunteer and foster with Paws for a long time but my past schedule prohibited it.

My volunteer training was February 6th and I spoke to Brian that day about fostering as well. I picked up Gibson (2) days later for fostering. He had been adopted and returned on day 13 due to significant behavioral issues noted by adoptee. Brian showed me the adoptee’s report and explained that Paws had not been aware of any issues with Gibson prior to adoption. He was very clear about the concerns and explained what to be careful about. I was determined to work with Gibson so he would return with a good report and could move on to his forever family.

Brian informed me that Gibson would be put back on the adoption website listing the concerns former adoptee mentioned.  Brian checked in regularly. Within a week, he called to tell me that over 40 people were interested in adopting Gibson. What can I say other than I flunked fostering and made the decision to adopt him.

I am happy to say that I did not observe any of the behaviors mentioned other than anxiety in the car and some barking. Walking Gibson on a leash has been much better than I expected. He is a fast learner as he continues to understand expectations.  I am going to try and sign up for the Paws training in the next month or so. Gibson knows his name (think it must have been on the chip when rescued) and was trained before. The greatest skill he knows is when you say Gibson come, he consistently does so. I was never able to accomplish that with my Golden Retriever even after lots of training. Consequently, I am keeping the name Gibson.

My intent was to foster as I know Paws needs this help a lot. Maybe down the road I can still help with fostering if there's a dog that can be with another. Gibson is a very easy dog to have and loves people more than anything. He is so much fun and we have bonded extremely well.