How Fostering Allowed for Rocket’s Safe Landing

In mid-January 2024, a pet owner brought their miniature Australian Shepherd into Veterinary Emergency and Referral Group (VERG), a 24-hour emergency and specialty veterinary hospital and ASPCA partner.

The owner had left the dog’s muzzle on for 36 hours, despite noticing swelling. Though initially given antibiotics, pain medication and a recommendation to follow up with their regular veterinarian in two days by another veterinary group, after nearly 2 weeks, the dog’s wounds became much more severe. By the time the dog, later named Rocket, came to VERG, he had extensive necrotic (dead) wounds around the entire circumference of his muzzle and jaw.

Due to the severity of the dog’s condition, an NYPD investigation was launched, ultimately resulting in the ASPCA being awarded custody of Rocket.

“Rocket received daily wound care at VERG until surgical closure of the wounds could be attempted,” said Dr. Danielle Armato, senior director of Veterinary Services at the ASPCA Animal Recovery Center. “They also used Phovia light treatments to encourage healing. Surgery was not entirely successful, and a portion of the skin used to close the wound became necrotic. Rocket also developed a multi-drug-resistant infection while at VERG which complicated healing.”

After roughly a month of receiving care at VERG, Rocket was stable enough to be transferred over to Dr. Armato’s care at the ASPCA Animal Recovery Center.

Recovery Takes Flight

At the time of his arrival, Rocket still had a large wound under his chin where the previous surgical repair had failed. He also had reduced range of motion of his jaw due to his injury and was unable to fully open his mouth. With that in mind, he was fed a specific diet and was restricted to certain toys and enrichment items.

To continue to treat his wounds, pain and infections, Rocket was given several medications and had wound cleanings two to three times a day until the tissue was healthy enough to try surgery again. On February 27, Dr. J’mai Gayle, director of surgery at the ASPCA Animal Hospital, performed a surgical revision, and then again on March 6 when the first was not entirely successful. It wasn’t until March 20 that Rocket’s wound had finally healed, though he will always have scars and reduced motion of his jaw.

To date, Rocket is considered one of the Animal Recovery Center’s biggest medical achievements as his wound was incredibly complicated to treat due to the location, limited amount of skin in the area available for wound closure, natural mobility of the jaw which applied tension to the healing tissue and his multi-drug-resistant infection.

Rocket was also considered one of the Animal Recovery Center’s biggest behavioral achievements as well. Though Rocket was playful and tolerant of medical handling, he could also be hyperactive and mouthy, likely due to the frustrations of his activity restrictions necessary for his recovery. He also found the shelter environment very stressful.

“We have to remember that this is an Australian Shepherd, which means that he is a working breed,” explained Maria Skorobogatov, a behavior specialist at the Animal Recovery Center. “They’re known to be extremely smart, high energy and very driven. We also have to remember that this is a dog who has been on very strict activity restrictions for, at this point, over a month. He was showing a lot of arousal behavior. What this looked like was jumping up at face-height whenever we took him out of kennel, a lot of leash grabbing, a lot of vocalizing when he was frustrated. We were also learning that he had a very low tolerance for frustration, so this meant that he was starting to do stuff like nipping or grabbing, behavior that we really don’t want to see.”

When Maria and her team were medically allowed to take Rocket on walks, they also noticed he had fear around certain types of people like men in uniforms and people walking with strollers, which are common fears among undersocialized dogs.

As a result of all of this behavior, Rocket’s behavior program was quickly shifted to impulse control work as well as frustration management. In addition, Maria had to be creative in order to find ways for Rocket to expend his immense amount of energy. He was given extra enrichment to keep him mentally stimulated and he went on extra walks and had agility training. Once he was cleared by the medical team to meet other dogs, Rocket joined in on playgroups whenever possible.

While our behavior team continued to work as hard as they could to make Rocket comfortable and calm in the shelter environment, they knew he would do better in a home. With that in mind, they placed him into a foster home with Elena L.

Room to Soar

Fostering is a vital step in an animal’s recovery as it allows the animal to experience life in a home, decompress outside of the shelter and give the shelter staff a full view of who the animal is outside the walls of the shelter.

“Many of the behaviors we see here at the shelter aren’t necessarily behaviors that will transfer out into the real world,” Maria told us. “Things like not wanting to return to kennel, barrier frustration, lack of appetite, not being able to sleep through the night, these are all things we wouldn’t necessarily see once the dog is in the foster home. In fact, we often see these types of behaviors dissipate once they are in a stable and calm environment. Many fosters report that in the first few nights in the home, all the dog wants to do is sleep either near them or on them. They’re able to finally decompress. I believe that that’s vital for their healing process, both physically and psychologically.”

In addition to the immeasurable impact fostering has on the animal, it makes a massive impact on the shelter and the animals there as well.

“Just having one space open means that a dog that may be emaciated and wandering the streets now gets a roof, three square meals, the medical care they need, kindness, love (potentially for the first time), and a fighting chance at changing their lives,” said Maria.

When we help one, we help many. We call it The Rescue Effect!

Elena has been an ASPCA foster since 2019 and an ASPCA volunteer since 2022. In the spring of 2024, Elena received an ASPCA email asking if any fosters were available to care for Rocket. At the time, Elena was overseas and could not help. When she arrived home, she figured Rocket must have found a foster home but soon received another urgent request for foster.

“That day I was doing volunteer work at the ASPCA Adoption Center, and I said to my friend Adria, ‘I saw this email and I’m thinking about if I should foster.’” Elena explained. “She suggested we go downstairs to the facility Rocket was staying in and meet him. So, we went downstairs and we spoke to the manager, and they took us to his kennel. When we got there, I kneeled down and put my hand up on the glass. Magically, Rocket moves forward and puts his paw on the glass. We had a connection, so I decided to foster him.”

From left to right, Adria, Rocket and Elena hanging out in a park.

Elena took him home for foster on June 30. On his first night, Rocket showed extreme anxiety.

“He kept coming to me for pets,” recalled Elena. “I knew the best thing I could do for him was to stay with him and give him pets and let him know he was fine, he was safe and he was home. I could see by the second night he was already getting better. It took two to three weeks for him to be really relaxed. He started running around and smiling. You could really tell the difference.”

After two months, Rocket started showing some concerning behaviors, like nipping. As a result, our staff requested he be brought back for additional training.

Our behavior staff worked with Rocket for another six weeks while simultaneously looking for a placement partner for him, somewhere that had history caring for and training dogs of his breed. Sadly, as time went on and the placement partners fell through, he became markedly more anxious and depressed in the shelter environment. While our staff does everything in their power to make the animals in our care feel safe and comfortable in the shelter, some animals still feel very stressed and it takes a toll on their mental health. That’s why we rely on our foster caregivers!

With that in mind, the behavior team reached back out to Elena again in hopes she might be able to continue his training plan in her home. Thankfully, she said yes.

Shortly after, Elena decided her home was the best place for Rocket and officially made the decision to adopt him. 

“When he’s home with me, he’s always happy! He’s smiling, he’s checking in on me and other things,” said Elena.

“I’m personally overjoyed that Elena is the one who ended up adopting him,” Maria told us. “She was the one who knew him the best. She had really stuck through all the treatment plans we had laid out for her. She was obviously really invested and really loved him, so I can’t imagine any other type of outcome for him. It was like it was meant to be. She ended up adopting him almost exactly one year after he came here.”

Launching into a New Chapter

Now, over a year after Rocket’s adoption, Elena and Rocket remain the best of friends and spend all their time together. Elena told us her favorite thing to do is brush Rocket.

“He is kind of spoiled. I brush him every night before bed,” she explained. “He feels happy, he’s relaxed and will fall asleep like a puppy.”

In reflecting upon Rocket’s history, all the hurdles he had to overcome and the long road it took to get to where he is today, Elena is reminded of how resilient dogs are.

“They really live in the moment,” she said. “He didn’t let the past ruin his future. Sometimes there are triggers, but we’ve been working on them and he’s doing really well. Now he knows to check in with me when there are scary things.”

Though Elena has changed the course of Rocket’s life in a monumental way, she credits Rocket for changing hers too.

“Rocket is my purpose. He gives me a reason to keep moving every day and reminds me to live in the present. That’s what dogs do.”

Join the Mission

This week is National Animal Foster Appreciation Week, and we want to take a moment to say thank you to Elena and all the foster caregivers out there like her! We couldn’t be more grateful.

In honor of this week, we’re asking our supporters to consider fostering for the ASPCA or your local shelter.

“As a foster, I really like it and recommend it!” Elena shared. “If someone is not experienced, fostering gives them the opportunity to learn how to have a dog — and a dog gets to be in a home. It’s a win-win situation. You also always have the behavior and foster team there to help you and guide you. Regardless, you get to contribute to an animal’s journey and eventually, you get the chance to help another one, all while knowing the first one you helped is now in a good home.”

Help us change more animal lives by signing up to become an ASPCA foster caregiver in New York City; Pawling, New York; Los Angeles; Asheville, North Carolina; or Columbus, Ohio. If you live outside of these areas, you can still help by signing up to foster for your local shelter or with our friends at Animal Care Centers of NYC.

If you’re not quite ready to commit, you can also learn more about The Rescue Effect and how you can make a lifesaving impact on shelter animals!