Elaine & Theresa,

We've had Liah for over 8 months now and I have to tell you that she's the perfect dog for us!  She continues to bring so much joy to our home each and every day.  She has remained an extremely timid dog -- Dr. Sarsfield said it's either from lack of socialization when she was very young or just her nature and it might take her years to recover from that, or she may not. The techs at Dauphin Co Animal Hospital always sit on the floor with Liah, but Dr. Sarsfield also did when he came into the exam room yesterday.  They're a great bunch too!

It takes her several long visits from friends and family until she's brave enough to let someone pet her, but once she trusts, you have a real friend.  She goes through this process with visitors over a period of hours where she gets brave enough to take just one sniff of the visitor, then walks back and forth a few feet in front of them until the occasional sniffs result in tentative trust enough to take a treat or a pat on the head.  We adopted Liah while our son, Shane, was away at military training.  When he came home, and also when my brother-in-law stayed with us recently, it took a day and a half until she trusted them.  It's so heartwarming to receive a texted picture of Liah curled up in the lap on the floor with her nearly made friend after so many hours of her fear.

She's loving, playful, good natured, behaves well, and, as an added bonus, is a wonderful deterrent to crime.  Although she runs and hides once someone is in the house, her ferocious bark while they're outside would scare anyone off.

The bottom line is that we couldn't love her any more and she loves and trusts us equally.  We had looked for what seemed like a very long time to find our next family dog and are so thankful to you for matching us up with our Liah.  Thanks for all the work you and all the Castaway Critters volunteers do for these aminals.

Marlene Brady.