Jackie has been fostering with us for a few years now, but what makes her truly special is that she doesn’t shy away from seemingly daunting medical cases. Her family took in Ruger, who suffered from severe chemical burns all over his body, and she’s currently fostering Winston, who came to us appearing to be partially paralyzed from the waist down. With Jackie’s help, both of these dogs have made complete recoveries! This is why Jackie Spivey is one of Dallas Pet’s Alive’s PAWesome People!
Jackie also donates her time and talents by photographing for our fosters. She utilizes social media to create unique pages for her fosters (check out @winstonthepibble on Instagram!) and goes above and beyond to market them! It’s people like Jackie that help make DPA truly special. Check out Jackie’s interview below:
How did you get involved with Fostering with DPA?
My friend Brittney Clay was fostering for DPA at the time, and I loved the idea of welcoming more dogs into our home. My husband and I are both animal lovers (my husband is a retired K9 Military Police Officer) and would have 100 dogs if we had the space. So this felt like a good compromise.
We had discussed one day how we were ready to find a dog, and the next day Bear’s shelter photo popped up on Facebook. It was like 7:30 at night, and I showed it to my husband and said, “Oh my gosh! We have to get him. He looks heartbroken.” And it was the best decision we’ve ever made for our family. I can’t even remember what our life was like without Bear in it.
Tell us about a few of your fosters.
Ruger was with us for 10 months and went through a lot of recovery time before being eligible to be adopted. Winston has been with us for 7 months and is just now adoptable this week, due to his recovery time. I think that’s made our situation a little unique… Our fosters have mostly required a lot of medical attention and longer stays than an average foster. This is great because we get a lot of time to rehabilitate them and love on them and get them ready for a family, but it also makes the goodbyes super bitter sweet.
We still have Winston, and we also have new puppies Paige and Franklin as well. We decided to give puppies a try because our other two fosters have been such long commitments, and we wanted to try something new. They’ve been a wonderful adventure!
What is your favorite animal adoption story?
Maybe not the best example, but definitely Bear. Bear is the best example in my mind of how when a dog finds their family, you just know it. We knew within 48 hours of bringing Bear home that he needed to be ours. He was the absolutely MOST perfect fit.
I remember saying to my husband, “I can’t send in a bio! He’s so good…someone else will snatch him up before we make a decision!” We committed to wait four days before sending in his bio, so we had a chance to decide.
I remember the kids cheering when we said he could stay. I can’t imagine it having been any other way.
What do you love most about fostering with Dallas Pets Alive?
I love knowing that for just a small amount of money and a little bit of our time, we can actually, tangibly save lives. When else can you do that? When else in life do you have the chance to say “I saved a life today”? Not often. And we are given the opportunity to do that every single day, which is amazing. Plus there’s something to be said for seeing those heartbreaking shelter photos and picking up a sad, shaky, scared pup and then watching them blossom when they get home and realize “oh my gosh. I’m safe. These people are going to love me. Everything’s okay again!” And then to realize you did that? You created that feeling in an animal?! What a blessing.
Give us a fun fact about you!
I’m a stay at home mom. I’ve done photography for 11 years but cut back on sessions in order to homeschool our kids full time. I also grew up overseas, in Keflavik Iceland while my dad was in the Navy.
