Adoption Tail: Liira
Hi, my name is Terezia. My fiancé Brandon and I adopted Liira (formerly Dixie) from the Gladwin County Animal Shelter in September 2019. We both grew up with dogs and knew that we wanted to adopt. After the passing of our first dog we adopted together, Elvis, out of the Humane Animal Treatment Society in Mt. Pleasant, we saw a photo of Liira on Facebook and knew that we at least had to go meet her.
When we went to meet her at the shelter, the first thing she did was tackle me and smother me in kisses.
Once we got her home, she was immediately part of the family. She learned the very first night that she loved to sleep cuddled up to us in bed, and she has every night since.
She’s a great dog, she was young and unsure of things but is trusting more and more each day and finding more wonderful joys. She loves to go to swimming at the beach, stampeding through the snow, bike rides, her best friend recently showed her how great sticks are and that has forever changed outside time. But I think her newest favorite is going to see her puppy friends at howl-a-day here in Midland.
It’s been so rewarding to watch her learn new tricks and how excited she gets when she does it. We introduced buttons so she could help us to understand her needs better (her signals for wanting to play and needing to potty we’re very similar). She has four currently: potty, crunchies, ball-ball, and follow, and she fully understands what they each mean.
Bringing Liira home was a no brainer. We knew from the get go that we were going to be getting a dog from the shelter. Shelter pets have so much love to give. They aren’t at the shelter because they are broken or something is wrong with them, they are there because the perfect family hasn’t found them yet.
The Gladwin County Animal Shelter began operation in 1976, and is dedicated to serving the needs of the animals and citizens of Gladwin County. In 2020, the shelter cared for over 630 animals (despite challenges due to COVID-19), and continues to make every effort possible to ensure that all healthy, adoptable animals have safe and loving homes and the community practices responsible animal guardianship. Follow the Shelter on Facebook at facebook.com/GladwinAnimalShelter.
The shelter is always accepting donations, which can be dropped off at, or mailed to, 401 W. Cedar Ave., Gladwin, MI 48624. Volunteers can call 989-426-4579 or email gladwincountyanimalshelter@gmail.com to find out ways they can assist at the shelter.