So, Scott moved into Queen’s space.
Queen, a 3-year-old terrier, has been at the Great Plains SPCA shelter for 400 days with no adoption prospects.
The shelter wanted her re-homed but unfortunately, there hasn’t been any interest.
When Scott Poore, founder of Mission Driven Goods, found out about Queen’s predicament, he reached out to the shelter to help Queen get adopted.
“They told me all the different ways they tried to get her adopted, and none of them had worked,” Scott said.
Before they found her, Queen had been living the streets of Kansas City, Missouri. In fact, they actually found her living in a dumpster on the bad side of town. They didn’t know how she ended up there but they’re happy they found her.
Because of how adorable she is, the shelter thought they would have Queen adopted in no time.
But it had been 400 days and she was still at the shelter. What was going on?
“I just can’t figure out why she’s not getting adopted,” Scott said.
When Scott found out about their story, he wanted to help. 400 days was too long for any dog or animal in a shelter and, judging by where they found Queen, she has probably never felt the love of a family.
Scott is the founder of Mission Driven Goods, an organization that helps animal shelters by creating and promoting fundraisers for their needs. Well, Great Plans SPCA and Queen were in need of help but a fundraiser won’t help her get adopted.
They needed to do something else.
“I thought, ‘I need to do something really outrageous to draw attention toward Queen,’” Scott shared. “And that’s when I came up with the idea of moving into the shelter, which I’ve never done before. I pitched the idea to the animal shelter. They said, ‘This is crazy, but this might just work.’”
“I got a little desk and little chair,” Scott said. “We found … the largest bed you can get for a dog, but it’s definitely not large enough for a human. But [it’s] the best that I could do, so that’s my bed. I … just tried to make the room a little bit more like a home. It looks like a dorm room.”
Scott had already noticed that Queen had been declining since she had surgery. When they rescued her, they found out she had an injury similar to a torn ACL.
They were able to fix her injury but couldn’t find the fix for her spirit.
“Every time I came, she got so excited, but the last couple months she won’t even get out of bed,” Scott shared.
It broke his heart to see her like that.
“She is the most affectionate lovable dog I probably have ever worked with. She has tons of energy,” Scott said. “She’s just gentle. She’s loving and the last couple of months she started kind of losing hope, and that’s what motivated me to do this. I’m not going to let her lose hope.”
When Queen finally gave signs of improvement, Scott decided to decorate her kennel with photos and stuffed animals. It was for Queen as well as for potential adopters.
It wasn’t easy at first. During the first few days, no one came to look at Queen. But Scott was determined to stay there every night until she gets adopted.
Because he was there at night, he learned about the true ordeal the shelter animals have to endure every night.
“When the lights go off and all the employees leave, you would think that that’s the time when the shelter finally gets quiet, but what I’ve learned is that it’s never quiet,” Scott shared. “There’s always somebody barking, which triggers other dogs barking. There’s not a lot of rest for the animals, and there’s definitely not a lot of rest for me. I don’t think any of these animals get a deep sleep until they’re out of the building.”
Soon enough, there were people coming to visit the shelter. Some wanted to see Queen and some, Scott believed, wanted to see the crazy guy who lived with Queen.
Scott obliged, as long as it’ll help Queen get adopted.
And guess what?
On day 8, Queen was finally adopted by a local family.
“It’s been an emotional roller coaster the last week, and putting my life on hold has been quite the challenge, but it’s all been worth it for Queen,” Scott said. “A week ago very few people even knew that she existed and now the whole world has fallen in love with her. I’m proud to have played a role in finding her a forever home.”
Watch the video below to learn more about Queen and what Scott did to bring back her spirit.
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