Let me start this letter by saying that it is long overdue that I reach out to you all. It was back in October of 2015 that I adopted a young dog from your wonderful shelter. As we enter into the 10th year after I made that fateful drive from Portland, OR to McCall to meet young Carson (who now goes by Koji), I wanted to reach out to provide an update on little Koji and also to express my deep gratitude for places like MCPAWS for enabling me and others to connect with life-changing pets like Koji.

Back in 2015, we had been looking for a medium-sized, possible Heeler mix from the local shelters in the Portland area. After finding very little success due to the popularity of active shelter dogs in the area, I expanded my search beyond the Portland metro area. I eventually stumbled upon the sweetest picture of Carson on Petfinder in which his ears were down and he was looking so sad yet so sweet. I ultimately learned that he had been neutered that day, so that certainly explained his expression.

I ended up having a few phone conversations with the staff at MCPAWS about Carson, just wanting to have at least some info about his personality before I committed to the 8-hour drive to McCall. When I decided to make the trek and I got closer to Idaho, I failed to calculate the hour time change, so arrived at MCPAWS with only a few minutes left before closing time.

You kept the shelter open long enough for me to take Carson out and walk him around the nearby fields and get toknow him a bit. I decided to stay the night in McCall and came back the next day to confirm what I already knew…that Carson was coming back to Portland with me.

He eagerly hopped in the car and we made the long journey back to Portland and his new home. Carson has now been Koji for going on 10 years and has been a sweet and loving furbaby to his mom and me for all that time. He is the biggest goofball and has been a great partner in living the active life that we’ve always been committed to. He has traveled all over the western US with me and has been to OR, WA, CA, AZ, NM, CO, UT, MT, and of course to his beloved home state of Idaho.

He loves his people so much and spreads a lot of joy to the many people in his life. He has family that love him from Portland to Bend, OR to Iowa and he now calls Redmond, WA his new home. I create a silly calendar every year that tries to capture all that is Koji from the previous year. I hope seeing this happy dog in all the pictures every month is a strong reminder of how effective a place like MCPAWS is in the world. As I’m sure you already know, even a single adoption can have such a massive ripple effect in so many people’s lives.

I couldn’t be more grateful for Koji and the kindness I was met with at MCPAWS when I came to meet him. The feelings I have for him cannot be separated from how my interaction with everyone at MCPAWS went. One led to the other and they will forever be intertwined.

Thank you so much!

Sincerely,
Jason