Meet June’s Volunteer of the Month

Fostering an animal is without a doubt one of the biggest commitments a volunteer can make to the APS of Durham.  It is such a huge responsibility, takes lots of time and work, and then of course the foster home must then say goodbye to the cat or dog they have taken in as one of their own.  June’s Volunteer of the Month is Julia Love (and really the entire Love family!) who takes one foster dog after another and has been key to the success of finding so many dogs new homes.

Julia was actually involved with the APS in the 1980’s and then took a hiatus to raise her kids.  Last year she became involved again, primarily as a foster.  Since fostering is such a demanding job many people do it a couple of times and then take breaks.  The Love family keeps on giving though!

We asked Julia about some of the dogs she has cared for in the past year.   “All the dogs we foster are special and have great stories.  Baxter (this year’s APS Spokesdog!) was one of our fosters who found the perfect home. But Trixie (now Annie) was our biggest challenge. She was a beautiful adult black and white English Cocker Spaniel who’d been returned to the shelter twice. She had been neglected for long periods of time, so there were times when she was absolutely out-of-control with frantic behavior.  With guidance from the APS dog behaviorists, Jane and Alison, Trixie settled down and was adopted by a retired couple who absolutely adore her.”

Julia, her husband Rob and their three sons Matt, Wyatt and Connor, (and let’s not forget their 11-year-old rescue Dalmatian named Bindi and two rescue kittens named Harold and Kumar) all chip in to help with the care of the foster dogs.

Working from home as an outsourcing consultant for the pharma/biotech industry affords Julia a great opportunity to spend extra time with the foster dogs.  When she’s not working or hanging out with her companion animals she’s either watching sports (her sons’ games or a Duke game) or socializing with her friends.

Julia’s work has literally saved the lives of many shelter dogs.  We are so pleased to have her as part of the APS family of volunteers and to honor her as our Volunteer of the Month!

For information on fostering for the APS please email volunteer@apsofdurham.org