09/13/2026
Some dogs need a home for a lifetime. Mercy just needed one for a night. 🤍
We only got to love Mercy for a few short weeks. But somehow, that old girl with the powdered sugar face and endless little circles made herself a part of us.
Her story began with a call about a found dog.
Mercy was at the bottom of a five-foot oil pit.
Covered in old grease, painfully thin, weak and alone. We'll always wonder about the life she lived before us. Who loved her. How she ended up down there.
Mercy became our front desk girl. She spent her days making laps around us, always turning left. When she refused to eat, we cooked for her, warmed it up, and served it on a paper plate.
We learned her routines. We got used to the sound of her little feet circling behind us.
We loved her.
But Mercy began to decline. We couldn't fix everything that was wrong with her, but we could make sure the shelter wasn't the last place she ever called home.
So Mercy went home with our Programs Coordinator for one night.
She had a girls' night. A couch. Soft blankets. A steak quesadilla and ice cream. She snored like a narcoleptic trucker and wandered around making her familiar left turns.
Until she didn't.
For the first time since we'd known her, Mercy stopped pacing.
She curled up between the people who loved her, cuddled, and slept.
She was home.
The next morning brought a breakfast sandwich and one last day with her people. And when it was time, Mercy left this world wrapped in blankets and surrounded by all the love we had.
We couldn't change the beginning of Mercy's story. But we could change the ending.
For one night, she got to be somebody's dog. And when her time came, she knew she wasn't alone.
There will be another Mercy.
Another animal who doesn't need forever. Maybe they just need enough time to know what home feels like before they go.
Hospice fostering will break your heart. But when the next Mercy finds their way through our doors, we hope her story is the reason someone opens their home and says yes anyway.
Rest easy, Mercy.
No more circles, sweet girl. You can finally rest. 🤍
