Already living in her loving home 💚🏠

Remember Shania from our 12 Pets of Christmas last year? Well, we’re happy to report that she found her loving home, and it turns out she was already living in it!

Part of  Wollongong City Council’s Pet Connection program, the clever and playful seven-year-old was being fostered by Marg, alongside her doggo friend Nala. Just as Shania featured in the 12 Pets of Christmas, her foster family realised she was already exactly where she needed to be.

Her foster carer Marg says, “It has been our privilege to be foster carers with Wollongong City Council's Pet Connection program since its inception. We have provided a temporary home for many dogs - sometimes for a few days, a few months, or as long as they've needed us.

In early August 2025, we were asked to take in Shania for just a few days because she wasn't coping well at the facility. Those few days quickly turned into a few months.

From the beginning, we could see that Shania was an incredibly intelligent dog. On our first walk with her and our own dog, she was strong on the lead and quite reactive toward other dogs. But with consistent training (and a pocket full of treats!), Shania soon learned better manners.

For a senior girl, she is wonderfully playful. She'll often grab a discarded sock, wave it around so everyone can see and hope someone will chase her. 

We've learned never to leave food on the kitchen bench-she's tall enough to help herself! Over time, she has enjoyed bowls of pasta, sandwiches from a plate, a chicken casserole, and even some frozen steak she managed to steal.

Shania is cheeky, affectionate, and loyal - she is a good dog who seems truly grateful for her second chance at happiness.

Saying goodbye to foster dogs is difficult, but we're comforted knowing that we have helped them along their journey to happiness. 

We know that Pet Connection always finds loving homes for these dogs, but we couldn't part with Shania... 

“she's our 'foster fail’-and we're so happy she is.”

Read about Coco, another foster doggo from Wollongong Pet Connection,
who, with the help of three amazing foster families, has found her loving home!  

Boop here to read more happy tails of the pets from the 12 Pets of Christmas campaign 🎄

• Find out more about becoming a foster carer here.
• Ready to foster? Here are some pets looking for foster homes.

Are you from a council, and want to learn more about establishing a foster program or looking for new ways for the pets in your care to be seen?

PetRescue membership is completely free and allows the pets in your care to be seen by thousands of potential adopters around Australia each day. To chat with us about joining, please email us at members@petrescue.org.au.  Learn more about PetRescue’s Safe and Sound Pets program here.

• Read about other councils doing awesome work for pets here. 

• Check out the below AIAM webinar, hosted by Local Government foster program experts Felicity (Flick) Hillenaar and Brandon Cowan.  Foster programs for Local Government – why, how, risks and rewards