The Reign of Rayna Cruz

Today we want to share the story of a dog who received the best surprise for her year anniversary at HSNEGA.

Having spent almost 365 days without a home, Rayna Cruz began to believe that HSNEGA was the only family she would ever know.

Being selective with both people and other animals, finding a family was more difficult for Rayna than most of our other rescues. During her stay at HSNEGA Rayna was adopted twice, and sadly returned both of those times. Rayna had a hard time showing the public what beautiful qualities our staff and volunteers saw in her, but there was one volunteer in particular Rayna did not seem to want to let go of…

Becky has been a volunteer at HSNEGA since August 2021. Becky comes almost daily to ensure extra playtime for our large dogs, and Rayna was one of the pups who took to Becky immediately (spoiler alert: the feeling was mutual!). After being here for such a long time and getting to know her sweet personality, Becky decided to bring Rayna home for a sleepover just to see how it would go… little did she know that Rayna Cruz would make herself right at home.

Thrilled with how well Rayna’s first night went, one night turned into two, two to three, and so on.

The once-selective dog who was not fond of men or many other dogs quickly became best friends with Becky’s husband and their first HSNEGA rescue named Thomas. Approaching a year of being available for adoption, Becky decided that if Rayna was not adopted by her anniversary, she would know that it was a sign Rayna was meant for her family.

Once her year anniversary came, Becky knew it was meant to be.

And just like that, Rayna was finally home for good.

“Rayna is doing really good with my two dogs at home. Thomas came from HSNEGA also and Chloe is a little dominant Chihuahua so we were scared that Rayna might not get along with her, but Rayna has really come a long way since the first day we brought her home. She gets along with both of our dogs now, she loves to play, and they all have fun out in the fenced yard. She loves my husband to death! She goes to his recliner every night and puts her paws up and lays her head on his shoulder as soon as he picks her up. She’s fitting in really well and we just love her so much.” ~Becky Maddox, HSNEGA Lifesaver, Volunteer, and Rayna’s new Pawrent.

We hope you’re enjoying these weekly feel-good stories YOU made PAWssible!

Warm wags from the team at HSNEGA!