Update on Cowboy: One Week Left in Training — He Needs the Right Landing to Protect His Progress
First, I want to say again how deeply grateful I am to every person who has donated, shared, encouraged, checked in, or helped carry this boy forward.
Because of your support, Cowboy has been able to remain in his board-and-train program, where he’s been receiving structure, decompression, confidence-building, and guidance. This has mattered deeply.
Cowboy's doing well. He’s learning. He’s settling. He’s gaining confidence. He’s being given the kind of patient, steady support his nervous system has needed for a very long time.
But we’re now facing the next urgent piece:
Cowboy has one week left in his board-and-train program, and as of right now, he has nowhere safe to land afterward.
This is the part that - literally- keeps me up at night.
Cowboy can't just go anywhere.
He’s a soft, highly sensitive, relational dog who has already been through too much instability. He needs a very specific kind of landing place — not chaos, not a revolving door of people and pets, not someone who wants to “love him through it” without structure.
He needs calm. Structure. Routine. Decompression. Clear boundaries. Patience. A low-chaos environment. Someone willing to learn, follow guidance, and stay consistent.
He does not need another failed transition.
And I want to be very clear: this isn’t just about having “somewhere” for him to go.
If Cowboy leaves a structured training environment and lands in the wrong place — a high-traffic home, too many variables, lack of follow-through, too much pressure, poor handling, or another poorly matched placement — it will only set back the progress he's worked so hard to make.
He's spent this time learning to trust, settle, regulate, and build confidence. A rushed placement could send his nervous system right back into survival mode.
That's exactly what I am trying to avoid.
What Cowboy needs now is a quiet, structured, low-traffic decompression foster or foster-to-adopt home.
Ideally, this would be someone who can commit to at least 30 days, with the possibility of extending if needed, or transitioning into foster-to-adopt if it proves to be the right fit.
And I want to add something important....
This person does not have to be a professional trainer or know everything already. If someone dog-savvy or behavior-fluent is out there, wonderful. But if not, that’s okay, too!
What we need most is someone who is willing to learn — and apply what they learn.
Someone coachable. Consistent. Patient. Grounded. Honest. Someone willing to follow through, ask questions, accept guidance, and treat Cowboy’s transition with the seriousness it deserves.
Fostering a dog like Cowboy is meaningful work. It requires learning new skills, applying them consistently, and becoming part of that dog’s healing and future.
Because of that, I'm exploring fundraising to offer a foster stipend for the right person.
This would allow us to treat fostering like the real work it is — not just “taking a dog in,” but learning, supporting, following a plan, and helping create a better model for rescue.
It would also serve as an early pilot for the You Had Me At Woof foster compensation and certification program (www.youmewoof.com) — something I built because of everything we've gone through with Ava, Cowboy, and this unbelievable rescue journey.
The goal is to help create a better way forward: one where fosters are trained, supported, guided, and valued for the critical role they play in a dog’s success.
Far too many dogs are set up to fail — and experience even more trauma — through rushed, unvetted, unskilled, or unaware placements. Cowboy’s story is exactly why this kind of structure matters.
Fostering shouldn't mean being handed a dog and left to figure it out. It should come with education, guidance, support, accountability, and, when possible, compensation for the time, effort, and emotional labor involved.
Cowboy could become the first real-life pilot for this model: a supported, compensated foster pathway where the foster is not expected to be perfect, BUT is willing to learn, follow through, and help a dog heal with structure.
I also want to be honest: 30 days is not a magic solution. It's a bridge — but it has to be the right kind of bridge.
The goal is not to move Cowboy somewhere for 30 days only to be right back in the same crisis after this time ends. The goal is to use that time intentionally: to protect his progress, let him decompress after training, observe how he settles in a real home, continue trainer guidance, support the foster, keep screening serious leads, and work toward the right long-term placement.
If a foster can offer longer than 30 days, that'd be incredible.
If someone is open to foster-to-adopt, even better.
But right now, we need a safe, thoughtful next step — not another destabilizing transition.
If we can't secure a safe foster or foster-to-adopt placement by the time his program ends, the only immediate bridge will be continued boarding, which is $100 per day.
And while boarding may keep him physically safe short-term, it's not a life for a dog. Cowboy doesn't need to be warehoused. He needs a home environment where his progress can continue.
But if boarding is the only way to prevent a rushed or unsafe placement, then we may need to buy him more time while we keep searching for the right person.
So today, I’m asking for help in four very specific ways:
1. If you know a calm, consistent person who may be willing to foster Cowboy and learn, please reach out.
They do not have to be an expert. They do need to be coachable, patient, structured, and willing to follow guidance.
2. If you know an experienced dog person, trainer, foster network, rescue contact, sanctuary-style placement, or quiet adult home, please make a direct introduction.
Direct introductions are much more helpful right now than broad shares alone.
**3. If you’re able to help sponsor Cowboy’s next step, it'd help tremendously.
Funds may go toward continued boarding if needed, or toward offering a foster stipend/compensation to the right person so Cowboy can land in a home environment with proper support. https://gofund.me/1a00aa7a3
**4. If you believe in better rescue systems, please help us prove this model can work!!
Cowboy could become the first real-life pilot for a more structured, supported, compensated foster pathway — one that helps dogs, helps fosters, and prevents the kinds of failures that have already cost him so much.
If we're able to secure a qualified foster, donations will provide a foster stipend, supplies, training support, and transition guidance.
Cowboy has come way too far to be failed again.
Thank you for helping us get him this far.
Now we need to help him land well.
If you have a lead, a connection, a foster possibility, or are able to sponsor part of his next step, please reach out or donate here.
Every single share, dollar, and direct connection matters.
Contact: kimberly@kimberlyartley.com
