August 2023

This series is dedicated to helping our community get to know the dedicated and selfless human beings that keep Magnificent Mutts Rescue running.

Meet Stephanie Feid!

Stephanie is one of our amazing, dedicated fosters. Most recently she was the foster mom turned forever mom for our rescue JoJo! Learn more about Stephanie and her honest and heartfelt story with JoJo.

1) How long have you been fostering with Magnificent Mutts?

• Almost 2 years. Jojo was our 10th foster dog. He came to our home in October of 2022. 

2) Tell us your story with JoJo and how you became his foster and then his forever family?

•  I saw a foster plea come out that Jojo urgently needed a foster home as he was boarded at EACC. Both of his front legs were injured and it was unclear if they could be repaired. He needed a home with no stairs and he was 100 pounds – so that is a hard foster home to find.  Our home was a good fit so we reached out.  My husband was not thrilled to foster a 100 lb dog but my heart said we had to try. 
  
  I went to pick him up at EACC and he had to be carried to my car because he had trouble walking.  At this point, I thought for sure we were in over our heads. We got him home to quickly discover how happy he seemed and that he could move around when he wanted.  He looked injured but his spirit and heart showed us otherwise. He wanted to sit near us and follow the kids everywhere. He was an easy dog to foster and it was easy to let him be comfortable in our home.  I think we all felt good that he wasn’t in boarding. 
  
  Weeks went by before JoJo could see an orthopedic veterinarian at the university of Madison/Wisconsin.  Unfortunately one of his legs had a birth defect that could not be fixed and the other had a rare injury that could possibly be fixed by surgery but there were no guarantees. Mag Mutts made the decision to try surgery in December 2022.
  
  The surgery was hard on Jojo and hard on our family. We had to make sure Jojo didn’t move unassisted for at least 8 weeks. It felt like we were taking care of a 100 lb newborn.  We never left him alone in a room and the non stop worrying was exhausting. We continued to take weekly trips to Madison for his care. We had great support from the rescue to help make the journey to Madison and they also went above and beyond to make sure we had everything we needed to care for JoJo.
  
  Not many people know but on top of his leg surgery, JoJo also had surgery on his eyes because his eyelashes were folded inwards and two canine teeth extracted. Through all of it, Jojo continued to show us his love and will to power through. He was a rockstar. 
  
  At this point, we were exhausted and looking forward to him finding his new family. His cast finally came off in February 2023 and we learned that surgery did not correct his leg as well as they expected. Surgery helped somewhat though because he was definitely able to move around a lot better, but we were still devastated. After all of that, it was not what we wanted for Jojo.
  
  There was not much else to do for him, although we tried multiple types of braces, discussed hydrotherapy, even a cart…but ultimately none of that was for Jojo because he had two very different injuries on his front legs. The vets confirmed he seemed to be doing well overall though, and more than that he was happy, so the best thing we can do now is focus on him losing weight and lessen the strain on his injuries.
  
  At this point we knew adoption would be so much harder for JoJo because he’d need support moving around and would still need a home with no stairs.  It was then we decided for sure that Jojo was already home and would live with us as long as he was pain free and happy. He loved us and we loved him.
  
  JoJo has been doing extremely well and moves around our house and yard ALL day long.  He’s doing all the things dogs do, like play with toys, attempt to counter surf, bark at things in the backyard and tries to escape out the front door every time it opens, hoping for a walk.  We hope and pray that he has a lot of good years with us.  We feel so grateful that Magnificent Mutts did not give up on him and went above and beyond to give him the best life.  He’s simply the most amazing dog! 

3) Aside from JoJo, do you have any other favorite or memorable Magnificent Mutts experiences or stories?

• We adopted a Siberian Husky from Mag Mutts back in September 2017. He wasn’t our first choice when we started looking to adopt and he was extremely uninterested in us when we had our meet & greet, but we took him home anyway and it turns out his unique personality fits our family perfectly.  It was meant to be. 

4) Do you have a favorite dog breed or dog type?

•  Dogs are my favorite breed. We’ve had several types of dogs come through our home – even breeds I didn’t think I’d like and they’ve been amazing. They really reminded me to be open minded about all the breeds.

5)  What advice would you give others who are considering fostering?

•  Just to try it. Just once. It’s easier than you think to let them go to loving homes and if you fall in love with the dog and end up adopting, it’s perfectly fine – it’s still a life saved.  

6)  What advice would you give adopters?

• Nothing new to say except to have patience. Expect hard moments and hard days.  It will get easier though for both humans and dogs.  

7)  What are your hobbies or what do you like to do for fun?

• I have kids and dogs, no time for hobbies.  Before both though, I liked to run, yoga, and take sewing classes 

8) What music or podcasts are you listening to?

• I  like country music and listening to podcasts- especially while walking our Husky all day everyday. My favorite podcasts are “We can do hard things” & “good inside.”