12/11/2025
IF YOU KNOW ANYBODY WHO CAN HELP THIS POOR SOUL!!!! 🙏🙏🙏 Please share this post 💔💔💔💔
🐾UPDATE: FOSTERED WITH THE INTENT TO ADOPT! 🐾
🚨 COBY’S FINAL PLEA, 156 DAYS IN THE SHELTER 🚨
💔 We are out of resources. We are out of options. Coby needs help TODAY. 💔
Coby has now spent 156 days at the Stafford County Animal Shelter. That's 156 days of hoping, waiting, watching the door… and slowly losing pieces of himself. We have reached the point where the shelter can no longer help him. We are out of options, out of resources, and out of time. Today, we are asking one last time for someone to see him.
We have consulted long and hard with our volunteer dog trainer, and we want to be completely transparent.
Coby takes treats gently.
If you toss food on the floor, bed, or ground, he does not guard it.
He shows no aggression in those situations.
His struggles are centered around his bowl, the one thing he feels he can control after everything he has survived. 🍲💔
Coby needs an experienced owner who understands trauma and will give him structure, patience, and a real chance at healing.
He must be the only dog for now, so he can decompress and get the help he needs.
No young kids, as he deserves a calm, predictable home environment.
We have reached out to multiple rescues and organizations in hopes of saving Coby.
No one has been able to take him. We understand how hard it is to take on a dog labeled “difficult,” but as a shelter, we are out of resources. Coby cannot get what he needs here. 😞
This truly is Coby’s final chance to find a loving home outside the shelter. His emotional and mental health are declining. The shelter is meant to be temporary, not forever, and Coby is now suffering because he has stayed too long. 💔
Coby’s Story 🐶💔
Coby was found abandoned in a basement, trapped inside a wire crate.
No windows.
No comfort.
No reassurance.
Just silence, fear, and waiting.
We don’t know how long he was there. Only that he survived it, alone.
When he came to us after the 4th of July, he tried so hard to believe again. He wagged his tail. He looked up at every person with those deep brown eyes, asking,
“Are you here for me?” 🥺
But 156 days is a long time to hope and be disappointed.
The shelter is now breaking him. The overstimulation, the noise, the constant rotation of people, it’s too much for a dog who has already endured trauma.
He is still goofy.
He is still affectionate.
He still wants to connect so badly.
But he cannot heal here. Not anymore.
Important Needs for Coby’s Success
• Experienced adopter who understands food-related trauma
• Only dog in the home (for now)
• No young kids
• Low-stress, predictable environment
• Someone who will give him time, structure, and unwavering commitment
Coby is neutered, microchipped, and up to date on Rabies.
There are no geographic adoption restrictions, and his adoption fee is sponsored.
He did go to a foster with intent to adopt previously but returned after a bite on the foot involving his food bowl. Since coming back, the stress of shelter life has worsened his fixation. This environment is too overwhelming for him to reset. 😢
We are not looking back, only forward. Coby deserves that.
This is Coby’s last chance. 💔
If you have ever said,
“If I had been there, I would have saved him,”
this is your moment.
Please.
Come meet him before it is too late.
Stafford County Animal Shelter
26 Frosty Lane, Stafford, VA 22554
Walk-ins welcome.
Ask for Coby.
