Meet Stormy. A gentle 2-year-old girl who previously lost her home through no fault of her own—her owner surrendered her on 2/16 due to having a new baby. She was adopted in March but recently found herself back at the shelter as a stray. Now, she’s searching for a patient and loving adopter who can help her feel safe again.
Could you be the one to give her the patience and security she deserves?
Eligible for rescue and adoption. Meet Stormy at ACCT Philly any day of the week from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
Videos:
Stormy knows sit: https://youtube.com/shorts/ORSv6Ixy_5o?feature=share
Stormy and Spike leashed meet: https://youtu.be/YkaSqI8LVOA
Stormy and Spike fence meet: https://youtu.be/U5red4nBVJo
Harry Potter & Stormy meets https://youtube.com/shorts/aCXURlSxoFs?feature=share
Harry Potter & Stormy meet pt 2 https://youtube.com/shorts/yyc8PuxIeD8?feature=share
Behavior Notes:
Per volunteer 12/10: What a nice girl. She takes treats gently, very interested in the outside world and seems to want to go out and play. Young and energetic at time, playful
Per volunteer 12/7: "angel girl! Stormy was easy in and out of her kennel. She was pretty good on leash. We hung out in the playpen for a bit waiting to take her holiday pictures. She seemed interested in the dogs walking by. She allowed all handling for the photoshoot and let us put her in an outfit!"
12/1 per staff: dog is incredibly friendly, ran into traffic to jump up and say hello to me. Allowed all handling and consistently had a wagging tail.
3/12/25 Volunteer notes:
Cuddle bug, puppy energy, playful.
Walk notes 3/9
Stormy is literally the cutest thing ever! She was eagerly waiting at the front of her kennel every time I went by (pick me, pick me!) so I just had to get her out. Super easy to leash and walk though. Seems to have found her confidence since arriving at the shelter. Not nervous at all. Outside, she was very curious and had to sniff everything. Once she went potty and finished her inspection, it was kisses and play time. Super Affectionate, allowed all over handling, couldn’t give enough kisses. Loves stuffies and gentle with treats, knows sit. She is an adorable, sweet pup. I’m in love!
Playgroup 3/10: While Stormy has a history of being dog selective/reactive toward her foster family's resident dog and other dogs on leash, she did okay for playgroup. She was forward outside the gate. Once in the yard she was nervous and fearful. She would correct rough and rowdy dogs. One of the dogs would not take corrections, so he was temporarily removed from the yard to assess her with a dog who listens better.
Stormy was assessed in playgroup today. She was very defensive and was fearful of the other dogs. She gave big corrections to Jalen Hurts who was too rowdy for her, and was a little calmer with Sherlock who was able to take her corrections well. She is not dog aggressive by any means, but high energy dogs jumping on her scares her.
Per staff 3/10: Easy removing from her kennel, wanted to greet every Aca and customer she passed with loose body language and soft eyes.
Met Dex outside first through the fence outside, she showed affiliative body language with some calming signals like sniffing the ground, before meeting. At the fence she had middle tail wagging loosely, soft eyes, ears back. Did some jumping at me, perhaps indicating she wanted to move on from the interaction. On leash we did a parallel walk and she was interested and able to be redirected easily, soft body language was seen continually. When they met face to face she sniffed appropriately and stayed back a couple steps while he jumped at her to get her to play. She was very tolerant but not interested in playing.
Easy to place back in kennel. Making available and moving to GOLD Walker.
Per foster 3/5: Please also make sure her notes reflect that she is very trainable, eager to please, smart, and cuddly. She loves toys and playing! Her only real flaw is that she needs to be the only pet😭😭
Per staff 2/28: Good with people nervous and timid on walks met 9 strange men who was doing construction and was just being a puppy and happy. She met the foster dog and 30 feet away are losing it but when 2 strange dogs walked by she remained locked on the handler (positively like checking in with the handler). Her body language is loose and bowing but snarling and jumping its so chaotic they cant let them together. Her dog was sitting there nicely. They were at the park for an hour and even took a break and shes loses it when she sees their dog. Shes an angel with the foster but she cant live with their dog. Is offering to help the new foster if we allow it
Per foster 2/23: Decompression is getting better — she has pretty extreme separation anxiety (almost choked herself escaping a wire crate, then destroyed the walls in the room she was in, and is now in an Alcatraz crate) but we’re all getting slightly more acclimated each day!
Per foster 2/22: 2/22: Hi there — I just wanted to provide an update.
We tried a pack walk today with our resident dog and Stormy essentially lost her shit. We might have attempted this too soon- and we will continue to let her decompress- but we’ve owned and fostered quite a few dogs at this point and are concerned that this extreme reaction could mean she’s not dog friendly.
Both dogs were leashed and outdoors but stormy was snarling and barking, lunging and jumping so hard that the tension on the leash made her do a backflip in the air. Our dog is dog friendly but was reacting with some counter barks out of fear (understandably). We aborted mission and walked them separately.
Again we’re going to keep crating and rotating but just putting this on your radar for now so everyone is on the same page. We’re comfortable with potty training, crate training, enrichment, other behavior issues, medical needs, etc — but if she’s ultimately not able to interact with our resident dog, it won’t be a situation we can maintain long term.
She’s very very sweet and comfortable with humans — she’s also smart and eager to please. One day at a time!
Per foster 2/20: Stormy has quite a bit of separation anxiety, and even with all the medication, spends a lot of time crying and barking when she’s left alone. Thankfully, we have an “Alcatraz” crate, where I know she will be safe… because she nearly got her head stuck sticking out of a wire crate the first day.
She’s getting more comfortable with us! and our dog has gotten used to the fact that there’s another dog in the house (although of course they are anxious to get to each other).
Stormy has had some diarrhea, but that’s not too surprising with the stress and medication. Her appetite is fine (she’s HUNGRY) and we’ll be on a mission of putting some meat on her bones in the coming weeks. She also coughed a few times today, but we will keep an eye on it and let you know if it progresses.
She’s a very sweet and snuggly girl! And smart… I taught her one or two commands already!
02/17/2025 staff notes:
KENNEL PRESENTATION: Stormy was sitting on her bed upright when I approached. She was trembling and had wide eyes and gave some lip licks. She remained on the bed and sniffed the leash when I reached in with it. Remained in place and allowed me to loop her ears to snout.
LEASH SKILLS: Pulls minimally, Fearful in the kennels
HANDLING: In the room Stormy was a nervous and timid gal. When first entering I sat on the bench and she hopped up sitting beside me trembling and glancing around, before gaining enough confidence to hop down and explore on her own. After exploring she came back and sat beside me again. She allowed me to pet her head, back and sides without issue, but would tuck her tail when I pet her. She remained tolerant during our time together, but never fully relaxed or opened up. No interest in treats.
PLAY: No interest
TOYS: No interest
Per staff 2/16: “Dog was fine during the exam, but started flailing around aggressively, was only able to give rabies, Bordetella, and treatment.”
Per owner 2/16: “Very playful slightly jumpy and nervous. Lived with children and cats. High energy, does fine on leash. She recently began fighting with the cats, [owners] son got in the middle of it and she got him no broken skin just a scratch. Curious and sniffs strangers, sniffs around children, sniffs and barks at cats, barks a lot at dogs. She’s highly energetic and very curious just needs lots of attention.”
Medical History:
Per an exam on 2/16: “Could not place microchip due to behavior. Eyes are a little red and ears are a little waxy. Mild staining on teeth. Body condition score of 3. Bright, alert, responsive, very scared.”
ACCT Philly is located at 111 West Hunting Park Ave in Philadelphia. We are open for adoptions 7 days a week. Please visit www.acctphilly.org/adopt for details.
If you are a rescue interested in pulling this animal, please email our lifesaving team, or visit here if you are not currently a rescue partner: https://acctphilly.org/acct-philly-love-local-partnership-program/
Confirmed placement is considered confirmation of an actual rescue pull. Possible placement, interested parties, and other "TBD" statuses are not considered confirmed and do not indicate an animal is no longer urgent.
All animals at ACCT Philly are from Philadelphia, as the only open intake animal shelter in Philadelphia, we are not able to accept animals from outside of Philadelphia. ACCT Philly's Pennsylvania kennel license number is 08313.
