Imagine someone surprises you with an adorable puppy right now– how would you react? Would you jump from excitement? Cry from happiness? Or simply stare in awe at those irresistible puppy dog eyes?
Well, not being able to resist dogs is one of the best ways to describe Omar Brooks, who along with his family, has fostered 16 dogs in the past two years of his life. He has been working since 2017 to find the perfect homes, with loving and responsible families, for stray and homeless dogs!
Brooks was 18 when he left his home to join the Army. His love for his country made him travel all the way from his hometown, Canonsburg, to Fort Stewart, Georgia, for his training, where each morning, he and his troop would arouse at sharp 6:30 without fail.
As he was a part of the Kuwait war, Brooks faced a lot of trauma. Like most soldiers, he spent his service dodging bullets and losing friends. As a result, after he left the service in 2003, he struggled with post-traumatic stress disorder. It took him 14 years to get past the life he lived in the military service when he finally decided to spend the rest of his life fostering dogs and providing homes for them.
Brooks started working with Bridge to Home Animal Rescue in Eighty-Four, Washington country, a foster care organization that has saved up to 1500 dogs in the last two years!
As bizarre as it sounds now, Brooks claims that he was never a dog person growing up. If you see the photoshoots and videos that the family regularly uploads on social media to encourage people to adopt, you wouldn’t believe him at all!
Working a full-time job at maximum-security prison is extremely stressful in itself. Especially given to the recent coronavirus situation so, Brooks claims that coming back to a home filled with dogs is the perfect way to wind-off and release the stress of the day! Due to the pandemic, being locked away at home and restricted from playing with friends, Brooks says that his daughters have benefited greatly from having so many dogs around constantly, and have not been bothered much by lockdown restrictions.
Call it the silver lining, but because of the spread of COVID-19, cat and dog adoptions have highly risen nationwide, which is why The Brooks and other fosterers have been especially busy at this time.
