Two Lucky Pups

I volunteer with a canine rescue group in Carson City, Nevada. After our much beloved Ginger passed, our first poochie acquisition was the littlest Staffordshire Terrier, Sassi. She and two pups had been dumped in the desert and found by a shelter. She was then given to our group where the puppies were adopted out. She was a handful of energy and mischief, but she and we fell in love. A year later, Doc, our big Staffordshire, was found nearly starved to death (down to 35 lbs from 75 lbs now) and our group rescued him, plumped him up and we took him in as our foster boy. However, after three months, we couldn't part with him - he's such a sweet baby! They are now both our "kids" and we adore them and they adore each other. They are being properly spoiled and being properly trained and we are being properly entertained with their antics. We are a bit long in the tooth to have two energy balls like Sassi & Doc, but they keep us young.

Scarlet's joyful spirit

Scarlet was dumped at a shelter from a very young age and had been living there for about 6 months. A friend of mine was working at the shelter at the time so I would browse the dogs they had up for adoption out of interest. I saw Scarlet on the site one day and asked my friend about her – she was about to be put down as she was going kennel mad and no one had shown any interest in her. I thought it was heartbreaking that this poor girl had been brought into the world, spent the first 6 months of her life in a kennel and then was simply going to be killed – no animal deserves an existence like that. I asked my friend about rescuing her, spent some time convincing my parents to let me adopt her and she was shipped to me 3 days later. I’ve had her for 2 years now and it’s been wonderful spending that time with her. She’s an absolute joy to have around and I’m so glad that I rescued her – she has the most wonderful spirit and I feel great knowing I was able to keep it alive.


Josie Eldred
Katoomba, Australia

Melanie gets a home!

Who could resist a sales pitch like this…

UPDATE!!!! Melanie has become very very very stressed at the shelter, and needs a home of her own asap. She is depressed, and barely moves when her shelter moms are not at the shelter.

Sweet Melanie is a 4 year old female Black Lab mix. She has been at Hillside SPCA for over 2 years now, and is really ready for a home. She is adorable, and such a sweetheart, she loves to give kisses, and go for walks. Melanie was brought in by the dog warden when her owners kept leaving her to run the neighborhood. She has been with us since then. She loves other dogs, and is good with older children.

She has two shelter moms who she worships, unfortunately their home is already full of other dogs, and she just cannot go home with them, she really needs to find her own home. Melanie loves to go hiking, and walking, she LOVES when you get the leash down and spins in circles in excitement, until you get the leash on her then she's ready to go!!

Melanie gives the best kisses, and knows how to sit, and wait patiently for her snacks, she is a good eater, and loves to play with some of the other dogs. She would be ideal in a home with someone active who will take her for hikes, and walks often, she would even be a great jogger.  Sometimes at first meeting Mel can be very shy, but she quickly overcomes the shyness, and will be your best friend if you take her for a nice long walk, and give her some treats. Melanie's ideal home would be someone active, who has time to walk her often, with another dog or two, if any kids, they should be 12 years or older, and NO cats. Mel is no fan of kitties. Melanie loves Dunkin Donut's coolatas, and sour gummi worms, haha, she's really a special girl, who has been waiting so long for a home.

On the days that her shelter moms don't work she just lays in a dog house all day, and won't even come out, and her shelter mom's can't be there forever so it's time she gets her own home!!! She's just another black dog, that is ignored day after day while the tan, white, brown, and other "cuter" dogs get homes.  Please help us find the right home for Mel, no dog should spend 2 years at a shelter, she should live her life on a sofa, and on long walks.

Happily, Melanie is now living the good life in her forever home with Karen, Jim and her new best buddy Hobbes (her couch companion above).

Our Chrystal Clear Rescue Experience

Two years ago, we found ourselves disheartened after we lost our three elder dogs within a very short period. Because dogs have always been an important part of our family, finding ourselves without these family members left a hole in our lives.

While considering different dog breeds, we took a trip to our local shelter, the Steuben County Humane Shelter. We had always had pure bred dogs in the past and had some concerns about the animals we might find.

We toured the shelter for quite a while, and took several of the dogs out for walks and some one-on-one play time. All the dogs were appreciative, but Chrystal just seemed to connect with us.

Chrystal was a one year old Beagle-Basenji mix. But she had spent 7 months in the shelter. We were told that she had actually been adopted twice and returned both times. (Basenjis apparently don't like cats at all.)

She was cute and playful. But we're afraid that she had spent too much time in the shelter to be socialized. We were also concerned that she had been brought back twice before.

Chrystal turned out to be very well behaved and, incredibly, was already house broken. Over the next year, Chrystal's personality developed fully and she has become the most loving, energetic, adoring (especially towards my husband) and appreciative dog, we've ever owned.

And the other dogs at the shelter have benefited as well. As a result of our experience with Chrystal, we have become supporting members of our shelter, and volunteer with projects to raise money for our Privately Funded shelter.

Thank you for ALL you do for Shelter animals everywhere. I could Never again get an animal anywhere else. There are so many great pets just needing another chance for that perfect Forever Home.

Mary Whiting
Angola, IN

Sirius and Sandy

We got Sirius Black as a 5-month-old puppy. My dad found him on the side of a road in Arkansas and kept him for my son. We had no fence, so Sirius was inside or at doggy daycare. When we moved, we knew he would need company in our fenced yard or he would go find some.

The doggy daycare, Funnybones in Atlanta, was fostering Sandy. They had found her running across their parking lot, dragging a rope, with her collar dug into her neck. She was skin and bones. They took care of her for a couple of months before sending out an email seeking a home for her. I asked whether Sandy and Sirius got along. "Oh, yes," I was told. "They play together all the time. Sandy will wrestle as long as Sirius wants to." So she came to our new home with us when we moved.

It took Sirius a while to get used to sharing his family. It took Sandy a lot longer to stop eating everything in sight, including frogs. Now, as you can see, they are best friends.

Carrie
Tifton, GA

Our little Four Leaf Clover

We adopted Clover 2 years ago after I saw her on Petfinder. We had just lost our 13 year old Jack Russell to cancer a couple of months prior and our house was so empty. We knew we wanted a rescue and we knew we wanted a Jack Russell, but Clover is more human than anything else. After reading her story of how she was found in a dumpster with her brother after spending days in freezing temperatures and being brought back to health really touched our hearts. We knew she was a tough little girl. The minute we brought her home, we knew she was special. She loves her toys, she dances on her hind legs when she wants something or gets excited and she loves to snuggle. She loves to run and play with her friends at her daycare Gypsy Paws. We are so blessed to have such a loving creature in our home, she deserves all the love in the world.


Ashleigh
Gainesville, GA

My best friends

Living in the Dominican Republic since 25 years, found many homeless dogs & cats, still have 17 dogs ( from 4 months to 14 years of age) and 2 cats ( 13 y) over 700 birds.. Here are many street dogs or dogs left behind when people leave again. People just forget they need a home.

I do all I can to help my little friends, not always easy, but I LOVE THEM and they love me!

Snack time is their favorite, then destroy the garden, but they are happy - so am I.

"Bacardi" I found with my daughter Cassandra on Bacardi Island, close to Samana in 2006, she was almost dead, no fur, just bones, my brothers son said: she is the ugliest dog he ever saw...there I knew I have to take her home also cause nobody else would, even I was in a bad financial time. Today Bacardi is a beautiful lady and loves to fetch stones.

Karla, a golden retriever mix, I found on X-mas eve, someone left her in the street for back problems, today she is 14 - we share our back problems since then. She is one of my best dogs.

In Nov. 09 I found 3 female puppies in a tree trunk, in june 2010 a mother with her 3 pups - almost starved to death in an abandoned house. Today they are healthy and happy. My most favorite was Max, 1st. one I saved from being drowned, he later was together with Karla. Max was ALWAYS with me, specially in bad times I had. He had 8 pups with Karla, 6 I kept, 3 are still with me 13 1/2 by now. Max died with 16! God do I miss him...but one day we meet on the Rainbow bridge.

Andrea Thumeyer
Sosua, Dominican Republic