Last week was Adopt-A-Less-Adoptable-Pet Week, and we worked with individuals, adoption groups, bloggers and the media to raise awareness about the pets who too often have the hardest time getting adopted -- all to help these extra-special pets find homes.

It worked!

Thanks to everyone who helped us spread the word, many of the pets who were nominated by their shelters or rescue groups for our Adopt-A-Less-Adoptable-Pet Week Gallery got adopted. Here are a few of our favorite adoption stories from the week.

Mabelline, an older Pug who needs daily medication and dislikes big dogs
"Mabelline came to us in March of 2010," Terri from Arizona Pug Adoption and Rescue Network in Mesa, AZ, writes about the 8-year-old Pug who needs daily eye drops. "She is a friendly, outgoing Pug, but does not like large dogs. She went to many adoption events and, of course, everyone who wanted to adopt her turned out to have large dogs! Finally, a woman who adopted a white Pug from us over a year ago saw Mabelline online and emailed that she wanted to adopt her!"

Mabelline is now enjoying life in her new home. She and her new Pug sister Pinkee "had a few spats at first over treats, but seem to have worked everything out," Terri says. In fact, Mabelline's new mom reports that she's caught the two snuggling in the same bed.

Berry, the black, senior German Shepherd who played the canine form of the character Sirius Black in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, has been relinquished to German Shepherd Dog Rescue in the U.K.

Fox News recently reported that 10-year-old Berry and his 13-year-old canine companion, Porridge, were given up by a professional stuntman who didn't have enough time for them anymore. (Read the full story here.)

The news comes on the heels of Petfinder's Adopt-A-Less-Adoptable-Pet Week, which highlighted the pets who can be the hardest for shelters and rescue groups to find homes for, including senior pets and pets with darker fur colors. (See which pets are the hardest to place here.)

In honor of Adopt-A-Less-Adoptable-Pet Week, we asked fans on Facebook to finish this sentence: "My 'less-adoptable' pet rules because ..." Here are just a few of our favorite answers.

1) "Andrea Pauly Duchess, my new kitty, was at the shelter for eight years after being abandoned. She had an eye removed due to infection and no one wanted her, poor darling girl. She is 12 years old and loves to play and snuggle. I cannot imagine my life without her!" -- Andrea P.

2) "Because as a screaming, biting, cursing macaw, no one saw her potential. Harlie now makes visits to senior homes and nursing facilities and is always a big hit! She is beautiful and funny and smart and loved, and she was hours from euthanasia when I brought her home." -- Sandra R.

3) "He turned out to be the best dog I ever owned. And no one wanted him because his vet bill was in the thousands because of someone beating him with a baseball bat." -- Joanne A.

4) "She is adorable and hilarious and probably the best dog ever. And we found her on Petfinder.com. Good thing we did, because I'm guessing the average, normal person (apparently, not us!) would not have loved her and her behavioral anomalies as we do." -- Jane J.

All this week we've been talking about the many great less-adoptable pets in shelters and rescue groups. But the truth is, any pet is less-adoptable if potential adopters can't see his or her wonderful qualities.

And the easiest way to show off a pet's sparkling personality is with a great photo. That's why one of the best ways you can volunteer is by taking photos of homeless pets for their Petfinder profiles.

Gizmodo has the story of (and a video about) Teresa Berg, a professional photographer who volunteers with Dallas-Fort Worth Dachshund Rescue Foundation. Berg's photos helped the organization double its adoption rate.

"We would cut foster care from three to six months down to eight weeks," Berg told CBS Dallas-Fort Worth. "That made me feel good." She now trains others in the art of photographing shelter pets.

Pets who especially benefit from thoughtful photographs include cats and black dogs. After the jump: Some of our favorite blog posts with tips on photographing shelter pets.

Adopt-A-Less-Adoptable-Pet Week (Sept. 17-25) shines a spotlight on the homeless pets  often overlooked by adopters, whether because they have health issues such as FIV or are blind or deaf, a few years past puppy- or kittenhood, shy when meeting new people or just the "wrong" breed or color.

When Petfinder created Adopt-A-Less-Adoptable-Pet Week in 2009, we surveyed our shelter and rescue group members to find out how many of them had pets they were having a hard time placing, and which pets were hardest to get adopted. Here's what they said.

Petfinder's "Less-Adoptable Pet" Survey Results

• 95% of shelters and rescue groups said they had pets whom they were having a very hard time placing in adoptive homes.


• 33% said they had pets who'd been waiting for homes for one to two years, and 27% had pets who'd been waiting more than two years.

Which pets were hardest to place? Here's what our respondents said:

• Senior and older pets: 30%
  
• Pets with medical problems: 15%
• Victims of breed prejudice (such as Pit Bulls): 13%
  
• Shy pets: 10%
  
• Pets who need to be only pets: 10%