Petfinder Blog

Recently, Katherine, a colleague of mine at Discovery Communications was researching French Bulldogs on the Internet. She came across a group calling itself a Frenchie rescue. But something about its website didn't seem right.

Katherine did some research and discovered a 2011 report by the Humane Society of the United States charging that the group was run by a Missouri breeder it called one of the state's worst puppy millers. The report claimed the pets on the "rescue" site are in fact cast-offs from that breeding operation.

"I was so angry," Katherine told me. "I will do anything I can do to raise awareness."

Unfortunately, her story isn't unique. "For-profit breeders have increasingly tried to take advantage of the public's desire to adopt homeless pets by posing as rescue groups, even using the term 'adopt' when selling their, all too often, puppy-mill-raised pups" says Kim Saunders, Petfinder's vice president of shelter outreach. "This makes it even more important that Petfinder remains a space for reputable shelters and rescue groups."

All the adoption groups that list their pets on Petfinder have been carefully screened by our shelter outreach staff. But if you're looking beyond Petfinder for a pet to adopt, there are some red flags to keep an eye out for. No one of these points alone proves a rescue group isn't legit. But if you find several of these warning signs, you might want to look for your adoptable pet elsewhere:

After the jump: 5 questions to ask about an organization before you adopt

Here's our next post in our new Q&A series about pet adoption! Once a month we select a reader question and answer it here. Have a question you'd like us to answer? Email us.

Q: I love the site and all the information available but my first experience trying to adopt a dog gave me the creeps. The group had no phone number and wouldn't even answer my basic questions without a full application containing very personal information. I met them halfway and filled out all the information that wasn't personal but was essentially denied for a non-issue because I didn't send them all my info. -- Sid L.

A: Each year, millions of animals lose their lives to homelessness. Animal shelters and rescue groups are their lifeline to safety. But, with over 13,600 adoption organizations on Petfinder, adoption procedures can vary widely. You may need to reach out to a few organizations to find one that is a match for you.

Learn more about the different types of groups that post on Petfinder after the jump and decide which type is easiest for you to work with.

We're kicking off a new series of Q&As about pet adoption! Once a month we'll select a reader question and answer it here. Have a question you'd like us to answer? Email us.

Q: I'm looking to adopt my next dog in order to save a life and help. It's very sad to see the outrageous adoption fees so many shelters are asking for these unwanted animals. I understand many shelters are giving them their shots, etc., but many vets will work with new owners on lower-cost care for pets -- so why don't the shelters? -- Stephanie D.

A: Hi Stephanie. Thank you so much for looking into adoption for your next dog! While searching Petfinder, you will find pets from more than 13,600 shelters and rescue groups -- each with its own adoption procedure and fees. Depending on the type of organization and type of pet, adoption fees can range from no fee up to several hundred dollars.

After the jump, some information on what helps determine an adoption fee amount, what that fee covers and how you can get a reduced adoption fee on a great pet.

This Wednesday was the fourth annual Petside Pet 'Net event, in which pet bloggers around the world wrote about pet adoption to raise awareness of homeless pets. (Read our entry here.)

To celebrate, Petside invited pet parents to post their adoption stories on Petside.com's Facebook wall for a chance to be featured here on the Petfinder blog. Here are a few of our favorites:

Prince Poodle
Prince is a 5-year-old apricot Miniature Poodle. In January, he was spotted as a stray running in traffic by animal rescuer Brenda (our hero!), who works at Fuzzy Friends Rescue in Waco, TX.

She saw him on the road and hoped that he would go into a house. When a vehicle almost hit him, she called him over and he jumped into her car. He was matted and had sticks and leaves in his hair, and although he was wearing a little jacket, he had clearly been out for a while. Fuzzy Friends shaved his hair and looked for his owner, but no one ever appeared.

We adopted Prince Poodle (Fuzzy Friends had named him Brando) on March 14 after spotting him on Petfinder. He is a wonderful dog and I can't imagine why he sat at the rescue for weeks.

Prince loves wearing clothes and playing with stuffed animals. He also loves children and people -- he has visited the hospital (to see a sick friend) and the elementary school (to be part of a talk on rescue dogs) and won the adoration of all. Since we adopted Prince, I have started volunteering at our local animal rescue, Humane Society of West Texas in Lubbock, and have found it very rewarding to help people adopt their next family member!
-- Jackie B.

After the jump: Two more great adoption stories from Petside.com's Facebook fans!

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.)

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%
  

Hundreds of displaced pets are without homes and in need of temporary care due to the 34,000-acre wildfire in Bastrop County, TX. Although the blaze is now about 50 percent contained, more than 1,500 homes have been lost. In addition, stray dogs and cats and those in shelters remain at risk.

Bastrop County Animal Control's shelter was directly in the path of the fires and was evacuated, and some area residents were evacuated so quickly that their pets were left behind -- and now have been without care for nearly a week.

The Austin Humane Society (AHS) has rescued more than 100 dogs, cats, kittens and puppies from the fires, including evacuated pets from animal control, and is still working in the area to save strays and pets who were left behind.

This heroic effort is possible in part thanks to a $3,000 disaster grant from the Petfinder.com Foundation that AHS will put toward the cost of medical care for the affected pets.

The rescue efforts continue daily. Thanks to the disaster grant, AHS will be able to continue its critical work while dealing with the influx of pets in need.

---

To help further in this time of disaster, donate to the Petfinder.com Foundation Disaster Fund.

Wildfires are ravaging central Texas and flooding is still affecting the Northeast.

Shelters and rescue groups across both areas are working to get local families' pets and the homeless pets in their care to safety, and we've been reaching out to adoption groups in the affected regions to find out what they need and offer help.

(If you are a Petfinder member and need disaster-related assistance, please email your Petfinder outreach team or learn more about the Petfinder.com Foundation Disaster Fund.)

If you just want to help, we've got some simple things you can do to make a difference (after the jump).

The results are in, and 9-month-old Sheltie/Shepherd mix Francis is the winner of Fuzzy Nation's Super Model Photo Contest! The puppy has become a local celebrity of sorts, and the face of pet adoption for Jackson, MS.

Francis was found on the side of the road in the middle of winter. He had been abandoned in a cardboard box, dehydrated and freezing. He was taken to Community Animal Rescue and Adoption (CARA) in Jackson, where he remained in a coma for four days. He was so malnourished that when he woke up, he couldn't eat by himself or even walk.

After weeks of dedication from the CARA staff, Francis was adopted by Harriet Scott of Ridgeland, MS.

"He was named after St. Francis of Assisi," Harriet told local paper The Clarion-Ledger of Francis. "It took a lot of prayer and a lot of love to pull him through."

After Harriet adopted him, she created a Facebook group for Francis that quickly gained more than 800 members. It was these dedicated supporters who helped Francis clinch the first-place spot in the Fuzzy Nation contest, with more than 8,000 votes.

By winning first place, Francis earned a $10,000 grant from the Petfinder.com Foundation for CARA. On Saturday, Francis and Harriet presented the check to CARA at the group's "Dog Days" fundraising event. There were more than 200 people in attendance, and by all accounts it was a joyful celebration for CARA. Francis even got some good face time with his fans. Read an article from the Clarion-Ledger about the event.

California lawmakers are considering making microchipping shelter and rescue animals mandatory in what could be the first major microchipping law in the US. Senate Bill 702, sponsored by California Sen. Ted Lieu, D-Torrance, would require that all dogs and cats be microchipped before being adopted or returned to their owners, in the case of lost pets.

Advocates of the bill hope to increase the number of lost pets returned to their homes and reduce the cost of caring for lost pets.

The Associated Press reports (read the full article here):

California taxpayers pay about $300 million every year to impound 1 million dogs and cats, house them and euthanize half of them, according to the Cities and Counties Annual Reports submitted to the state controller. Thirteen percent of lost pets entering shelters in California are reunited
with owners, Lieu said, but studies show that number could grow to 75 percent with chips.

Dr. Linda K. Lord, associate dean for student affairs at Ohio State University's College of Veterinary Medicine, studied 53 shelters in 23 states between August 2007 and March 2008. Co-authors included another veterinarian, a humane society representative and a consultant to a Canadian pharmaceutical company, which was also parent to a microchip manufacturer.

They found shelters located owners of microchipped pets in three out of four cases.

When owners couldn't be found, it was because of incorrect or outdated contact information in the chipmaker's registration database, Lord said.

Opponents of the bill cite health concerns for the pets and taking the choice away from pet parents. However, when the Associated Press interviewed four veterinarians about the risks of microchips they stressed that -- when inserted properly -- health risks to the pet are unlikely.

Tell us: Do you believe all shelter and rescue pets should be microchipped?

Thank you to all of you who adopted, volunteered and helped us spread the word about Petfinder's Big Birthday Adoption Event last weekend. It was a huge success!

Our goal was to find homes for 15,000 pets in one weekend. But when all the groups had reported in, it turned out that a whopping 15,700 pets had found forever homes -- and many more had great leads on possible homes.

And the success stories are pouring in. Here are just a few of our favorites:

First-ever Petfinder adoption!
Animed Pet Adoption Center in Dedham, MA, had just become a Petfinder member -- and had its first Petfinder adoption this weekend with lucky Cairn Terrier mix Toto. And the adoption applications have kept coming. "It feels like the Boston Bruins winning the Stanley Cup all over again," says Animed vet tech Greta Grundstrom.

Love at first sight!
At the multi-organization event in Oakland, CA, Petfinder staffer Jessica Harris met the Fredericks, who'd just adopted Pit mix Cookie from the Berkeley-East Bay Humane Society. When Jessica took their picture, she says, "I tried and tried to get Cookie to look into the camera, but couldn't -- she wouldn't take her eyes off her new mom!" Playing for keeps!
Cabot Animal Control in Arkansas found homes for one cat and five dogs during its kid-centric adoption event, which featured cake, face-painting and a spacewalk. "I was so excited that I got in the bouncy house and went crazy!" says Brandy Buie, Cabot Animal Control's rescue coordinator.

Double the love!
Adoptions at K9Kastle in New York City more than doubled: Volunteer Emily Beck says that, on a typical weekend, the group finds homes for "three or four pets, tops" -- but at its  event on Sunday, eight pets were adopted!

Six horses go home!
The Shepherds Way Animal Rescue in Springdale, WA, which rehabs abused and neglected horses and offers free riding lessons to disadvantaged kids, reports that six of its horses were adopted. "The outpouring of the community to help children and horses was unprecedented for us," says executive director Carrie Aenk.

A five-year resident is adopted!
Tiger Tom, who'd lived at Wildrun in Spencer, NY, for five years, finally found a family on Saturday. "Now he has a new work-from-home mom and dad who will be able to keep him company every moment of the day," says Wildrun founder (and Petfinder staffer) Susan Greene.

Hundreds find homes at mega-events!
In 10 major cities, multiple groups joined forces for mega-events. Petfinder's Sara Kent went to one of them, at St. Hubert's Animal Welfare and Education Center in Madison, NJ. "It was a blast, complete with a live band, face painting and free Petfinder birthday cake for all visitors," she says. More than 343 pets found homes at these multi-organization events.

Did you or your favorite adoption group do something for our Big Birthday Adoption Event? Tell us below!

The Petfinder Big Birthday Adoption Event has begun! Here are just a few examples of the nearly 1,500 events happening across North America to help find home for 15,000 pets this weekend. Find an event near you here.

Birthday Garage Sale Fundraiser!
Black and Orange Cat Foundation in Plain City, OH, is celebrating our birthday at its annual garage sale (check out the local blog coverage!).

Cake, Face Painting and a Spacewalk!
Cabot Animal Shelter in Arkansas is offering birthday cake, a Scooby Doo Spacewalk and face painting for kids (learn more).

Extended Hours and Waived or Reduced Adoption Fees!
Elk County Humane Society in St. Marys, PA, is extending its Saturday adoption hours until 5 p.m., waiving adoption fees for cats and offering reduced adoption fees for long-term dog residents.

On-site Dog Trainers and Free Mini-consultations!
Have a Heart, Inc. in Delray Beach, FL, is offering a free Meet the Trainer event at its birthday event, which includes a training session with the adoptable dogs in the morning and one-on-one mini-sessions for attendees and their dogs in the afternoon (learn more).

$15 Cat Adoption Fees!
Liberty Humane Society in Jersey City, NJ, is offering $15 cat adoptions and reduced fees for dog adoptions in honor of our 15th birthday. (And check out the profile picture on its Facebook page!)

Cupcakes and Balloons!
Montana Companion Animal Network, Inc. in Corvallis, MT, is offering free cupcakes and balloons at its event (which got its details and flier posted on MissoulaPets.com!).

Street Party and Half-Off Adoption Fees!
Montclair Township Animal Shelter in New Jersey is offering half-off adoption fees for dogs and cats during its birthday street party, which will feature music and cake and was written up on NorthJersey.com.

Local Rescues, An Animal Chiropractor and More!
Peggy Adams Rescue League in West Palm Beach, FL, is hosting various rescue groups, plus trainers, groomers, an animal chiropractor, Roger Dean baseball players and more at its three-day event.

Birthday Bucks for $15 Off Adoption Fees!
St. Hubert's Animal Welfare Center in Madison, NJ, created Birthday Bucks that adopters can bring in to receive $15 off their adoption fee (it's also hosting seven other adoption groups and serving birthday cake!).

A Birthday Open House!
Wildrun in Spencer, NY -- usually open by appointment only -- will be open to the public from 1-4 on Saturday. Learn more on the Wildrun blog.

In addition to those and hundreds of other adoption happenings, multi-organization events are taking place in 10 major cities. See them after the jump! We'll be counting the adoptions live all weekend on our birthday page, where you can also search for events near you and view a gallery of featured pets nominated by shelters and rescue groups.

In one incredible weekend, Missouri's Joplin Humane Society found homes for more than 700 pets displaced by the Joplin tornado.

In a recent newsletter, JHS executive director Karen Aquino writes:

Our super-adoption event was a HUGE success, where an amazing 739 animals found loving homes this past weekend. A total of 390 dogs and 343 cats -- and one ferret and five rabbits -- were welcomed into loving homes in what we're told is the biggest adoption event in the Midwest.

Since the May 22nd tornado, more than 1,300 animals displaced by the storm sought refuge at the Joplin Humane Society. After 500 pets were reunited with their families, the rest of these pets remained unclaimed. It was time to find families ... and the families came with open arms!

An astonishing 5,000 people, representing 24 states, waited patiently in the heat to add a little love to their families. Each animal went home spayed or neutered, micro-chipped and with a new leash, collar and personalized ID tag.

Of course, JHS still needs your help. Karen writes, "A gift today can help us continue to rebuild and ensure that all these animals that continue to come through our doors are able to find the loving homes they deserve." Read Karen's full message about the adoption event now or watch a picture slide show of the rescue efforts.

A new ruling could save volunteers some hard-earned cash. A California woman who fosters cats for a rescue group went to tax court when the IRS wouldn't let her deduct the expenses she'd racked up caring for the cats -- and the judge ruled in her favor. (Read the Wall Street Journal article about the case.)

Jan Van Dusen, who fosters cats for Berkeley, CA-based Fix Our Ferals, had tried to write off $12,068 she'd spent on cat food, veterinary care, litter, paper towels and other items. Early this month, U.S. Tax Court judge Richard Morrison ruled in her favor.

This is great news for pet foster parents everywhere. The Wall Street Journal reports:

The decision ... paves the way for volunteers of animal-rescue groups like the ASPCA and Humane Society of the U.S. to
deduct unreimbursed expenses
that further the groups' missions, such as fostering stray animals.

But there are three very important criteria you must meet if you want to write off your expenses:

1. The organization you volunteer with must have 501(c)3 status.
2. You must be able to show that your contribution furthers the group's mission.
3. You need a letter from the group acknowledging your donations if they are worth more than $250 (less than $250 and receipts or canceled checks should be enough).

Tell us: What charitable expenses do you write off?

June is Adopt-A-Shelter-Cat Month! And we're kicking it off with an adorable video of a mother cat hugging her dreaming kitten.

The cats in the video are definitely lovable -- as are the more than 145,000 adoptable cats posted on Petfinder right now. If you want to help for Adopt-A-Shelter-Cat Month, here are just a few things you can do:

• Adopt a cat! Read our article, Adopting the Right Cat for You, or watch the video.
  
• Foster a cat or kittens for your local shelter or rescue group. If you foster a nursing cat with kittens, you'll be helping a whole family in need, and will get to enjoy nonstop cuteness until the kittens are old enough to be adopted. (Read eight reasons you can foster a cat, even if you think you can't.)
• Help spread the word: Here are 10 simple ways you can promote Adopt-A-Shelter-Cat Month -- most of which you can do without leaving your computer.

Tell us: What's the cutest thing your pet's ever done?

Today at 3:30 pm ET, our friends at TreeHugger.com are hosting a live chat with Steven Kotler -- author, journalist and co-founder of Rancho de Chihuahua, a rescue group in Chimayo, NM, that specializes in senior and special-needs Chihuahuas. (See Rancho de Chihuahua's adoptable pets on Petfinder.)

The topic of the chat is "Are Dogs Humankind's Most Important Environmental Issue?" You can watch the chat live -- and participate by typing in text questions below the video player -- here on the Petfinder blog.

Steven argues that dogs may hold the key to reimagining our role within the natural world. As our oldest animal companions, dogs have evolved alongside humans -- and Steven posits that by understanding dogs, we can understand how to live in harmony with the ecosystems we rely on.

Watch the video here at 3:30 today -- and learn more about Steven after the jump:

It's time for spring cleaning, and now there's even more reason to clean out those closets: Petfinder is teaming up with BlogPaws Be the Change for Pets for the Sell Your Stuff, Save a Life challenge, the world's biggest online garage sale to benefit homeless pets.

The Sell Your Stuff, Save a Life challenge
From May 18-25, we're asking pet parents everywhere to sell the stuff you don't need and donate the proceeds to the animal charity of your choice. You can sell your stuff online or off, just tell us how you much you raked in so we can track our collective impact.

We'll have more details on how to participate in the Sell Your Stuff, Save a Life challenge, so stay tuned! (And in the meantime, start thinking about all the stuff you want to sell, or visit the Be the Change for Pets Facebook page and ask any questions in the Discussion Tab.

It's official: The Petfinder iPhone app has won a People's Voice Webby award in the category Mobile: Utilities and Services!

The People's Voice awards are determined by votes from the public, so thank you to all of you who voted and asked your friends to vote. (Thanks especially to IAMS for asking its Facebook fans to vote several times.)

This is the second Webby win for Petfinder and adoptable pets. Petfinder Mobile won a People's Voice award in the category Mobile: Listings & Updates in 2009. (Read about our 2009 Webby win.)

Petfinder's app and mobile site really do save lives. Just this weekend a woman at the dog park told me that she'd like to adopt, but didn't think she could find a Maltese at a shelter. I pulled out my phone and showed her pictures of adoptable Malteses near her. She was surprised, and hopefully she'll adopt instead of buying a dog now.

We also hear from many people who adopted pets they found using the app -- whether they send us Happy Tails or review the app in the iTunes store.

Our mobile tools are just the latest advance in our 15-year mission to use technology to save pets' lives (since 1996, we've facilitated more than 17 million adoptions). And none of it would be possible without supporters like you. Thank you!

Check out all the Webby winners here.

On March 15 we asked everyone to help Petfinder adopt the internet for adoptable pets. And boy, did you ever!

On more than 300 websites and Facebook company pages, you spread the word about pet adoption. Countless numbers of you shared adoptable pets and adoption stories on Facebook and Twitter. You spread the message offline as well -- more than 2,200 of you took our pledge to tell at least one person about pet adoption on March 15.

And your efforts worked.

Our friends at VetLIVE.com e-mailed us that a visitor saw Adopt the Internet Day on their site and put in an application to adopt a dog because of it. Petfinder shelter-outreach specialist Susan Greene, who runs Wildrun cat rescue in Spencer, NY, says she got as many adoption inquiries on Tuesday as she normally gets in a week!

"It was wonderful to open my e-mail and see that many adoption messages on my adult and young adult cats," Susan adds. "As a small rescue, I normally would only get that many inquiries when I post a litter of cute and fuzzy kittens."

All of us at Petfinder were incredibly moved to see the enthusiastic and varied ways you helped spread the word about pet adoption. Here are just a few of the extra-creative efforts we saw on behalf of adoptable pets:

Helin Jung is an associate editor at PEOPLEPets.com. She adopted her dog, a senior Maltese named Ethel, from the Humane Society of New York in 2009. She lives in Queens.

At PEOPLEPets.com, we hear about lots of stars who love their pets, many of them shelter cats and dogs. But on Adopt the Internet Day, we think it's fitting to call out a few of the celebrities who go out of their way to speak out for homeless pets -- and do all they can to find forever homes for them. Meet them below:

Alyssa Milano
When the Twitter maven found out about Scooby-Roo, an abandoned, two-legged mutt with Fuzzy Recue in L.A., She helped get him a custom-made cart to help with his rehabilitation. Milano then invited the dog to her home, where Scooby-Roo wheeled around the yard and met the actress's 10 horses. And her fans know all about it: Milano often Tweets to her 1.4 million followers about pets in need of homes. Read more about Alyssa Milano and Scooby-Roo.

Help Petfinder Adopt the Internet Day is March 15 -- but the impact has already been huge.

More than 60 blogs and other websites have pledged to spread the word about pet adoption on March 15, and many have already started.

Here are some of the great ways adoptable pets are taking over the web on March 15:

• Adoptable-pet photo galleries: Oprah.com (yes, that's the Oprah) and PeoplePets.com will treat their millions of visitors to galleries of Petfinder pets.


• LOL adoptable pets: We hope you've been captioning Petfinder photos at ICanHasCheezburger.com! On March 15, the site will be spotlighting the photos with the funniest captions.


• Homepage takeovers: Our friends at Dogster and Catster will be dedicating their entire homepages to pet adoption!


• Today's top story: Pet-news sites PetSugar and AOL's PawNation will be blogging about pet adoption throughout the day.


• Prizes for pledgers: BISSELL is giving away 10 Pet Hair Eraser Vacuums to people who take our pledge to tell at least one person about pet adoption on March 15.


• Adoptable pets on Facebook: You can already search Petfinder pets on IAMS's Facebook page. IAMS has also been posting pet-adoption Happy Tails on Facebook, and will change its profile photo to an Adopt the Internet Day graphic on March 15.


• Wall of Fame: Each day next week, AnimalPlanet.com will post an adorable Petfinder pet on its Wall of Fame.

The Petfinder.com Foundation has partnered with Intervet/Schering-Plough to vaccinate thousands of shelter dogs against the deadly canine influenza virus.

Canine influenza is a respiratory disease that causes coughing, nasal discharge and loss of energy and appetite. While canine influenza can lead to a severe or even life-threatening infection, the good news is that, with proper care, most dogs recover.

As part of our mission, the Petfinder.com Foundation strives to help reduce illness among pets at shelters and rescue groups. We hope the Building Community Immunity Grant will significantly reduce the number of canine influenza cases among adoptable pets.

The grant was opened in November to applications from Petfinder members, and we are now well on our way to awarding more than $8.6 million to more than 1,600 shelters and rescue groups across the country -- enough to cover 955,555 vaccinations.

The hot pet story of the moment is about Wall-E, the puppy at Sulphur Animal Shelter in Sulphur, OK, who was believed euthanized, but who survived.

You can read his story on his Petfinder profile, which is maintained by veterinarian Amanda Kloski. Dr. Kloski has been caring for Wall-E since his near-death experience.

(You can also read about Wall-E's story in " 'Euthanized' Dog Rises from the Dead" on DiscoveryNews.com.)

As. Dr. Kloski writes in Wall-E's Petfinder profile, the adorable terrier mix has received hundreds of inquiries from people interested in adopting him. She adds:

In Sulphur we have NEVER had the problem (or BLESSING) of more than one family wishing to adopt a dog so we are new to this concept- most of our dogs do not get this chance or opportunity even ONCE- it is amazing!

So while Wall-E is likely to find a wonderful forever home, it's worth remembering the thousands of dogs out there who are still waiting. If you're determined to adopt Wall-E, check out the 13 other pets named Wall-E who are also listed on Petfinder -- not to mention the 204 adoptable pets named Wally.
 

On March 15, adoptable pets are taking over the Web -- and I hope you'll help. In honor of our 15th birthday, we're asking everyone to Help Petfinder Adopt the Internet by getting online and spreading the word about pet adoption.

We've gotten many friends on board: ICanHasCheezBurger.com has adoptable-pet photos you can caption today, and on March 15 PeoplePets.com feature a Petfinder gallery of adoptable pets, Dogster and Catster are doing homepage takeovers, FIDOFriendly magazine is doing a 12-hour blogathon, and AOL's Paw Nation, the Humane Society of the United States, PetSugar, PetSide and many others have committed to blogging about pet adoption. (Check out our Adopt the Internet Day homepage for a list of our partners.)

But we need your help too. Here are some easy ways you can help spread the word about adoptable pets on March 15.

Ollie's Place, a cat adoption center operated by Mighty Mutts in New York City, recently found a unique way to celebrate a special bond between two adoptable cats: It held the world's first same-sex cat wedding.

The "tail-joining" ceremony united Solomon and Bruno, two adult males who depend on each other and are looking for a forever home they can go to together.

I recently caught up with the man behind Solomon and Bruno's wedding, Ollie's Place volunteer Mike DiCerto, and asked him about the Jan. 27 ceremony. Get the inside scoop -- and watch the video Mike made about Solomon and Bruno's wedding -- after the jump!

Tomorrow, another Jane -- one slightly furrier than me -- will ring the closing bell at the New York Stock Exchange. And Jane, a Vizsla mix adopted dog from Bideawee in New York, will be joined by homeless pets and representatives from the Iams Home 4 the Holidays campaign to raise awareness of pet adoption.

Jane was adopted in September by Jack Nazarian, who has been blogging about the experience as an "adoption angel" on IamsHome4theHolidays.com.

Jack and the other Iams H4TH adoption angel, Meaghan West, who adopted a Spaniel mix named Beryllium from the Saskatoon SPCA in Canada, have also been posting on Iams' Facebook page -- and each time you "like" one of their posts, Iams donates food to animal shelters (more than 4 million meals since the campaign kicked off in October!)

Greg Kincaid is the author of Christmas with Tucker, now available at Amazon.com, BN.com, Borders.com, and all major retailers. You can read Greg's previous blog posts for Petfinder and visit him at www.facebook.com/authorgregkincaid.

Many years ago, my wife and I adopted a needy family for Christmas. We brought coats, food and small gifts. It made for a great holiday for both families. The experience was also fodder for my book, A Dog Named Christmas. In that novel, the fictional McCray family tries to find holiday foster homes for all the dogs at their local shelter.

Three years have passed since that book was released, and now the need is more urgent and the problems are more severe. My wife and I felt like we needed to help. This year we are going to adopt a shelter for the holidays. We are going to do for the shelter family some of the same things we did for an impoverished human family many years earlier.

The December holidays are quickly approaching and our Twelve Days of Dewey campaign has already covered eight ways to help homeless pets, but the Dewey countdown still has a few more ways to get involved.

Dewey helped to change the people in Spencer, IA, and the next items on our Twelve Days of Dewey list are ways you, too, can help animals in your community.

4) Thank FOUR shelter staffers or rescue group volunteers for all they do. Though Dewey couldn't exactly say "thank you" to Vicki, there is little doubt that he
found ways to show her how much she was appreciated. In the spirit of giving back, find your own special way to thank four shelter staffers or rescue group volunteers for all their hard work on behalf of pets.

3) Ask THREE pet-related businesses to display local adoptable pets on their Web sites. Not only will you be helping pets find a home, you'll also be helping the businesses in your town expand their customer base. You can find free adoptable pet widgets here.

It's time for our second annual Foster a Lonely Pet for the Holidays campaign, a program to help get pets out of shelters and into foster homes for the holidays -- and hopefully adopted! Learn more about how it all started here.

Fostering a pet is a great way to give back during the holiday season. It gives animals a break from shelter living and decreases the number of pets shelter staff have to care for. (Shelter staff deserve a holiday break too.)

This year more than 1,500 shelters and rescue groups signed up for Foster a Lonely Pet for the Holidays and are ready to welcome great new foster homes. We hope you will participate, and to help, we'll be blogging about fostering all this month. We'll address some of the most frequently asked questions about fostering, how to avoid common pitfalls and what to do if you hit trouble.

Want to skip the info and sign up now? Find a participating organization here. Then contact that shelter or rescue group directly and tell them you're interested in fostering.

The Petfinder.com Foundation is always hearing inspirational stories about how shelter pets change people's lives. And we recently heard of one grumpy kitty who inspired an Arizona artist to make a difference in the lives of shelter pets.

Diana Madaras, a gallery owner in Tucson, AZ, recently came us with her whimsical character, Kitty Humbug, based on a real-life cat named Starsky who was adopted by a veterinary hospital from a local cat sanctuary.

When I adopted my dog Moby from a Denver, CO, shelter in 2006, I quickly knew that something was wrong with his health. The veterinarian diagnosed him with not only kennel cough but also canine influenza. Who knew dogs could get the flu? Had a vaccination been available for the shelter to administer, Moby would have come into his forever home as the strong dog he is today.

Now, the Petfinder.com Foundation and Intervet/Schering-Plough Animal Health, makers of the Nobivac® Canine Flu H3N8 vaccine, are making that healthy outlook possible for up to 1 MILLION shelter dogs with the Building Community Immunity grant.

Through this partnership, grants totaling up to one million free doses of Nobivac® Canine Flu H3N8 vaccine are being offered to Petfinder shelters and rescue groups to help protect homeless dogs against the very contagious canine flu. Grant recipients will receive up to a four-month, two-dose supply of canine influenza vaccine. (The vaccines will be sent to and must be administered by a licensed veterinarian.)

Our partners at the Shelter Pet Project and Maddie's Fund have designated Nov. 30 Celebrate Shelter Pets Day on Facebook and we hope you'll help!

Here's how the Shelter Pet Project describes it on their Facebook page:

Nov. 30 is "Celebrate Shelter Pets Day" on Facebook!
Don't you wish you could do something to help shelter pets find homes? Well, on Nov. 30, you can!

Every year, millions of people consider adopting shelter dogs or cats, but many don't follow through because they wrongly assume there's something wrong with shelter pets.

Those of us who share our lives with adopted and rescued pets know that's not true. We know that shelters and rescue groups are full of great pets - dogs with one ear up and one ear down, senior dogs content to cuddle on the sofa and watch TV with you, and frisky young kittens with a passionate interest in your computer keyboard.

The Gulf oil spill had an impact on more than just the wildlife along the Gulf Coast -- it also affected the pets and shelters and rescue groups in Gulf Coast communities.

The Petfinder.com Foundation is giving $150,000 to shelters affected by the spill and groups who transported pets from those shelters and took them into their own care. (Learn more about the Gulf coast oil spill grants here.)

Nine shelters and rescue groups in Florida, Texas, Alabama, and Louisiana received grants to cover general operating costs, including St. Bernard Parish Animal Control Center in Violet, LA, from which we recently received a heartwarming follow-up story about a dog named Lucky.

Chaco was born at a shelter and transferred to Sandy City Animal Services in Sandy, UT, in hopes that he would get a chance at a happy home. But things didn't look too promising.

Open-admission shelters are usually short of space and budgets are tight, and euthanasia loomed for Chaco. Shelter work is difficult under the best conditions because there is always pathos that can transform a routine day into a sorrowful one. Needing to make space for more strays and relinquished pets compounds the stress infinitely. Fortunately, the staff had taken the time to post Chaco on Petfinder, so his photo and description were out there, far and wide.

And just in the nick of time, Peg Biedermann in Albuquerque saw him on Petfinder. She didn't think there was much hope that, being so far away, she would be able to adopt him, but she e-mailed the shelter anyway.

Biedermann lauds the responsiveness of the staff at Sandy City. "Rather than put him down, the girls at the shelter drove him to the airport, gave us a kennel, and we got him a ticket to fly down to Albuquerque," she says. "It was amazing: At the beginning of the day, he had a few hours left to live and no adoption possibilities, and by the end of the day, he was in our laps." The shelter staff went above and beyond what was required of them, as is so often the case. (Read Chaco's adoption story in his mom's words here.)

We at Petfinder hear stories like this all the time. Here are just a few more:

When I adopted my cat Sophie, I fell in love with her at the shelter. An older calico with white socks on her front feet, she was taken out of her cage and curled right up in my open, anxious arms. At that moment I could never have imagined how problematic getting her to my home would be, or that she would then spend a long adjustment period hiding behind my dresser.

These are common problems for shelter cats and their new families. Shelter life can be scary for cats. The transition from an original home to a shelter to an adoptive home brings many changes in sights, smells and surroundings, leaving cats fearful in each situation. But the Petfinder.com Foundation is giving some shelter cats a way to stay safe and happy in the journey from shelter to new home.

The Petfinder.com Foundation recently helped 80 shelters and rescue groups across the country by awarding $143,000 for FVRCP vaccinations.

FVRCP vaccinations help protect cats against three contagious diseases: feline viral rhinotracheitis (a severe and highly contagious upper respiratory infection caused by a feline herpes virus), calicivirus (which can cause pneumonia) and panleukopenia (also called feline distemper).

Distemper can be a big problem if it spreads throughout a shelter. Jenny Colucci, a volunteer with grant recipient Stamford Animal Care & Control in Connecticut, tells us, "A few years ago, our shelter experienced a devastating outbreak of distemper among our cat population. We lost over 20 precious cats and kittens to the disease. The only surviving cats were those that we knew had been vaccinated. This grant will help us reduce the chances that this will ever occur in our shelter again and keep our cats safe from disease."

Did you know that you can help homeless pets by joining The Petfinder.com Foundation's "Help Homeless Animals Nationwide cause on Facebook"?

We've already raised nearly $2,000 through the cause app, including more than $1,500 toward our first Facebook-based fundraising campaign, to vaccinate 2,000 shelter dogs against bordetella (kennel cough).

As you may know, kennel cough is an extremely contagious disease that can spread quickly through shelters when the dogs are not vaccinated. Dogs with kennel cough often are not able to be adopted while they're sick, and can be at greater risk for euthanasia. But you can help.

Melissa McDaniel is a Philadelphia-based animal portrait photographer and founder of the Photo Book Projects. Her book, Deaf Dogs, includes portraits of more than 75 deaf dogs from around the country and is available for purchase at her Web site.

Melissa is giving away a signed copy of her Deaf Dogs book to one lucky Petfinder blog reader. Come back Monday to enter for a chance to win!

Photographing shelter dogs for Petfinder is a great way to volunteer: Good photos can help pets get adopted faster and can also attract more potential adopters to the shelter.

Here are some tips on helping shelter dogs shine in their photo sessions.

1. Don't use a flash. The flash on your camera is what's causing your dogs' eyes to glow blue or white. Instead, photograph your dog outside or in a room with a large window and lots of natural light. Make sure the source of the light (the sun or a window) is behind you and is shining on your subject.


2. Be aware of the background. You want the viewer to focus on the dog, so before you photograph him, look around. Is the background full of clutter (chairs, desks, boxes, cars in the parking lot)? If it is, move your dog to a location where the background is less busy, such as in the grass in front of green bushes, or in front of a solid-colored wall. Brightly colored doors or walls make nice backdrops since they can add great color to your image.

Next week is Adopt-A-Less-Adoptable-Pet Week, raising awareness of the wonderful pets who too often get overlooked by adopters. Learn more about the week here and check out our gallery of special adoptable pets nominated by our shelter and rescue-group members.

What makes a pet "less-adoptable"?
"Less-adoptable" pets are those who, for one reason or another, have been passed over by potential adopters time and time again. Sometimes it's because they need to be an only pet, other times it's because they're a little more experienced at life (i.e. senior) or have medical needs, and often it's just because they're the "wrong" breed or color.

Less-adoptable pets have just as much love to share and often prove to be some of the most appreciative and loyal companions around. I should know, I have two less-adoptable cats of my own.

(See which adoptable pets are the hardest to place.)

Today we're kicking off a new feature: Best Pet Adoption Videos. Each week for the next month we'll be highlighting a pet adoption video that pulls at our heartstrings, entertains and enlightens, or is just plain fun -- but all of which promote pet adoption in their own unique way.

Obsessed much? Probably, but that's why we work for Petfinder, isn't it?

For our kick-off week we're spotlighting a video made by the Nevada Humane Society in Reno, NV. Their new take on the Adoption Entrance Dance (a fun take-off of the JK Wedding Entrance Dance) shows perfectly what every shelter worker, volunteer and advocate feels when a pet finds his or her forever home. Check it out!

Buckeye, a 2-year-old Collie mix, is being adopted! Putnam County Dog Shelter of Ohio cared for him temporarily, but now he is on his way home.

While at the animal shelter, Buckeye received a kennel cough vaccination as part of a bordetella grant from the Petfinder.com Foundation. This allowed him to stay healthy and adoptable! Kennel cough is an extremely contagious disease that can spread quickly through dog shelters when the dogs are not vaccinated.

On Friday we shared an excerpt from Joanne Wannan's new book, New Lives: Stories of Rescued Dogs Helping, Healing and Giving Hope. (Read about Leo, a Pit Bull once owned by Michael Vick who became a therapy dog and Canine Good Citizen.)

Joanne's book is all about the ways rescued pets give us new lives -- and she's pledged to use her book to help shelter pets find new lives, too. Joanne's donating 50% of the book's profits for the months of October and November to a Petfinder.com member shelter or rescue group. This is where you come in.

Joanne Wannan is the author of New Lives: Stories of Rescued Dogs Helping, Healing and Giving Hope. Below is an excerpt from her chapter about Leo, a Pit Bull once owned by Michael Vick who became a therapy dog and Canine Good Citizen. Enjoy the story, and come back on Monday to find out about a chance to select your favorite shelter to receive 50% of the profits from the sale of New Lives for two months!

On April 25, 2007, Marthina McClay was relaxing in her living room watching television when a newsflash was broadcast. Property owned by NFL star Michael Vick had been raided, and approximately 50 Pit Bulls, allegedly part of a dog fighting operation, had been seized.

She sat bolt upright, stunned. "I don't believe it," she thought. And then: "I would really love to get one of those dogs and train it to do therapy work."

The Petfinder.com Foundation is giving $150,000 in grants to shelters and rescue groups affected by the Gulf Coast oil spill in partnership with Merial's Paws to Save Pets and The Animal Rescue Site's Gifts That Give More.

Shelters from Galveston, TX, to Tallahassee, FL, have suffered from the economic impact of the oil spill. They are taking in more animals as the region's pet parents lose their livelihoods, while donations have decreased so much that many shelters can no longer cover general operating costs.

Back in March, we started #TweetAPetTues on Twitter.

How does #TweetAPetTues work?
Each Tuesday, Twitter users everywhere tweet adoptable Petfinder pets with the hashtag #TweetAPetTues or #TweetAPetTuesday to help those pets find homes. (See some great examples here.) Some users include only the pet's name, species and location; others point out something unique about the pet. Either way, they're getting that pet some much-needed publicity.

How many people see the tweeted pets?
On the first #TweetAPetTues in March, tweeted pets went out to more than 35,000 Twitter users. In the month of July alone, #TweetAPetTues was shared with more than 165,000 Twitter users (i.e. potential adopters)!

This month, it will be five years since Hurricane Katrina caused one of the worst natural disasters in American history. We all remember the news stories about pets who lost their homes back then -- but would you believe that some dog and cat hurricane survivors are still waiting for forever homes?

Here they are. Most human survivors of Katrina have found new homes and moved on with their lives. Isn't it time these pets do the same?

Noah
Alaskan Malamute Mix
Louisiana Alaskan Malamute Protection (LAMP)
Baton Rouge, LA
Splash
American Bulldog, Pit Bull Terrier Mix
Doberman Rescue
Fillmore, CA
Spirit
Border Collie, Labrador Retriever
Alchemy Acres Animal Sanctuary
Salem, OH
Davey
Domestic Short Hair
SpayMart Inc.
Metairie, LA

The Petfinder.com Foundation has given the Delaware County SPCA in Media, PA, and the Pennsylvania SPCA, which has seven shelter locations across Pennsylvania, $18,000 in Hide, Perch & Go Box grants which will provide a total of 5,000 boxes for shelter cats.

The grants were given in partnership with the PETCO Foundation, The Animal Rescue Site and the CATalyst Council.

The first time I tried to watch this video, I turned it off about a minute in. Having worked in an open-admission shelter, I'm already too familiar with the realities of overcrowding and euthanasia.

You may turn it off too, but if you can, get through to the second half. It gets better, I promise.

Recently, the Petfinder.com Foundation awarded six Petfinder shelters and rescue groups bordetella vaccination grants totaling more than $64,000.

Bordetella is commonly known as kennel cough, and spreads rapidly among shelter populations. "Shelters are often compelled by their budgets to euthanize otherwise adoptable dogs to stop the spread of the disease," says Petfinder.com Foundation executive director Elizabeth Neuschatz. "The real key to stopping this scourge is prevention, and that's the aim of these vaccine grants: stopping kennel cough before it gets started."

The Petfinder.com Foundation recently awarded Indiana's Newton County Animal Control a $5,000 disaster grant to help it recover from an electrical fire.

The fire started in a fuse box and then spread throughout the shelter. Fortunately, the staff smelled the smoke from their offices and called the fire department, who extinguished the fire. The staff and firefighters were able to get all the animals safely out of the shelter. The pets are now temporarily housed in the shelter's small office in a separate building.

In the animal sheltering world, good customer service saves lives. Last year Petfinder visitors were surveyed regarding their experiences adopting pets. While many visitors were committed to adopting no matter what, some reported less-than-stellar experiences. (Read more about our customer service survey here.)

This prompted Maddie's Fund and the Petfinder.com Foundation to promote excellent customer service through the Put Your Best Face Forward grant. Here's a list of 2009 grant winners.

This year, we have once again joined Maddie's Fund to award Petfinder shelters and rescue groups a total of $51,000 for providing great customer service. By
sending the message that it's important to take care of adopters as well as animals, we can save lives.

In April I participated in the Be the Change panel at the pet-blogger conference BlogPaws. The panel's points were simple: Anyone can make a difference, and collectively, our small efforts can have a huge impact for pets. As the panel concluded, we issued a challenge to ourselves and the bloggers in attendance to "Be the Change."

Since then, those pet bloggers have done fantastic things to help pets. (See a few of the ways people got involved.) Now we're inviting you to participate!

Starting tomorrow, July 19, we're kicking off the Dog Days of Summer Pet Food Drive. Please join us as we raise food and supplies for shelters in need and spread the word about how helping pets can be fun.

Want to participate? Here's how:

Romeo the Cat, a rescued Persian, writes a daily blog loved by cat owners everywhere. Sample topic: his "morning wake-up tactics" (his daily quest to get his lazy human "staff members" out of bed to feed him breakfast). Here's a recent one:

"This morning, female staff was lying on her back. Crawled up her stomach and stood on her chest. Meowedmeowedmeowed. Then, put paw in her right eye socket. And, OH HULLO, BREAKFAST!"

Romeo, with the help of his female staffer, Caroline, has raised more than $40,000 in just 18 months for rescues, shelters and programs that benefit homeless animals across the U.S. Together they recruit sponsors to make donations to the designated charity and call for donations from the public. (Find out more about how Romeo's monthly fundraisers work here.)

Hello! My name is Alison and I am the new summer intern for Petfinder.com. On Friday, June 18, I volunteered with the Petfinder shelter outreach staff at Noah's Ark Animal Welfare Association in Ledgewood, NJ, for "Discover Your Impact Day," a day of volunteerism initiated by Petfinder's parent company, Discovery Communications. The Petfinder team volunteered to help repaint the shelter walls at Noah's Ark.

I walked into Noah's Ark to find the Petfinder team in a small room with eight cages. They were priming the walls and the ceilings of the cat cages. This was my first time meeting the outreach team, and I was automatically greeted with smiling faces and a warm welcome. Within 10 minutes, I was painting in a cage alongside them. We then took a break for lunch and I was able to talk with my new friends.

The Petfinder.com Foundation is committed to working with shelters and rescue groups across the country to help save the lives of homeless pets. Part of this mission is to provide assistance with spay/neuter grants.

Recently, the Petfinder.com Foundation and The Animal Rescue Site awarded New Jersey's Camden County Animal Shelter a $24,000 grant to help with spaying and neutering their adoptable pets.

CCAS handles more than 6,000 pets a year
in one of the poorest communities in the country. Niki Dawson, CCAS's executive director and president of the Animal Welfare Federation of New Jersey, has overcome tremendous obstacles to provide low-cost spay/neuter surgeries for pets belonging to low- or no-income people in her community.

Here at the Petfinder.com Foundation we just awarded two disaster grants to help two rescues rebuild and recover from natural disasters.

One grant went to the Animal Shelter of Schoharie Valley in Howes Cave, NY, which recently suffered major wind damage to its roof. Subsequent rains caused flooding damage inside the shelter, and staffers are still using buckets to catch the water. The water is causing ongoing damage to the building as well as harming the pets who are still living inside. The shelter does not have insurance that will cover this damage.

Last Chance Highway follows Mississippi dog rescuer Shelly Bookwalter from Double Dog Rescue South as she gives unwanted dogs across the South a second chance at survival.

We watch Shelly as she pulls dogs out of shelters and off hillsides (literally), vets them and places them in foster homes, posts their profiles on Petfinder and finally, when she's interviewed and approved potential adopters, works with pet transporter Kyle Peterson to have them driven north to their new homes.

In tomorrow's premiere, Shelly spots a Pit Bull mom with a litter of five puppies out near a roadway. She confronts the owner, who is hesitant to part with the neglected dogs.

Our Adoption Options series takes us on exciting trips all around the country, but the conference scheduled on June 6 in Toledo, OH, had a little more "excitement" than we bargained for!

After on-and-off bad weather leading up to day of the event, the brunt of the storms hit during the night of June 5 and lasted well into the morning. Surviving a night of tornado watches and sirens, our crew of speakers rose early Sunday morning to head to the park. The news reported hundreds of downed trees in the exact location where Adoption Options was scheduled to be held, Oak Openings Preserve.

It's the last week of the Whisker Awards! Thousands of people have already voted, but the winner in each category is still anyone's guess. So vote for your favorite adoptable cats today -- then come back every day this week to vote again.

Adoption groups with the winning cats will each receive 20 Hide, Perch & Go boxes
 courtesy of the
 Petfinder.com Foundation 
and a five-tier cat tower
 donated by Kuranda.

Here are the current leaders in each category -- but they're changing by the minute!

On Thursday, May 27, Animal Lifeline's staff and volunteers left West Virginia to head back to Pennsylvania. But their work will have an impact for a long time to come. Just look at this great video about the trip to see how much this small group accomplished.

One of the best things about being a foster parent is seeing the transformation that takes place from the time a pet enters your home to the time he leaves. Right now I'm watching just this type of change in my current foster dog, Alvin. While he has yet to find his forever home, the ways this little toy Poodle has come alive in the past few weeks are amazing ... he's a truly different dog.

But don't take my word for it, check out his story in pictures:

Alvin was matted, covered in who knows what and terrified the first night with us.

As Father's Day approaches, you may be at a loss of what to get Dad. If your dad is anything like mine, he has everything he needs and doesn't want you to spend your hard earned money on him. Well, I have the solution!

This Father's Day, show your appreciation for Dad by donating to the Petfinder.com Foundation. If your donation is received by June 15 and is $25 or more, we'll send him a copy of Second Chances: Inspiring Stories of Dog Adoption written by Joan Banks (with an introduction by Petfinder cofounder Betsy Saul).

Give Dad the perfect Father's Day gift -- a Gift of Appreciation!

Happy Father's Day!

June is Adopt-A-Shelter-Cat Month -- and what better way to celebrate than to help adoptable cats find homes? One easy way to help is to photograph cats for your local shelter or rescue group. A great photo on Petfinder can literally be a lifesaver for a shelter cat.

Getting a compelling shot of a caged cat can be tough. Here are some tips from Eva Prokop, a volunteer photographer at Animal Care & Control of New York City and Big City Little Kitty in Queens, to get you started:

On Friday, Devon set off on a trip to rehab West Virginia shelters alongside 27 college-student volunteers. The trip was organized by Animal Lifeline and funded by the Petfinder.com Foundation and Animal Planet's R.O.A.R. Here's Devon's latest update from the field. Plus -- Denise Bash and Jen Daley of Animal Lifeline are writing in to answer your questions about pet rescue and transport all week! Write your questions in the comments section below.

It's hard to believe I have only been in West Virginia for four days. Every day we have worked at least a full 12 hours. If the sun didn't go down every night I have a feeling we would be able to work a few more, but with such a large task at hand, the long days are well worth the sacrifice. Within the last few days we have gotten an incredible amount of work accomplished.

Sunday we all split into teams and I was able to be part of the shelter educational outreach program. Not only did I help prepare and run the program, I was also able to listen to the presenters and learn about the realities of animal sheltering. Among the presenters there were a behaviorist, a veterinarian, a vet tech, and an adoption and transportation specialist.

On Friday, Devon set off on a trip to rehab West Virginia shelters alongside 27 college-student volunteers. The trip was organized by Animal Lifeline and funded by the Petfinder.com Foundation and Animal Planet's R.O.A.R. Here's Devon's latest update from the field. Plus -- Denise Bash and Jen Daley of Animal Lifeline are writing in to answer your questions about pet rescue and transport all week! Write your questions in the comments section below.

The outreach project here in West Virginia is unlike anything I have ever been part of. Within my first hour of being here I had already helped save a life by being part of a rescue for a dog we found wandering along the side of the road. We took the dog, whom we had named "Cammy," to the holding facility of the Clay County Animal Control, which was the first site that I had visited.

As the program assistant for the Petfinder.com Foundation, I get to experience many events for animal welfare. One of my most exciting events will be starting today: This morning I will be flying into Charleston, WV, to be part of an outreach program with Animal Lifeline. 

For National Volunteer Week, we are saluting just a handful of the many thousands of volunteers who dedicate themselves to homeless animals.

Organizations that embrace volunteers benefit from the creativity and energy of new minds. Volunteers can think big -- in some cases REALLY big!

Sweet Onion Animal Protection Society (SOAPS) in Vidalia, GA, sent us photographic evidence of a truly big idea their volunteer Marla Jernigan brought to their local landscape -- a billboard!

When volunteers come in twos, even more animals can be helped! We continue National Volunteer Week with a salute to couples who volunteer together to aid homeless pets.

Dianne Heim of the New Rochelle (NY) Humane Society shares her appreciation for Karen and Joe Roman. Karen has been a volunteer since 2002. She estimates she has fostered about 150 kittens and cats, many of whose pictures are in an album she keeps. Karen says, "These little creatures confirm one of my reasons for being. They fill my heart with joy and my soul with an inner peace."

"Karen helps at all our event tables," Dianne tells us, "spending hours signing people in as they arrive to have their dogs washed, their pictures taken with Santa during our holiday photo day or to participate in our annual dog walk, Hounds on the Sound."

Karen's husband, Joe, is also an active volunteer. "He tends to the shelter's grounds, sweeping leaves, picking up fallen branches, cutting back bushes or anything else to make the shelter's area beautiful," Dianne says. "Joe is our 'Who can fix it when no one else can?' guy. The dogs know Joe too. They often go up to him during walks for a pet and to exchange hellos."

This week, April 18-24, is National Volunteer Week. Volunteers are the lifeline of animal adoption, providing shelters with extra-special care and support. Some adoption groups are composed entirely of volunteers, with no paid staff at all.

Petfinder recently asked our member shelters and adoption groups to send us stories of some of their most valued volunteers.

We were overwhelmed with their incredible tales of volunteer dedication and creativity. We will be sharing a number of these with you throughout this week.

Some volunteers first come to a shelter to adopt a pet and are so impressed by the mission, they return to offer assistance to the pets they could not take home.

Clatsop County Animal Control and Shelter in Warrenton, OR, told us of Linda Dygert, who began her relationship with the shelter about 10 years ago when she adopted a deaf Aussie/Samoyed Mix. 

This past weekend I attended Blog Paws, a first-of-its-kind conference for pet bloggers. Not only were there tons of wonderful, inspiring pet lovers there, I was lucky enough to moderate a panel about helping homeless pets called "Be the Change You Want to See."

The panel included Lynn Haigh, creator of PawPawty on Twitter; veterinarian Jessica "Dr. V" Vogelsang, owner of Pawcurious, and Dorian Wagner of Your Daily Cute. Collectively they've raised nearly $40,000 in the last year for various shelters and rescues, initiated toy drives and much more and they shared their experiences with the audience.

The point of the panel was that anyone can make a difference and save lives.

To prove it, Dorian, Dr. V and Lynn announced the "Be the Change Challenge," a virtual fundraiser on April 21 to raise $500 for homeless pets. An audience member was randomly selected and asked to name their pet charity of choice to receive the funds. Pets without Parents in Columbus, OH was named. Each member of the audience was asked to take part by blogging, donating, or tweeting in the "BlogPawty" fundraiser on Twitter. (Read more about the Be the Change Challenge and how you can participate here.)

This got me thinking: What else can bloggers do to help homeless pets? Are there any small, simple things that each of us can do to collectively make a big impact?

YES! Here are some things you can do:

WomansDay.com recently asked Petfinder co-founder Betsy Saul for advice on adopting the perfect pet. We liked the resulting article so much, we're sharing a few of our favorite tips (read the original story here):

1. Get to know your shelter. "Check out the policies, fees and attitude of the place you're going to before you make a commitment -- because sometimes, it's almost like you're adopting the shelter, too," Betsy says.
   
   
2. Consider an older pet. "They've seen a lot, and when you spring them from a shelter, they love you because you're the person who got them out of there. And they're often already house-trained," says Betsy.

Chihuahuas currently make up 30 percent or more of the shelter pet population of California, according to a recent Today Show report.

Megan Webb, Director of Oakland Animal Services in Oakland, CA, shared that they sometimes receive ten new Chihuahuas per day.

On Thanksgiving morning television viewers placed their holiday dinner in the oven and settled down to watch The Early Show and the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade on CBS.

Bruce Greenwood, star of the the Hallmark Hall of Fame presentation of A Dog Named Christmas, shared the movie's animal welfare theme with Early Show host Harry Smith.

In the studio wings, fosters and foster pets from Petfinder member rescue Louie's Legacy waited to champion Petfinder's Foster A Lonely Pet for the Holidays program in connection with A Dog Named Christmas, which aired on November 29.

(You can view a clip of the Early Show segment here.)

Earlier that week, Emily Gear of Louie's Legacy called her foster homes in the rescue's three active states (Ohio, New York and Pennsylvania) to coordinate foster parents willing to give up Thanksgiving morning to travel to the heart of New York City. And we're very glad she did!

'Tis the season ... of Christmas re-runs. But there's a new movie I bet will be on your seasonal favorite list from now on -- and a brand new Petfinder program to go with it.

The show is Hallmark Hall of Fame's presentation of A Dog Named Christmas.

Based on a great little book by author and Petfinder blogger, Greg Kincaid, the story follows a developmentally challenged young man who fosters a dog from his local shelter during the holidays and he gets the whole community involved. It's a feel-
good story with a great message.

The idea inspired Petfinder to start the Foster a Lonely Pet for the Holidays program, and we hope you will invite a shelter pet into your home for this special time of year.

Remember when we ran a cat-room-makeover contest in honor of Adopt-A-Shelter-Cat Month? The winner, Central Minnesota Animal Care & Control, received $1,300 worth of gorgeous cat furniture from The Refined Feline for their new colony-housing cat room.

Well the makeover is complete, and what a difference! According to the St. Cloud Times, shelter staffers designed the cat room to look like a living room, painting the walls tan and adding a viewing window, a faux fish tank and artwork on the walls.

The Refined Feline contributed two litter-box holders designed to resemble end tables, two cat shelves and three cat towers.

Shelter owner Lisa Tenter tells the paper: "[The cats] love it. They're laying around, stretched out, letting me scratch their bellies. They would never do that in a cage."

The new room's impact is more than cosmetic. Says Tenter: "The cats will be less stressed in here. Less-stressed cats mean healthier cats." (Read the full article here.)

It's that time of year again ... time for the third annual Petfinder Adoption Event! On Oct. 27, eleven D.C., Maryland and Virginia-based shelters and rescue groups will join the Petfinder team for a day of adoptable dogs and -- in an event first -- cats!

The event, which is free and open to the public, will be held at Discovery Communications World Headquarters, One Discovery Place, Silver Spring, MD, from 4 to 6 p.m. It's a great opportunity to meet some of the people behind Petfinder, not to mention your new best canine or feline friend. We'll also be offering snacks, prizes and free custom pet tags.

Here's who will be there:

Best Dawg Rescue

East Coast German Wirehaired Pointer Rescue

Lizzy's Lodge

Lucky Dog Animal Rescue

Montgomery County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals

Montgomery County Humane Society

Partnership for Animal Welfare

Roxie's Fund

Shingilana Rescued Felines

St. Seton's Orphaned Animals

Washington Animal Rescue League

Last week saw the launch of The Shelter Pet Project, a joint venture between the Ad Council (the people who brought you "This is your brain on drugs"), the Humane Society of the United States and Maddie's Fund.

Its mission: to encourage adoption through humorous radio and TV ads like the one above and a fun and interactive Web site. The project is all about using a light touch to  disprove common misconceptions about pets in shelters -- something we can totally get behind!

Our favorite part of the project? The Web site's great Pet Personals section, which helps you find Petfinder pets that suit your personality and lifestyle. Check it out and let us know what you think!

We recently ran a post about a New York Times columnist who bought a dog even though her young son had urged her to adopt.

The reason? Her husband wanted a Golden Retriever -- or at least a "bigger dog ... who fetched and swam" -- and they didn't think they'd find one in a shelter.

Our blogger wrote that it's a common misconception that there are no purebreds in shelters (in fact, 25% of shelter pets are purebred). One commenter suggested another misplaced belief:

[T]hat somehow a shelter animal (even a purebred rescue) is somehow less healthy or less valuable.  ... People feel [that] spending $800 or $1,000 on a purebred dog or cat is a symbol of how high-class they are as individuals.

So we decided to put together a list of common adoption myths, in the hopes that you can gently point friends toward this post when they talk about why they've got their heart set on buying.

Myth #1: I don't know what I'm getting
There may in fact be more information available about an adoptable pet than one from a breeder or pet store.

Many of the pets posted on Petfinder are in foster care. Foster parents live with their charges 24-7 and can often tell you, in detail, about the pet's personality and habits. If the pet is at a shelter, the staff or volunteers may be able to tell you what he or she is like.

At the very least, you can ask the staff if the pet was an owner surrender (rather than a stray) and, if so, what the former owner said about him or her. Quite often pets are given up because the owner faced financial or housing issues (more on that later). You can also ask about the health and behavioral evaluations the pet has undergone since arriving at the shelter. In contrast, pet store owners rarely have an idea of what a pet will be like in a home.

We can tell people how great shelter dogs are until we're blue in the face, but nothing changes people's opinions like seeing it in person. That's the thinking behind The Dog Saving Network, a Chicago-based organization dedicated to "us[ing] fun, creative mediums to promote the benefits of positive reinforcement training, generate compassion and encourage shelter adoptions!"

One of the group's coolest initiatives is the Life's Ruff stage show, featured in the MSNBC clip above. The show features adopted former shelter dogs performing tricks they learned in just a few months of twice-a-week training sessions with their regular-folks owners.

What an original, entertaining way to prove to people that shelter dogs are not "damaged goods" -- and that just a little bit of positive-reinforcement-based training can turn any dog into a star!   

On Aug. 12, Petfinder and shelters and rescue groups across the country celebrated Adopt-A-Less-Adoptable-Pet Day, a day we designated to give all those pets who are often overlooked a chance to shine.

Here are just a few ways adoption groups put their extra-special pets in the spotlight -- and found new homes for some of them as well:

Three New Jersey rescue groups, Friends of Homeless Animals in Hawthorne, Here Kitty Kitty! in Paterson and Angels of Animals in Clifton teamed up to do a joint ALAP Day adoption weekend at the PETCO in Clifton. Senior cat Izzy, who'd been waiting for her forever home for way too long, found that home thanks to ALAP Day!

Our friends at The Grey Muzzle Organization, which helps at-risk senior dogs by providing funding and resources to animal shelters, rescue groups, sanctuaries and other non-profits nationwide, added our senior-pet search widget to their Web site, GreyMuzzle.org.

Washington's Seattle Animal Shelter got the story of Adopt-A-Less-Adoptable-Pet Day out to local media and bloggers. As a result, five "less adoptable" pets found new homes, including two Pit Bulls with special needs!

After 15 weeks and more than 4 million votes cast, our friends at The Animal Rescue Site have wrapped up their second $100,000 Shelter+ Challenge.

The grand prize of $20,000 went to Best Friends Animal Society in Kanab, UT. Says Best Friends interim CEO Gregory Castle:

This is truly a wonderful gift for us
here at Best Friends. We are very grateful to our loyal supporters and to The Animal Rescue Site and Petfinder.com. This $20,000 prize will go far to benefit all the animals at the sanctuary as well as support our ongoing outreach to work towards a time when there are No More Homeless Pets.

Back in April, we surveyed Petfinder visitors about their experiences adopting, or trying to adopt, from shelters and rescue groups. A whopping 2,667 people responded -- and boy, did you have a lot to say (read more about the survey here).

Although 86% of respondents were "very" committed to adopting rather than buying a pet, many were discouraged by a lack of responsiveness from or other bad experience with an adoption group (40% said they had contacted an adoption group about a pet and received NO reply).

Now, Maddie's Fund is working with us to award $50,000 in prize money to Petfinder.com member shelters and rescue groups in the U.S. who demonstrate good customer service. The Put Your Best Face Forward program is designed to encourage shelters and rescues to assess their customer service and entice them to improve it if it is lacking.

Here's how it works, courtesy of Maddie's Fund:

From July 13 through September 18, there will be three ways to win cash awards!

Rescue groups--Check your in-box!
Each week, Petfinder.com will randomly e-mail three member rescue groups with questions about an available dog or cat posted on their website. If they get helpful information about that animal within 24 hours, the rescue group wins $500.

Shelters--Answer the Phone!
Each week, Petfinder.com will randomly call three shelters with questions about an available cat or dog posted on the website. If a live person answers the phone and provides helpful information about that animal (or connects the caller to someone who does), the shelter wins $500.

Be there live with a winning smile!
An "adopter" will randomly visit one selected shelter in a different state each week. If the "adopter" reports that the shelter experience was positive, pleasant and helpful, the shelter will win $2,000.

Read on for recent winners!

Just wanted to share the good news: The winner of our Adopt-a-Shelter-Cat Month cat room makeover contest is Central Minnesota Animal Care & Control!

The shelter will receive $1,300 worth of gorgeous cat furniture from The Refined Feline for their new colony-housing cat room.

The Refined Feline makes some of the best-looking and best-performing cat
furniture out there -- with removable carpet panels perfect for sheltering situations. 

You can see a photo of CMACC's "before" cat room above. This was their letter:

Central Minnesota Animal Care & Control, CMACC, heard about Petfinder.com's feline furniture giveaway. We would like you to consider our shelter.

We are sending you a current photo of the room that we will be making into a communal cat room, but we have no funding for cat furniture or any idea what type of furniture to place in the space.

We fell in love with the Refined Feline line of cat furniture and would love to have it as the main focal point of the room.

Please consider helping us outfit our cat room.

Lisa Tenter
Central Minnesota Animal Care & Control

Stay tuned for "after" pictures once CMACC's furniture has been delivered and set up!

 
How much do I loooove this TODAY Show segment featuring makeovers of adoptable dogs from New York City's Animal Care & Control? It features Martha Stewart walking a pit bull -- when did you ever think you'd see that?

It's also a great plug for pit bulls, senior pets and shelter dogs in general. And major props to TODAY's Jill Rappaport, who shows off her handsome (and so well-behaved) rescued pit, Petey. Read more about the segment here.

Here's another update from Elizabeth Lujambio, founder of Marley's Pit Stop in Los Angeles, on Liza Bean, the shy pit bull she's fostering whose debilitating fearfulness was the subject of a phone consultation Elizabeth won with It's Me or the Dog star Victoria Stilwell.

(Read Elizabeth's first post-consultation update here.)

Week #2

With Victoria Stilwell whispering advice in our ears and the support all of the Petfinder members, Liza Bean and I embarked on week two of Liza's training.

Basic training agenda included reinforcement of the "sit" command and learning the "down" and "stay" commands. We also introduced a new person to the training: a tried and true Marley's Pit Stop volunteer and foster failure (he kept three foster dogs!), Dave.

Initially, I began the teaching of basic commands. Liza B. always had her "sit" mastered -- although, because she has such a long body, it takes her a bit to get there! Next, we began the "down" command, using treats and the leash from her already-familiar "sit."

We found out that while Liza can do a "down" nicely, she prefers to do so on grass, not on hard surfaces! Who's training who here?! We are practicing the mechanics on grass and can get her to a low crouch on cement. Hopefully, this week she will be able to do a proper "down" regardless of surface.
 

A few weeks ago we invited Petfinder rescue group members to nominate their behaviorally-challenged dogs for a chance at a complimentary phone consultation with It's Me or the Dog star and renowned dog trainer Victoria Stilwell.

Painfully shy pit bull Liza Bean at Marley's Pit Stop Rescue in Los Angeles earned the most votes from Petfinder visitors (meet the runners up here).

Victoria called Liza Bean's foster mom, Elizabeth Lujambio, and although she'd only committed to a 20-minute consultation, she spoke with Elizabeth for 45 minutes. "It was amazing!" Elizabeth tells us.

Victoria told Elizabeth that Liza Bean needed to do some independence training. Elizabeth realized she needed to "take a step back and stop thinking of her as my little dog -- and start giving Liza Bean some tools to build her confidence."

After the jump, Elizabeth's description of her consultation with Victoria and Liza Bean's progress.

In previous weeks I've written about young recipients of Dosomething.org Animal Action Grants, including 17-year-old Amanda Smith, who is helping to save abandoned horses in Minnesota, and 10-year-old Maggie Maxwell, whose Project H.O.P.E. is raising awareness of homeless pets in Texas.

This week, meet 14-year-old Texan Hayden Whitt, who not only volunteers at his local shelter, but raises money for critical supplies and places adoption ads in local newspapers. (Read more about Hayden's project here.)

What is your project?
I organized a supply and money drive to benefit my local animal shelter. The drive yielded three truckloads of supplies, money to help care for medical attention for the shelter animals and money to help fund ads for pet adoptions.

How did your passion for animals start?
My family and I have volunteered at the animal shelter for over two years now.

Our pals at Best Friends Animal Society are celebrating their 25th anniversary! And as a special thanks to Petfinder, Best Friends is offering a free issue of their fantastic magazine, Best Friends, to the first 1,000 animal lovers who e-mail their name and address here (trialmag "at" bestfriends.org).

What else is Best Friends doing to celebrate? At the Sanctuary in Kanab, UT, welcome goodie bags are being distributed to visitors as our way of saying "thank you," and across the nation, "home parties" are helping spread the word about the organization's efforts toward No More Homeless Pets in our lifetime.

Best Friends also has a commemorative 25th Anniversary CD featuring artists that include Cyndi Lauper, Emmy Lou Harris, Neko Case and others. And Best Friends will celebrate at home and across the country during "Best Friends Week," July 19 - 25. Learn more about the festivities here.

The national economic crisis is having a negative impact on pets, their families and the Petfinder member shelter and rescue groups who work so hard to save their lives. You can help! Please consider volunteering to temporarily foster a pet in need, donating your time or money to a local shelter or rescue group, and of course, adopting a pet in need.

A recent survey of our members about how the economic downturn is affecting them and their pets revealed that 84 percent of Petfinder.com animal shelters and rescue groups are receiving more pets in need due to the overall economic downturn, foreclosures and / or job losses. And sadly, 74 percent said that they have seen an increase in pets being given away or abandoned since this time last year due to these economic trials.

According to the survey:
 

• 47 percent of shelters and rescue groups said the No. 1 economy-related reason pets are being surrendered is because of general financial difficulty.
• 18 percent said the driving factor was people having to relocate
• 16 percent said the No. 1 reason was foreclosures

Petfinder.com also uncovered in the survey that 37 percent of shelters and rescue groups have seen a decrease in pet adoptions over the past year.

You can find over 270,000 adoptable pets on Petfinder. So if you aren't ready to adopt yourself, be a voice for the pets and spread the "Adopt a Homeless Pet" call to action loud and clear.

Congratulations to Liza Bean, the painfully shy pit bull rescued by Marley's Pit Stop in Los Angeles. After getting the most votes from Petfinder visitors, Liza Bean will receive a complimentary phone consultation from It's Me or the Dog star and renowned dog trainer Victoria Stilwell -- as will the family who adopts Liza Bean.

(Meet the runners-up, whose caretakers will receive copies of Petfinder's Adopted Dog Bible.)

Marley's Pit Stop founder (and Liza Bean's foster mom) Elizabeth Lujambio was overcome with emotion when she learned that Liza Bean had garnered the most votes, telling us, "I am so grateful to Petfinder and to Victoria Stilwell for this opportunity to help Liza Bean."

As many commenters to this blog have already noted, news emerged this weekend that Oprah Winfrey, after adopting a cocker spaniel puppy from PAWS Chicago, adopted a second dog, her puppy Sadie's littermate Ivan, who died of parvo.

As PeoplePets.com reports:

Ivan ... came down with a deadly virus called Parvo last Wednesday and died, said Dr. Jean Dobbs, the veterinarian who [is treating] Sadie since she was exposed.

"It was just a little bit too late. All the veterinary community got together to save his life," Dr. Dobbs told PEOPLE Pets. "The puppy didn't make it, but he's teaching others how important this is to get vaccinated at the right times."

Dr. Dobbs, who founded Hemopet, a non-profit animal blood bank [which also posts adoptable Greyhounds on Petfinder - ED], said that she thinks the shelter and vets did everything right, but that Ivan was exposed between two critical shots.

One of the ways Petfinder helps our members get their pets out there is by working with organizers of the dozens of public pet expos that take place around the country. We arrange to have a Petfinder booth at an expo, and one of our shelter or rescue-group members mans it on our behalf to spread the word about Petfinder and their own organization.

The folks at Tower Show Productions, a major organizer of pet expos, has been a great partner with us in this. At its recent Twin Cities Pet Expo in Minneapolis, the St. Paul-based Resource for Iguana Care and Adoption (RICA) manned the Petfinder booth.

RICA president Kathy Claugherty sent us this report after the expo:

The Pet Expo was a tremendous success for RICA. We opted not to bring an iguana because of the temperature issue, but it just so happens I have a life-sized plush iguana toy and I brought that instead. We also had a folder with pictures and bios of our adoptables along with our brochure and other materials. The plush toy was a big hit! It enabled me to show how big they get in a non-threatening way.

Oprah Winfrey has adopted a cocker spaniel puppy from Petfinder member PAWS Chicago, a rep for the shelter tells Us Weekly.

According to Usmagazine.com, Oprah "adopted an 8-week-old blonde-colored cocker spaniel on Sunday. ... The pup -- one of a litter of six -- was named Amanda by shelter staff, but [shelter rep Lisa] Nowak isn't sure if Winfrey renamed her."

This is, of course, great news for adoption advocates! Oprah vowed her next dog would come from a shelter during her episode last year that exposed the horrors of puppy mills (and featured Bill Smith of Petfinder member Main Line Animal Rescue).

Of course we're thrilled that she's made good on her promise -- but she'd become a bona fide pet adoption advocate even before this week:
 

• She donated to PAWS Chicago in honor of her late cocker spaniel, Sophie.
• She aired a show recently about Yorkies rescued from a puppy mill in Missouri.
• Her Web site features a photo gallery of her employees' rescued pets.

UPDATE:
Hi all, those puppies (and kittens) sure were cute. I don't know which puppies came from which shelters, but a full list of the shelters who provided animals can be found here.

Just click the link to go to that group's Petfinder homepage, then click on "our pet list" or some such link.

Many of the puppies and kittens have probably been adopted (Puppy Bowl was filmed a few weeks ago), but PLEASE DON'T GIVE UP! There are THOUSANDS of adorable puppies and kittens waiting to be adopted on Petfinder, so please keep looking to find your own MVP (most valuable pet)!--Emily

ORIGINAL POST:
I am sooooo excited for Super Bowl Sunday this year -- not because I'm a football fan, but because Animal Planet is once again counter-programming with its famous Puppy Bowl ... and this year, ALL the puppy players (as well as the kittens in the halftime show) are adoptable pets from Petfinder shelters and rescue groups!

Puppy Bowl V kicks off on Feb. 1 at 3 p.m. EST. Visit AnimalPlanet.com's Puppy Bowl page, where you can:

• see the full list of shelters and rescue groups who provided the puppies and kittens;
  
• meet Pepper the Parrot, the ambassador for Petfinder member group Phoenix Landing, who will open the game by singing the National Anthem;
  
• check out adorable portraits of all the puppy players.

For those of you who fans of both football AND adoptable pets, check out these Super Bowl star namesakes who are available for adoption on Petfinder:

• Polamalu (named after Steelers' strong safety Troy Polamalu) at W. PA Humane Society in Pittsburgh;
• JJ (like Cardinals' running back JJ Arrington) at Wilson County Humane Society in Wilson, NC;
• Willie (as in Steelers' running back Willie Parker) at Elmsford (NY) Animal Shelter;
• Lap-loving Larry (think Cardinals' wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald) at Earth Angels in Bronx, NY;

And of course, while Bruce Springsteen will be singing at the Super Bowl halftime show, Toms River (NJ) Township Animal Facility has its own star in Boss the "very friendly" rottweiler mix!

The Winnipeg Humane Society, a Petfinder member in Canada (yes, we do have rescue groups in Canada, as well as Mexico, posting their pets on Petfinder!) has some labradoodle puppies for the Obamas.

According to AFP:

The Winnipeg Humane Society helped police break up an illegal puppy mill in the city in December, and seized 55 Labradoodles, including 21 puppies and two pregnant females.

One of them, named "Lilly," has since given birth to a litter of 11 "bright and happy" puppies, the shelter's executive director Bill MacDonald told AFP.

"When I learned that President Obama's first official state visit would be to Canada, and that he was looking for a puppy for his daughters, I thought a shelter puppy would make a great gift from our government," he said.

Read the full story here.

Check out this great clip from this morning's episode of the TODAY show, featuring our own VP of shelter outreach, Kim Saunders, and Petfinder member Mt. Pleasant Animal Shelter in East Hanover, NJ.

I love that this clip contains some positive news about adoption -- some states are seeing an increase in adoptions, even as more pets are surrendered due to home foreclosures -- as well as an unexpected plug for senior pets at the end, when the puppy one anchor is holding starts squirming and crying as the older dog on another anchor's lap sits quietly!

Skunks can be actors, too. One of our Petfinder members, Skunk Haven, Inc., in North Ridgeville, OH, and its founder, Deborah Cipriani, will be featured in the new PBS Nature documentary, Is That Skunk?

One of Deborah's rescues, Monk, will portray the skunk on the beaches of Martha's Vineyard. Monk and his pal Violet can be seen going after bees in a hive. Several others will be digging through trees, walking in the woods and just ... being skunks.

The show premieres at 8 p.m. on Sunday, Jan. 25 on PBS.

Dog and cat care is intuitive to most of us that have grown up or worked with animals. Birds, to me at least, seem so different, so ... exotic.

That's why it's great that there are bird rescue groups to offer their expertise every step of the adoption process and throughout the life of your bird.

Parrots First, based out of Los Angeles, offers a Basic Bird Care class for all potential adopters. The group works to educate people on the proper care of parrots and parrot-like birds, their specific physical and psychological needs, rescuing companion parrots from harmful or unwanted situations and rehabilitating, when necessary, unwanted, found, or injured naturalized (free-flying) parrots; and offering these birds to qualified homes for adoption.

Visit Parrots First on Petfinder.

Do you know a shelter or rescue group doing something creative and/or different? Let us know at outreach@petfinder.com.

Petfinder celebrates Adopt-a-Rescued-Bird Month each January to remind adopters that there are more than cats and dogs available for adoption.

When most people think of companion birds, they think or the Parakeet, African Grey or Canary, however there are other avian options out there.

Located in the Minneapolis area, Chicken Run Rescue cares for homeless domestic fowl.

To help potential adopters, or just curious people, learn more about chickens, founder Mary Britton Clouse created 'Things to consider before getting a chicken' where I learned, among other things, that chickens can live up to 14(!) years.

Visit Chicken Run Rescue on Petfinder.

Do you know a shelter or rescue group doing something creative and/or different? Let us know at outreach@petfinder.com.

Lian is a special-needs red-eared slider for adoption from MATTS

As it gets colder and colder and we bundle up in our warmest layers, what about the cold-blooded animals who are always wearing their "coats" -- turtles and tortoises?

Mid-Atlantic Turtle and Tortoise Society in Baltimore operates mainly as a conservation organization, but also provides rescue and adoption services to needy shelled friends.

Handling anywhere from 100-200 animals a year, MATTS is dedicated exclusively to turtles and tortoises. In addition to conservation and rescue, MATTS works hard to keep turtles and tortoises in their existing homes.

Because many people purchase these hard-shelled animals without proper knowledge or education, MATTS helps to provide their caretakers with information about how to best care for them.

Visit MATTS on Petfinder.

When you think of malls in December, you probably think of presents, crowds and traffic. But at one mall in New York State, shoppers will also be thinking about pet adoption.

The SPCA Serving Erie County in Buffalo, NY, has a mall storefront at Buffalo's Walden Galleria Mall though the end of 2008. (Read more about the storefront here.)

Strictly for felines, the mall adoption center is the result of a collaboration between mall management, the SPCA and generous donors who made it possible for the center to stay open through Dec. 31 (it was originally scheduled to close on Sept. 30).

The adoption center opened in August, thanks in large part to funding from TalkingPhoneBook.com president and CEO Richard Lewis and his wife Lisa. The couple were deeply impacted by an August 8 column by Buffalo News writer Donn Esmonde about the sad realities of cat overpopulation in Erie County, and decided to fund a program to encourage end-of-summer cat adoptions.

Since its inception, the storefront location has helped almost 400 cats find new homes.

Visit the SPCA Serving Erie County on Petfinder.