Results tagged “dog adoption” from Petfinder Blog

Rex, a German Shepherd, Labrador and Bassett Hound mix, never knew anything but shelter life. His mother was dropped off at a Tennessee facility two days before Rex came into the world.

Quickly transferred to another shelter, Rex was put on a transport for New Hampshire in an effort to get him to a part of the country where shelters weren't so overcrowded.

Eventually he came into the care of the Salem Animal Rescue League in Salem, NH, where his photo and description were put on Petfinder then jettisoned far and wide.

A year and a half earlier, the Walsh family dog, Bootsie, was killed in an accident. The whole family was devastated but Jamie, now seven, had a particularly rough time.

"She spent many nights crying for her beloved Bootsie," says Jamie's father Michael Walsh. "My wife and I really had a hard time deciding whether or not we should get another dog and possibly put her through something like that again."

According to Discovery News, the stray dogs of Pompeii are about to get a second chance.

On Monday, Pompeii's Emergency Commissioner, Marcello Fiori, announced a campaign to microchip, collar and tag each of the more than 50 dogs that frequent the ruins to find them permanent, loving homes.

"Stray dogs have given Pompeii a bad image, but things are going to change. From now on, dogs will have their own identity and dignity and will be taken care of," Fiori told reporters at the press conference.

Volunteers from three of Italy's leading animal charities have offered assistance with the campaign.

More from Discovery News after the jump.

Titan, a Great Dane, was recently named the World's Tallest Dog by Guinness Word Records and appeared on the Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien. He is also special for another reason.

The Baltimore Examiner reports that Titan's mom found the blind, deaf and epileptic rescue dog on Petfinder when he was just three months old -- and already weighed 55 pounds.

Bugsy, an eight-year-old Jack Russell Terrier, was Lauren Morris's dog. He had come with her from her parents' home -- where he had plenty of playmates -- to her marital home.

Now he was depressed, missing the little pack of terriers he'd been around all his life. Lauren and her husband decided to get him a companion.

"We both agreed the route of rescue would be best," Lauren says, "giving a forever home to someone in need, rather
than supporting the breeding industry."

The couple asked their veterinarian what kind of dog would be best for Bugsy. The vet suggested that a younger female dog would probably work out well.

Lauren's husband favored German Shepherds, but they figured that was too large a breed to be a good companion for little Bugsy. So they logged on to Petfinder to see what was available and were shocked to see how many homeless pets were in their area.

Petfinder has the world's greatest fans -- they're always coming up with new ways to spread the word about pet adoption. Case in point: Pals Jill, Esther and Lisa recently sent us this great video they made for Adopt-A-Shelter-Dog Month.

Lisa e-mailed to tell us, "I was asked by a friend of mine from YouTube to help her come up with a concept for a video for Adopt-A-Shelter-Dog Month and I immediately thought of Petfinder.com -- adopt, don't buy!"

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

"Don't buy a dog when you can adopt one from the shelter," Amanda Burke told her mother, who was tempted by Dachshund puppies for sale at a flea market. Amanda's mom was ready to bring a new pet into the family after losing her dog a month earlier.

Amanda decided to see what was available on Petfinder, so she went online, typed in Dachshund and up came Troy -- a Dachshund/Basset Hound mix -- at the Abingdon, VA, department of animal control's C.C. Porter Animal Shelter.

"I took the grandkids by to meet him since my mom had work that day," Amanda says, "and they fell in love with him." The next day, they took Mom to the shelter to meet Troy. She was quite taken with him, but a puppy had recently been brought into the facility as well, so she was torn: the cute little puppy or Troy, an adult dog.

For Amanda, the choice was clear. She
knew puppies get adopted quickly, but Troy might never find a home. Even a 1-year-old dog stands less chance of being adopted. Her mom adopted Troy.

Have you ever wondered what it would look like if dogs ruled the world? What if they selected their forever families at shelters?

Members of the band You Scream I Scream teamed up with Petfinder member shelter the MSPCA Adoption Center -- Nantucket in Nantucket, MA, to find out ... with hilarious results.

Brody has more than 270 friends on his MySpace page and the neighbor kids come over to ask if he can come out to play. That's quite a change from the "unsociable" label he earned just a few years ago while waiting for a home.

Brody, then two years old, was spotted on Petfinder by Dale Mustard of Cannon Beach, Ore., after the Pembroke Welsh Corgi had washed out at his previous two homes: once for his high energy, once because he bullied the family's new dog.

Rescued Paws in Longview, Wash., posted Brody on Petfinder, but he "was pegged as one 'who does not get along with others,' " according to Dale. "Now he has a more active social life than his human family."

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!

October is Adopt-A-Shelter-Dog Month and, with the ongoing economic crisis, there are more dogs in need than ever. But what if you can't adopt?

Here are some easy ways you can still help:

1. Donate your Facebook status. Just paste this message into the "What's on your mind?" box at the top of your page: "October is Adopt-A-Shelter-Dog Month. Save a life: Adopt a dog! http://www.petfinder.com"


2. Tweet, retweet and repeat the following (or your own brilliant message): "October is Adopt-A-Shelter-Dog Month. Save a life: Adopt a dog! http://www.petfinder.com"

Logan likes tennis balls "about as much as he likes roast beef treats," according to his Petfinder profile.

Last week we shared how Logan, winner of our second Victoria Stilwell contest, nearly had a great escape the night before his big win.

This week Logan's foster mom, Carol Tutzauer from New York's Buffalo Humane, tells us about her phone consultation with the It's Me or the Dog star:

I awoke in the morning, looking forward to the scheduled telephone conference with Victoria Stilwell later that afternoon. Things were looking up.

Logan had a family that wanted to give him a home. Their experiences with their previous dog demonstrated their commitment to and understanding of a dog with special behavioral needs. More than anything, they met Logan out at our home and found him to be wonderful. Logan, too, seemed just as taken with them.

But I worried. How could we ensure that this placement would work? How should his new family handle him in the event he gave a "back off!" nip?

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!   

A Better Place, a New Boston, MI-based rescue group, produced this great video about two Springer Spaniels found living in filthy conditions who went on to thrive in foster care and at their new forever home. The story of Duke and Spike shows what's possible with a little grooming, a little affection and a lot of love.

You might also like:

Learn about English Springer Spaniels

Adoptable English Springer Spaniels listed on Petfinder now

Learn about Welsh Springer Spaniels

Adoptable Welsh Springer Spaniels listed on Petfinder now

Pets available for adoption at A Better Place

Last month we ran our second Victoria Stilwell contest, in which rescue groups nominated dogs in their care who could benefit from a phone consultation with the It's Me or the Dog star.

Visitors voted on our five finalists, and Logan, a Hound-Lab mix at New York's Buffalo Humane, won. (Meet Logan and the other finalists here.)

We'll be following Logan's progress here on the blog, as we did with our previous winner, Pit Bull Liza Bean.

Here's the first update from Logan's foster mom, Carol Tutzauer, in which she tells us about Logan's great escape the night before she learned of his big win:

I was steeling myself for the likelihood that wonderful Logan would not win the Petfinder/Victoria Stilwell contest. After all, his profile appeared as the last entry, not a good position for getting votes, having to cursor down the screen to find him. "Too bad," I thought. "Logan would benefit so much."

My husband and I, educators at the State University of New York at Buffalo, had just survived the first few days of the semester. Exhausted and tired from dealing with the throng of students, we arrived home to our farmhouse, gathered up all eight dogs (our four and the four fosters), stoked up the propane heater in the pole barn and sat down with the dog gang and a nice cold beer.

Gracie and Ann Marie's 2-year-old granddaughter are "instant best friends." Read Ann Marie's story.

Shortly after Ann Marie Gonzales of Espanola, N.M., moved to the country, her two dogs got out of her walled yard while she was at work.

When she arrived home that day, she found her Pit Bull mix Nakita, "the most beautiful, loving, loyal animal you could ever meet," dead, lying beside the wall.

"I think when the neighbors saw her, all they saw was a Pit Bull and they didn't [want to] take a chance that she wasn't there to eat the cows or sheep. They just shot at her and killed her."

Eventually, Ann Marie began browsing on Petfinder, just looking, not sure she was ready to chance such a heartbreaking loss again.

Then one day she was having computer problems, and when she rebooted a picture of a dog came up. "I clicked on it, thinking it was odd that of all the past viewings for my computer to save, it would be one of a dog," Ann Marie says.

Michael and Alicia Stiteler of La Verne, Calif., wanted to adopt a puppy and they found just the one, an Australian Shepherd mix, on Petfinder, listed by Chihuahua Haven Rescue. It was their dream come true, but it ended abruptly when they got him home.

Brian, as they named him, cried and cried and cried. "The first few nights with a crying puppy ... were pure chaos," Alicia says. "We started regretting our decision and wondering if we had done the right thing. They decided to return him and called the rescue.

"We held each other and sobbed," Alicia says. "We felt guilty for taking on a responsibility we couldn't handle."

And then fate stepped in. It snowed where they were to meet the rescue person, and she asked if they could wait a week. Soon, Alicia says, "we realized that Brian ... was just trying to get used to his new 'digs' ... by the end of the week, we knew Brian wasn't going anywhere."

Shortly after Colleen Vetter of Mahwah, N.J., adopted Abby Rose from Ramapo-Bergen Animal Refuge in New Jersey, Colleen's mother became terminally ill.

It hardly seemed an auspicious time to have a new member of the family. Life was hectic. Decisions had to be made by Colleen and her siblings, who spent many hours on the phone. Abby Rose stood by as a beacon of reassurance during the crisis.

"She was a huge comfort and mental health benefit during that time and every day since," Colleen says. "She lay with me while I cried and played with me to keep my mind busy."

What if you got old and nobody wanted you? That's the question posed by Judith Flatley, who adopted eight-year-old Queenie, a Pekingese whose previous parent had a stroke and could no longer care for her. The woman turned her five dogs over to Adopt-Aluv Small Breed Rescue in Mentor, OH, before going into an assisted-living facility.

Judith had already adopted one dog from Adopt-Aluv through Petfinder, and when the five dogs arrived, the rescue person called Judith to see if she could take on another. "I hesitated," Judith says, "because our other adopted Peke was such an Alpha that I wasn't sure it would work out. Now I'm sorry I hesitated even long enough to discuss it with my husband. Queenie is the sweetest dog imaginable."

 
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.