11/9/2009

After the death of their 15-year-old dog, Melanie Zapf of Vancouver, British Columbia, found that the house seemed very empty--even though she and her parents had decided that they wouldn't get another dog.

Their resolution lasted six months, and then they began looking on Petfinder.com, where their hearts went out to a nine-month old Labrador Retriever mix at the BC SPCA - Burnaby Shelter.

11/2/2009

Staff at Franklin County Humane Society in Brookville, Ind., could easily have given up on the middle-aged beagle that came into their care. The stray needed to have surgery to remove a diseased eye, and she was blind in the other. What were the odds she would ever be adopted? Nevertheless, they took care of her costly medical needs, placed her in one of their foster homes and posted her on Petfinder.com, hoping against hope that someone would want the little dog.

10/26/2009

Henna, a smooth-coat Border Collie was having a hard time finding a home. She was returned to the Pulaski County Humane Society in Dublin, Va., several times because she nipped at people. It took a special someone, Rachel Shaw of Lynchburg, Va., to recognize that her nipping was just her typical Border Collie behavior to herd just about anyone or anything. She adopted Henna, formerly called Anna and Willow, after seeing the dog on Petfinder.com, and it was a perfect match.

10/19/2009

Ashley Million of Chuckey, Tenn., had just graduated from college and decided to give herself a graduation gift: a puppy. "I had never adopted before," she says, "but I knew that was the route I wanted to take."

10/12/2009

It was just another day in the life of the Stover, MO, Animal Control officer. She was not particularly surprised to see a dog tied to a tree in the yard. Someone had left the pooch there during the night.

The officer works out of her home, and her kennels were filled, so she asked Sonja Hicks at River Hill Animal Rescue in nearby Warsaw, Mo., to take in the dog. As it turned out, Sonja took on more than one dog; a week or so later, the mom delivered 11 puppies.

10/5/2009

Five years in a puppy mill. That was Daisy's lot in life until the Colorado Humane Society raided the facility and turned her over to Bichon Frise Get Away Rescue Ranch and she was posted on Petfinder.com. The Rescue housetrained her and worked on socializing the dog, who had known nothing but a cage all her life.

9/28/2009

Rex had never known anything but shelter life. His mother was dropped off at a Tennessee facility two days before Rex came into the world. He was soon transferred to another shelter, and then in an effort to get him to a part of the country where shelters weren't so overcrowded, Rex was put on a transport for New Hampshire and came into the care of the Salem Animal Rescue League, where Rex's photo and description were put on Petfinder.com and jettisoned far and wide.

9/21/2009

Bugsy was Lauren Morris' dog. He had come with her from the parents' home to her marriage, but now he was depressed, missing the little pack of Jack Russell Terriers he'd been around all his life. Lauren and her husband decided to get him a companion.

9/14/2009

Brody has more than 270 friends on his MySpace page, and the neighbor kids come over to his house and ask if he can come out to play. That's quite a change for the four-year-old Pembroke Welsh Corgi who was deemed unsociable just two years ago when he was waiting for a home.

9/7/2009

"Don't buy a dog when you can adopt one from the shelter," Amanda Burke told her mother, who had just seen some Dachshund puppies for sale at a flea market. Amanda's mom's dog had died a month earlier, and she was ready to bring a new pet into the family.