Happy Tails

4/20/2009

The dog's appearance was enough to make a person cry. He was starved and looked like a skeleton. Walking was hard for him, and he was riddled with scars. Nevertheless the good folks at Adams County Pet Rescue in Ritzville, Wash., knew he deserved a chance and took him in and placed him in a foster home. It didn't seem likely, however, that he would be adopted. He was in bad shape and, in addition, he was a Pit Bull Terrier, a much maligned breed. Nevertheless his photo and description was placed on Petfinder.com. In addition to compassion, his rescuers and foster Dad had an abundance of hope.

4/17/2009

Susan Silva's last assignment in her class at Bryant University was to explore cause and effect. She immediately thought of a topic: The irresponsibility of pet owners causes animal shelters to be overcrowded, resulting in the euthanasia of otherwise adoptable dogs and cats.

4/6/2009

To ease her grief over the death of her 14-year-old hound, Bud Basset, Cindy Ferguson of Mobile, Ala., began looking at senior dogs on Petfinder. "I found a gorgeous older gal named Dharma," Cindy says. "She looked so much like my old Bud, I could not believe it." Her family was amazed, too.

3/30/2009

It didn't take long for Robin Cappelletti of Issaquah, Wash., to know what her new house was missing: a cat. And she knew just where to go to find one to adopt: Petfinder.com. With over 144,000 cats listed on the adoption Web site at any one time, it took Robin only 10 minutes to find the perfect one, even though she was specifically wanting a Torbie. (There are over 800 Torbies available on the site.)

3/23/2009

Fern Buchanan of Holly Hill, Fla., was devastated when her Chihuahua died. She waited a long time to look for another buddy, but finally she was ready and she logged onto Petfinder.com.

3/16/2009

The little Chihuahua's splayed paws and bowed legs remain as evidence of the worst kind of treatment. He spent his first eight years in a puppy mill, in a cage. Demodex mange, yeast infections of his skin and ears, a heart murmur and hypothyroidism plagued him and were left untreated. The plaque on his teeth had formed such a solid mass in his mouth that his jaw fractured multiple times.

3/9/2009

When the Apodaca's dog died, the family felt lost.

"The first few weeks," Stacey Apodaca says, "I kept waiting for that goofy dog to come running into the kitchen for a treat or just to say hi. It was really difficult when he never did again."

Eventually, the Tionesta, Pa., woman wanted to begin looking for another dog to fill the hole in the family, and her daughter's boyfriend told her about Petfinder.com.

3/2/2009

The lanky dog was starving. She weighed less than 35 pounds when she was picked up by animal control. Wounds from dog attacks marked her thin body. No one wanted the dog in the condition she was in, but luckily, Thumping Tails Animal Rescue, Los Angeles, took her in before her time at the shelter drew to a close. They would keep her as long as it took to find her a home.

2/23/2009

"She runs through the yard like a greyhound, hunts like a beagle, and wrestles for all she's worth with every dog she can convince to join her," says Jessie Roberts about her adopted dog, Tippie Jones.

The pooch is a far cry from the timid nine-month-old terrier mix that Tucker County Animal Control had taken in. Tippie had been in an abusive situation and had hardly ever been outside of a cage when the shelter staff listed her on Petfinder.com.

2/17/2009

Paul Rue has never considered himself to be a dog person--but deep down, he had a secret longing for a Beagle, inspired by his favorite comic character, Snoopy.

Paul thought about buying a Beagle, but found them prohibitively expensive. He thought about adopting one, but even shelters charge adoption fees to cover costs. Paul might have gone on just dreaming about Beagles, if it hadn't been for a doctor's advice.