http://www.BISSELL.com/Happy_Tails.aspxBISSELL brings you stories about happy pet lovers and the pets they have adopted through Petfinder.com. They are sure to put a smile on your face and warm your heart. webmaster@bissell.comhttp://www.BISSELL.com/images/Themes/Dec07/Common/PFLogo.gifhttp://www.BISSELL.com/© 2004-2009 BISSELL Homecare, Inc. All rights reserved Twenty-one-year-old Eva Lapin of Beverly Hills, Calif., suffered for three years with epilepsy. Her seizures were brought on by stress. She realized that browsing on Petfinder.com relaxed her. Then one evening, while browsing, magic struck. http://www.BISSELL.com/Happy_Tails.aspx?a=1206http://www.BISSELL.com/Happy_Tails.aspx?a=120611/16/2009 12:00:00 AM 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. http://www.BISSELL.com/Happy_Tails.aspx?a=1205http://www.BISSELL.com/Happy_Tails.aspx?a=120511/9/2009 12:00:00 AM 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. http://www.BISSELL.com/Happy_Tails.aspx?a=1203http://www.BISSELL.com/Happy_Tails.aspx?a=120311/2/2009 12:00:00 AM 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. http://www.BISSELL.com/Happy_Tails.aspx?a=1201http://www.BISSELL.com/Happy_Tails.aspx?a=120110/26/2009 12:00:00 AM 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." http://www.BISSELL.com/Happy_Tails.aspx?a=1200http://www.BISSELL.com/Happy_Tails.aspx?a=120010/19/2009 12:00:00 AM 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. http://www.BISSELL.com/Happy_Tails.aspx?a=1199http://www.BISSELL.com/Happy_Tails.aspx?a=119910/12/2009 12:00:00 AM 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. http://www.BISSELL.com/Happy_Tails.aspx?a=1198http://www.BISSELL.com/Happy_Tails.aspx?a=119810/5/2009 12:00:00 AM 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. http://www.BISSELL.com/Happy_Tails.aspx?a=1190http://www.BISSELL.com/Happy_Tails.aspx?a=11909/28/2009 12:00:00 AM 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. http://www.BISSELL.com/Happy_Tails.aspx?a=1189http://www.BISSELL.com/Happy_Tails.aspx?a=11899/21/2009 12:00:00 AM 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. http://www.BISSELL.com/Happy_Tails.aspx?a=1185http://www.BISSELL.com/Happy_Tails.aspx?a=11859/14/2009 12:00:00 AM "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. http://www.BISSELL.com/Happy_Tails.aspx?a=1179http://www.BISSELL.com/Happy_Tails.aspx?a=11799/7/2009 12:00:00 AM The tiny kitten had been abandoned by his mother and hand fed until he was seven weeks old. Now he was getting a second chance. Lisa Driscoll, Virginia Beach, Va., saw the kitten on Petfinder.com, the largest online database of homeless pets, and contacted the rescue group, Pet Guardian, also in Virginia Beach, which had listed him on the site. She arranged to meet the kitty at his foster home. http://www.BISSELL.com/Happy_Tails.aspx?a=1171http://www.BISSELL.com/Happy_Tails.aspx?a=11718/31/2009 12:00:00 AM 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. "One of my dogs was a Pitty/Bulldog mix...the most beautiful, loving, loyal animal you could ever meet," she says. http://www.BISSELL.com/Happy_Tails.aspx?a=1170http://www.BISSELL.com/Happy_Tails.aspx?a=11708/24/2009 12:00:00 AM Michael and Alicia Stiteler of La Verne, Calif., wanted to adopt a puppy and they found just the one, an Australia Shepherd mix, on Petfinder.com, listed by Chihuahua Haven Rescue. It was their dream come true, but it ended abruptly when they got him home. http://www.BISSELL.com/Happy_Tails.aspx?a=1165http://www.BISSELL.com/Happy_Tails.aspx?a=11658/17/2009 12:00:00 AM Hunter lost his mom, who had mammary cancer and heartworms, while he was still a puppy. The mom and pups had been removed from an abusive situation in Florida and transported to New York for adoption. The mom's weakened condition left Hunter weighing only one pound at four weeks old. He and his sister and brother were riddled with intestinal parasites, and his sister succumbed to them. The two male pups, by some miracle, made it. http://www.BISSELL.com/Happy_Tails.aspx?a=1157http://www.BISSELL.com/Happy_Tails.aspx?a=11578/10/2009 12:00:00 AM Allie Oop, an 11-month-old boxer, had already been through four families in her young life. Her first pet parents relinquished her to the animal shelter because she had separation anxiety when they left her alone and worked it out by digging. In her second home, she jumped the fence when left alone, so back to the shelter she went. Family three didn't like the way she jumped on people, but instead of a little training, they gave her up. Her fourth family had her for three months, and then decided not to take her along when they moved. http://www.BISSELL.com/Happy_Tails.aspx?a=1150http://www.BISSELL.com/Happy_Tails.aspx?a=11508/3/2009 12:00:00 AM When Oreo was seven, she was relinquished to Lil' Tykes Rescue & Adoption in Daleville, Ala. For three years she waited for someone to adopt her, but with each passing day, week and month, her chance of finding a forever home plummeted. Who would want an old dog? http://www.BISSELL.com/Happy_Tails.aspx?a=1149http://www.BISSELL.com/Happy_Tails.aspx?a=11497/28/2009 12:00:00 AM For four days, Samantha the Cat sat by the door through which her friend, Roosevelt, had departed with his new pet parent, and she cried. The two domestic shorthairs had been nursed through an upper respiratory illness in the arms of their foster mom and had thoroughly bonded as they recovered. Now Roosevelt was gone. http://www.BISSELL.com/Happy_Tails.aspx?a=1146http://www.BISSELL.com/Happy_Tails.aspx?a=11467/20/2009 12:00:00 AM Usually a magnificent breed, the Chow Chow facing Julie Bunim and her fiancé, Jeff, looked pitiful. "Her eyes were crusted shut, she had just been shaved, and she refused to budge when we tried to walk her," says Julie. The couple had become "smitten" with the dog on Petfinder.com and had traveled to Sean Casey Animal Rescue in Brooklyn to meet her. http://www.BISSELL.com/Happy_Tails.aspx?a=1145http://www.BISSELL.com/Happy_Tails.aspx?a=11457/13/2009 12:00:00 AM 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. http://www.BISSELL.com/Happy_Tails.aspx?a=1144http://www.BISSELL.com/Happy_Tails.aspx?a=11447/6/2009 12:00:00 AM