Petfinder Blog

We love stories of lost pets reunited with their families -- often as a result of a wisely placed microchip.

But Discovery News has a truly miraculous lost-pet story, about an Australian explosive-detection dog named Sabi who vanished during a September 2008 gunfight in Afghanistan.

Fourteen months after Sabi's disappearance, a U.S. soldier found her at an isolated patrol base. The retriever was returned to her Australian caretakers in time for a visit (and some pets) from Aussie Prime Minister Kevin Rudd. (Read the full story here.)

Speaking of pets and the military, you can help men and women serving in the armed forces by fostering their pets while they're stationed abroad. Learn more after the jump.

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.)

Rabies isn't really something we think about here in the U.S. -- at least not when it comes to our pets, since rabies vaccination is so standard.

But according to the Alliance for Rabies Control, it's still a major problem worldwide, killing more than 55,000 people a year, mostly in Asia and Africa.

So the organization is holding its second annual World Rabies Day on Sept. 28. Vaccinating animals against rabies in developing countries will not only prevent human suffering, it may well improve the treatment of animals -- especially stray dogs -- in those countries by raising awareness of their health needs and the relationship between animals' well-being and humans'.

To learn more, visit the World Rabies Day Web site.

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.

As you may have heard, convicted dogfighter Michael Vick has signed a two-year deal with the Philadelphia Eagles.

Vick served 23 months in federal prison on charges of conspiracy and running a dogfighting operation. Announcing the deal, Eagles coach Andy Reid told reporters: "I'm a believer that as long as people go through the right process, they deserve a second chance."

While the dogs killed by Vick's dogfighting associates and Vick himself, as several commenters have pointed out will never get their own second chance, many of the Pit Bulls rescued from Bad Newz Kennels have. For some of their stories, check out
the incredible work done by BAD RAP in Oakland, CA.

But they're not the only Pits in need. There are at this moment 11,751 Pit Bull Terriers and 3,851 American Staffordshire Terriers available for adoption on Petfinder.

How can you help?
 

• Adopt a Pit Bull. I am a proud rescued-Pit parent, as are my mother, several coworkers and many of my neighbors. They are devoted, affectionate and joy-inducing pets with as great a range in personality as any other breed. As with dogs of any breed, not every Pit is perfect for every family. Read more about things to think about if you're thinking of adopting a Pit Bull after the jump.
• Volunteer with Pit Bulls. At many city shelters, Pits and Pit mixes make up the overwhelming majority of the canine residents, and because Pits have been bred to bond closely with humans, the isolation of shelter life is particularly hard for them. You can visit the shelter to help exercise and socialize the dogs; open your home to a foster dog; photograph and write bios for local adoptable dogs' Petfinder profiles; start a bedding drive at your office to collect old blankets and towels to donate ... the possibilities are endless. For more ideas, read our article on volunteering or visit BAD RAP's How You Can Help page.
• Educate others about Pit Bulls. Once you've fallen in love with a Pit (and to know one is to love one), you'll start to notice how many offhand Pit-Bull stereotypes people throw around in everyday conversation (and I'm not just talking about Sarah Palin). Learn the facts about Pits and you'll be able to shoot down the myths (no, they do not have locking jaws). Some great resources include Petfinder's book The Adopted Dog Bible (you'll find an excerpt, Pit Bulls: The Myths, the Legends, the Reality, after the jump), as well as BAD RAP's Monster Myths page, Pit Bull Rescue Central's breed info page and Animal Farm Foundation's Fear vs. Fact document. (All three sites are excellent, and I'd encourage you to click around on them.)

A Pit Bull's best friend is the responsible dog owner who allows the well-socialized, happy Pit to be an ambassador for the breed. Unlike Michael Vick, Pit Bulls don't need a multi-million-dollar contract. A loving home, a warm dog bed and plenty of pets are the second chance they need -- and deserve.

Ever wondered who's behind Petfinder and how Petfinder came to be? Check out this article in Guideposts magazine by our founder, Betsy Saul, in which she tells the story of Petfinder's beginnings.

All of us who work here have heard the story many times, but I remember before I got this job, Petfinder and its origins were a huge mystery to me.

Here's my favorite passage:

In those early days, my biggest struggle was hearing heartbreaking stories about abused or abandoned animals. The pup who was left tied to a lamp post in a thunderstorm. The dog who almost ran into traffic trying to escape some mean kids throwing rocks at him. ...

Then a few months into our project, something changed. Somehow my perspective shifted. I started to see the hopeful side of those sad stories, like the woman who chased off the mean kids and coaxed the dog into her car, or the vet who stayed after hours to patch up a street cat who'd been injured, or the family who adopted an abused dog and lovingly taught her to trust again.

Read the full story here.

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.

Big black dogs. FIV+ cats. Senior pets. Special needs pets. To help these and other often-overlooked pets find homes, Petfinder has named August 12 Adopt-A-Less-Adoptable-Pet Day.

Visit our special section to download search widgets for senior and special-needs pets that you can post on your own Web site to help these pets find homes.

In preparation for Adopt-A-Less- Adoptable-Pet Day, we surveyed our shelter and rescue group members to find out which pets were the hardest to place. The results:

30% said senior/older pets
15% - pets with medical problems
13% - victims of breed prejudice
10% - shy pets
10% - those who need to be the only pet

But plenty of less-adoptable pets DO get adopted -- just check out our Happy Tails database for hundreds of examples (such
as Cow, the blind, deaf, hypothyroid and incontinent Dalmatian; Daisy Lou, the senior dog who is her adoptive mom's "baby girl"; and Cooper, the FIV+ cat).

Have you adopted a "less adoptable" pet? Tell us here!

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!

A few months ago we posted several updates 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.

Well, it turns out that Victoria, a true dog lover, went above and beyond the call of duty and paid a visit to Elizabeth and Liza Bean in person!

Here's Elizabeth's account (see all her posts here):

The movie studios in Los Angeles couldn't have staged a more perfect Manhattan Beach day: a slight ocean breeze, warm sunshine, a gorgeous dog and a beautiful British import!

Lucky Liza Bean finally got to meet her trainer extraordinaire, Victoria Stilwell, who took time away from her family on her only day off to give Marley's Pit Stop volunteer Dave and me even more tips on how to help Liza prepare for a new home.