Petfinder Blog

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.

"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.

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."

All better now: Read Grace's story in her adoptive mom's own words.

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 had seen the kitten on Petfinder and contacted the rescue group, Pet Guardian, in Virginia Beach, VA, which had listed him on the site. She arranged to meet the kitty at his foster home.

"There were several kittens in foster care, but we still loved the one that we had seen online," Lisa says. "We took him home with us that night."

All the events in this kitten's short life had thus far been traumatic, but now everything seemed rosy. He had a new home and loving pet parents. Two days into his new life, however, Lisa noticed that something wasn't right. Her new kitten was sick.

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."

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.

Laurel Esken of Forest Hills, N.Y., had been looking for a companion for her Persian kitten, Sugar, who was overgrooming from lack of feline company, and saw Roosevelt listed on Petfinder by Posh Pets Rescue of New York City. She adopted him, but as it turned out, the now-recovered Roosevelt was too frisky for the placid Sugar, so Laurel checked back with Roosevelt's foster mom about adopting another cat.

Jill Abramson is writing a column in the New York Times called "The Puppy Diaries" about her new pet, which she bought from a reputable breeder.

Prior to her decision to buy, the column says, her son "bombarded me at work with impossibly cute photos from Petfinder.com" of pets who needed homes, but she chose to, as she called it, "be selfish" and buy a dog.

It's not quite clear why she made this choice, other than her husband fell in love with a Golden Retriever that friends had:

We discussed at length the relative merits of adoption versus a breeder.
If we adopted a dog from a shelter, as my sister has done twice, we would be taking the more virtuous, good-for-animals (and society) route. Saving a dog that needs a home or had been mistreated by a previous owner is an unselfish act. But we were leaning selfish. Henry wanted a bigger dog this time, and, when we took our beach walks, he looked longingly at the dogs who fetched and swam. He fell in love with a gentle English Standard golden retriever who belonged to friends, and had his heart set on a dog just like her. Our friends suggested a breeder.

She seems to have wrongly assumed she wouldn't be able to find a Golden on Petfinder, that somehow homeless dogs would be mutts. (Petfinder is host to a large number of Golden Retriever rescues.) I can't help but think what a better life lesson it would have been for her son if she had reinforced his altruism toward homeless pets. To my mind, parents should take every opportunity to pass along positive life lessons, and this seems to have been an opportunity missed.

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."