Baozi's Story

Pet's name: Baozi (包子)
Adopted by: Amandeep and Kimberly
From: San Francisco SPCA, San Francisco, Calif.

Amandeep, who blogs at 'Deep Trouble, sent this story of his new puppy Baozi (which means "little stuffed bun" in Mandarin) and shared her tale on his own blog, too.

Ever since I was a young boy, I've wanted a dog.^* Growing up, my mom never allowed us to get one because she feared she'd be left to take care of it. In hindsight, I can understand, as my brother and I were plenty of work as it was.^**

My entire childhood was thus spent longing for a dog and getting all the B-list pets I could get my mom to sign off on. A menagerie of parakeets, fish, hermit crabs, snakes, lizards, toads, and jumping spiders paraded through our home, but none filled the void. (Many of these hapless creatures were captured from the woods near my house.)

As soon as I moved out on my own, I thought about getting a dog, but with adulthood came a dawning realization of how much work that would entail. I knew I wasn't quite ready. But still the idea persisted. Every friend's dog that I baby-sat tested my resolve. Every girlfriend I had was measured up as a potential puppy-mamma. Every "sidewalk-adopt-a-pet" event I passed on the street was a crisis.

Eventually, I realized that having a dog was doable, but given the unusually active life I lead, it would be hard to get a puppy and give it the time it needed. I began strategizing. Perhaps an older dog would be the best choice for me given my lifestyle and my various time commitments. Maybe I could pay for a dog-walking service? Eventually, I decided that I should wait till I lived with a girlfriend to truly give this a go, just to have somebody to split the responsibility with.

Early on in my relationship with Kimberly, my current girlfriend, we discussed our mutual love for dogs, and agreed that if we were to ever get a dog, it would be from the pound or from one of the many rescues we know of. There are simply so many dogs that need good homes and so many health issues with purebreds, that we knew we wanted to get a mutt. In this vein, I also tried to convince her that we should get an older dog, since they might have a harder time getting adopted. She was sympathetic, but was dead set on the "puppy experience."

As our relationship deepened, we kept coming back to the dog idea, but mostly to tease the other person by playing puppy brinksmanship:  One of us would dare the other to go with them to the SPCA that very day, implying that the other person was the sole impediment to doggy-happiness. The other person would inevitably be stuck, reluctantly having to play the role of "responsible adult," since they were the only defense against making a change we actually weren't ready for.

Finally, earlier this year, we decided to get married (!), and in talking about eventually having kids, the subject of a dog came up as well. Kimberly signed us up for "Puppy Owner Orientation" at the SPCA, and a few weeks back, we went. The class was thoughtful and informative and we left sobered at the sense of how much of a change a puppy would be, and how much responsibility and complication it would add to our lives. We really treasure the way our lives work now and wondered if we should gamble with our happiness. We talked about it and let the idea sit on the back burner.

Peter's Story

Pet's name: Peter
Adopted by: J'Carlin
From: Humane Society Silicon Valley, Milpitas, Calif.

J'Carlin shares the story of Peter, a stray who now has a loving home.

The frightened pup in the first picture was the morning after his first night home. He had pulled the quilt down from the couch and buried himself in it. He had selected "his mama" at the Humane Society of Silicon Valley. The rest of us were looking at less challenging candidates for the first family dog when the announcement came that "We were looking at Peter." He was a fresh stray at HSSV with no real history there and was not recommended. Not that I had any choice, but I had raised other pups and felt I could deal with a stray.

It turned out that he had been well socialized and housebroken, prior to becoming a stray, but despite ads all over the neighborhood no one claimed him. My guess is that his happy home was foreclosed and the new apartment refused animals. Perhaps they hoped a neighbor would take him in, but it was not to be.

He quickly learned all the social commands and adopted as his job to warn us from the top of the stairs when frequent visitors approached the door. He also learned to stay there so as not to frighten them. The second picture is Peter on station with his faithful and much-mended shark that helps him keep watch.

Advertised as a young adult Chihuahua mix, he ended up growing to twice the size and lost all resemblance to a Chihuahua. A great addition to the household even though breed guesses are all over the map.  

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If you adopted a pet from a shelter or rescue group and you'd like to share his or her story, please email me. I'd love to hear from you!

Sadie's Story

Pet's name: Sadie
Adopted by: Mike and Marisa Brantley
From: San Clemente-Dana Point Animal Shelter, San Clemente, Calif.

Sadie's story was originally posted on Marisa's blog at SadieBloomDesigns.com. She wrote about her in one of a series of posts about the things she's thankful for this Thanksgiving.

My husband and I adopted Sadie from the San Clemente-Dana Point Animal Shelter in 2003. She was found with her siblings (all with black fur!) dumped down a touristy street in San Clemente, Calif. When we first met her, she was very shy, skinny, and had a bad case of ear mites (ew!).

With time, she developed into the sweetest, most loving, most obedient kitty cat (our "furbaby"). She comes whenever she's called, and understands the word, "No." She has some funny peculiarities, too. She'll drown her toy mice in the water bowl. She also loves feather teasers, which she'll track down, drag and drop to our feet, then let out monstrous meows for attention. She also makes sure to bring one of her feather teasers with her to bed, no fail!

This past year has been a challenging one for Sadie. She's been dealing with Irritable Bowel Disease. We didn't know what the problem was until she got officially diagnosed with it just last month, after a terrible flare up. She spent three days at the pet hospital, after her regular vet sent her there for intense treatment. I was a complete wreck. Sadie was seen by the best animal medicine specialists in Orange County! (You should've seen the other pet parents—Bentleys, dripping in diamonds, you name it!) She's now on a hypoallergenic diet and takes daily meds. The important thing is that she's back to her sweet self!

Sadie's been a true blessing to my and my husband's lives, and we are eternally thankful.

Glamorous kitty

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If you adopted a pet from a shelter or rescue group and you'd like to share his or her story, please email me. I'd love to hear from you!

Casey and Gus's Adoption Stories

Pets' names: Casey and Gus
Adopted by: Kara
From: Sonoma Humane Society, Santa Rosa, Calif.

Casey and Gus, whom Kara often writes about on her blog, Well, One of My Blogs..., each came into her life at a time when she didn't expect to be adopting a pet. Here are their stories:

I had been casually browsing the petfinder.com listings for several months looking for a Catahoula-Lab mix, but I had no intention of actually getting a dog until I had dealt with my partially-fenced backyard situation: first a fence, then a dog.

However, one night about a year and a half ago, I saw Casey (then "Katie") online, and I can't actually explain it, but some irrational gut response took over, and I felt like she HAD to be my dog. She was at the Sonoma Humane Society, and I made sure to get there right at 12 p.m. when the doors opened for adoption, because I was totally worried that someone else would swoop in and adopt her before I could. Looking back, I could have taken my sweet time, because Casey was an ill-manered, huge, high-energy ball of mayhem who had already been returned to the humane society. Twice. I adopted her on the spot.

It has not been an easy road with Casey-Dog. Shortly after she came home with me, I had a consultation with a dog trainer who pretty much told me she was hopeless. We quickly enrolled in dog training classes, and in my first session, Casey was so excited she would literally jump straight up in the air with all four feet off the ground and do a flip. Repeatedly. For the entire class. It was both exhausting and mortifying to be the worst student in class, but we stuck it out.

At this point, we have taken the "Companion Dog Level One" course three times, and, well, will probably be back for another round soon. As willful and high-energy as she is, she is also crazy smart. We've tried "scenting" courses where the dogs learn to sniff out a special box hidden in a room, and she was the star of the class. She's by no means perfect, but has come a loooong way.

This spring, I decided to start volunteering for the humane society. Somehow, I ended up agreeing to foster two two-week-old kittens. They were the cutest things in the entire world, but I swore up and down that I would not keep them. I was certain that my home would remain cat-free.

I had the kittens (Boy Kitty and Girl Kitty) for six weeks, and then returned them to the humane society once they were big enough to find their forever homes. Each week when I went in to volunteer for my shift walking the dogs, I would check in on "my" kittens. The girl kitty was adopted quickly, but week after week, Boy Kitty was still there. It was breaking my heart. Finally, I snapped. One afternoon, I decided that if Boy Kitty was still at the shelter, he was coming home with me. And he was. So he did. And now he is Gus.

Since then, he and Casey-Dog have become best friends.  They play together, which is hysterical, and cozy up together whenever they have the chance.

Every now and then, when the cat is chasing the dog around the house, and they have knocked over and broken yet another table/lamp/picture frame/chair/shelf/etc., I wonder what in the world I was thinking ... but I certainly wouldn't trade either one!

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If you adopted a pet from a shelter or rescue group and you'd like to share his or her story, please email me. I'd love to hear from you!

Sydney's Adoption Story

Pet's name: Sydney
Adopted by: Deborah Taylor-French
From: Petaluma Animal Services

Deborah Taylor-French sent this adoption story about her dog Sydney, which originally appeared in Redwood Writers 2008 Vintages Voices: Four-Part Harmony.

Punk Rocker Poodle

Inside a chain-link kennel, a dog stared out under dirty white dreadlocks. He locked eyes on me then sprang up, landed, and rebounded as if bouncing on an invisible trampoline, adding a volley of ringing barks. He seemed bent on performing. Was he auditioning for a circus act?

A sign labeled him as a one-year-old, Cocker Spaniel/Poodle mix. The Petaluma animal shelter volunteer said, “Sydney—well, we call him Sid Vicious because he chews on fingers.” Laura smiled at the dog. “He’s a bit of a favorite here. Shall I bring him to the visiting room?”

“Yes, please.” Eagerly, I followed to a small room with a low couch. I sat as Laura released the dog and shut the half door.

Leaning over, she said, “He’s been here three weeks. Isn’t housetrained. His last owner put him in a diaper.” She frowned. “He needs an experienced family.”

“I’ve adopted and trained three dogs and each had three families before the age of one,” I replied, implying I knew how unsettled dogs are from losing their homes.

Sydney raced around the rubbing the walls, body-slamming me in a brash hello. After 10 minutes of non-stop running, punctuated by friendly bumping, he rested on my leg, panting. He revived only to repeat his circuit with longer periods of snuggling.

“Oh. You do have tons of patience,” observed Laura.

I wondered if this wildly wound-up guy could adapt? Our 12-year-old daughter struggled to be patient as months ticked by while I searched rescues and shelters. The next day I visited again. Sid Vicious repeated his whirlwind greeting. Then in an instant I knew I’d won his trust. He plopped onto my lap and covered my arms with kisses. Could I help him calm down? The shelter vet had labeled him, “A handful!”

The following day, my husband went with me, then we told our teen. “We’re going to get our dog today.”

“Really? Like really?” she kept repeating on the way to Petaluma. Sydney greeted her with licks. In mutual adoration, girl and dog accepted each other as siblings and playmates.

But it wasn’t easy. This high-energy dog’s entry into our lives unsettled us. He cried at night; wet his dog bed, and the floor of his playpen. He smelled like an old dog from having to wear diapers. We took turns tying him to our waists then running him outside every hour. Soon, he was housetrained (when we were home).

If we left him, he wouldn’t drink or eat from worrying he would never see us again. Homecomings were rock concerts of blaring yaps, yelps, and tail-beating. Sid stood, front paws on the wire of his puppy pen, grinning, barking, and swinging his hips in a tail-swishing hula. Once set free, he did his impression of Snoopy’s happiest-dog-in-the-world boogie. If our dog had been a first grader he would have made it clear he liked to do all his coloring outside the lines.

Being a vocal guy, Sydney blogs about saving dogs’ lives and dog lovers’ sanity at Dog Leader Mysteries, where he writes “Sydney’s Spot.”

Being part Poodle, he was hard to outsmart. In lessons at Unleashed with Charlie Reinhart, he met his match. Sydney wanted to please and loved tasty snacks. He earned his Canine Good Citizen certificate and an adoption discount at the shelter.

Sydney had earned his nickname by behaving outrageously just like his namesake, Sid Vicious, the bass player who dressed with flaming style but whose musical talent was questionable. The lack of musical gifts never stopped either the man or the dog from singing. Sid delighted in making a noisy fool of himself whenever meeting or greeting a friend or family.

Our Punk Rock Poodle’s ear-squashing squeals, off-key yodeling, singing-in-the-shower imitations demand center-stage. When he is pleased to see you, you have your hands full of him, rubbing, wrestling, and singing. His show-stopping act full of rude yelps and barking hysterics haven’t stopped. Years after adoption, our superstar continues to greet us at full bounce with ringing shouts of, “You’re home. Oh goody, you’re home!”

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If you adopted a pet from a shelter or rescue group and you'd like to share his or her story, please email me. I'd love to hear from you!

Jimi's Adoption Story

Jimi (right) with his friend Fonzie

Pet's name: Jimi
Adopted by: Lisa Fricke
From: Oakland Animal Services, Oakland, Calif.

Lisa (who blogs at Fresh Spinach) has two cats: Fonzie, who was abandoned on a doorstep, and Jimi, whose story she tells below:

In the summer of 2010, my fiance and I decided that our cat Fonzie needed a companion. We lived in San Francisco, and we knew that all the shelters in San Francisco were, by law, no-kill shelters. But just across the bay in Oakland, there was a shelter with a relatively high kill rate and an overflow of kittens.

We drove out to Oakland and went to see if we could find a kitten that would fit into our home. Upon walking in, our hearts melted. There were so many beautiful animals who needed homes. I remember seeing one kitten who had been there a while; he was gray and had such loving eyes.

A volunteer at the shelter came over to talk to us and directed us to the back of the shelter where there were cages FULL of kittens. One cage had four sibling kittens in it. They had a hammock in their cage, food and water, and not much else. There were two girl kittens who were tabby colored, and two boys who were tuxedo, once of which was very fluffy.

We asked to see the two boy kittens, and the volunteer took us to a room and put all four of the kittens in there with us. The two girls wanted back in their cage right away. The fluffy boy was playful like any kitten, but the other boy seemed shy and scared. We were both drawn to him though, and wanted him to come see us and interact with us. I understand now that he had been sick at the time and wasn't being taken care of.

Eventually, though, that shy boy kitten came over, climbed into my lap, and started purring and meowing like crazy and was kneading my legs with enthusiasm. It made me cry, and my fiance and I knew that this was the perfect addition to our family.

Jimi in his new home

We named him Jimi (like Jimi Hendrix), and we scheduled to have him neutered (required before taking home a shelter animal) and asked to have his fleas taken care of. The poor little guy was covered in fleas when we saw him.

When we did bring him home, there was the obvious adjusting of the family (and Fonzie had a rough time with this). Worse, though, was the fact that Jimi had a bad upper respiratory infection, which Fonzie then caught from him. So we had two pathetically sick kitties. It was heartbreaking, but they both recovered quickly.

Jimi continues to have health problems. He struggles to breathe sometimes, and we believe it's a sinus issue. He has been through numerous rounds of antibiotics and other medications. Nothing seems to help him, and veterinarians are baffled. We give him saline nasal drops when it gets bad, and that helps a bit, and every day we give him extra lysine to help as well.

We know that a cat like Jimi may not have found a loving home if we hadn't fallen in love with him that day. Because of his health problems, many families may have sent him back to the shelter or not have taken him home in the first place. To us, though, Jimi is a part of our family and we love him very much.

This morning I woke up hours before the alarm went off. I found Fonzie and Jimi snuggled up together on our bed. Fonzie was grooming Jimi, and Jimi was purring so loudly! It made me smile to know how much they love each other.

If you've adopted a pet from a shelter or rescue group and would like to share his or her story, please email me. I'd love to hear from you!

Shelter Dog Calms Cheetahs at San Diego Zoo Safari Park

Here's a job for shelter dogs that you probably haven't heard of: cheetah companion. A recent news story shows Hopper, a dog adopted from a shelter, paired up with Amara, a 3-year-old cheetah at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park. They've been friends since Amara was just a few months old. They often go for walks together, and Hopper's calm nature rubs off on Amara. The story says, "Trainers found that combining the calm nature of a dog with a naturally reactive cheetah made for better training."

I've never heard of a program like this before. Have you? I checked out the San Diego Zoo's website to see if I could find any more information, and I found a bit.

This blog post talks a little about the program, and explains it with this caption:

Timber wolf Akela sits patiently waiting for her trainer to give her the next command. Most carnivores at the Zoo are paired with a canine companion. One benefit of this unique relationship is that the wild animals mimic the behavior of the domesticated dogs, reducing stage fright and allowing them to feel more comfortable in front of an audience.

And this blog post, which introduces Kiburi, a new cheetah cub at the Safari Park, mentions Hopper, the same dog who pals around with Amara: "[Kiburi] has even been introduced to Hopper, one of the canine companions used by the Behavior Department."

I'd love to learn more about this program--as well as the details of Hopper's story--and whether any other zoos use dogs (including adopted ones) for this purpose!