Yes, We Will Fix Your Dog For Free. No, We Won't Use A Woodchipper.

We love poopies*. We really love poopies. How can you not? Look at them:

We might be tiny little monsters but you are POWERLESS over our cute.

Our dedication to spay/neutering has nothing to do with not liking poopies, it has to do with loving poopies. It has to do with math that just doesn't add up. Too many unwanted poopies and dogs, not enough homes. We want to help the numbers add up so there's no more oopsy-poopies. So there's a home for every dog and poopie.

Which is why we're fixing dogs from certain zip codes in San Jose for free.

Fixing? Like fixing hair? Because I'm looking a little Trump-esque,

By fixing we mean spaying and neutering. Heck, we even throw in free shots. Because we're good like that.

Since we announced this program there's been a lot of questions on social media. As social media is best reserved for weightier questions (like "what color is this dress?" and "who is Taylor Swift dating?"), we're going to answer all your free spay/neuter questions here.

Wait...Taylor Swift is dating someone?

What dogs and what zip codes?

The zips are 95111, 95112, 95116, 95122, 95127.

With our buddies at Pets In Need, we'll be doing mobile clinic surgery dates at Home Depot. For mobile clinic dates, it's any dog from those zip codes under 50 lbs.

What about the Milpitas center? What about us lil' guys?

At our Milpitas ACC, it's any chihuahua or chi mix from those zip codes. Stay posted for changes, though. Things evolve quickly.

It just...doesn't seem fair.

Why only those zips?

This is Silicon Valley. We eat, sleep, dream and think in data. What data shows is that the majority of pooches entering Silicon Valley shelters are coming from those zip codes. If we can provide services there, we can feasibly drop shelter intake. Hence less homeless pooches and poopies.

It's already worked - when the project started a few years back it was only for chihuahuas (and mixes)  from those zip codes as that constituted the majority of dogs coming into shelters. Within a few years, intake numbers declined. A generous donor gave us a grant to expand the program to all dogs in those zip codes. 

Still think it's unfair.

But shouldn't you do ALL zips?

In a perfect world, yes. Unfortunately fixing everyone for free is a pretty expensive endeavor and the funding isn't there for it. Hence we're tackling the areas of greatest need - see earlier note re: data driven.  Luckily we do have super-affordable spay/neuter services for all animals at our Milpitas ACC. 

But the free clinics are at Home Depot? I don't want my dog fixed at Home Depot! 

Like where they sell POWER DRILLS???

This has come up A LOT on social media and we need everyone to take a deep breath. Yes, we are doing the spay/neuter clinics at Home Depot on Story Road. Not IN Home Depot. We are not fixing dogs in the lumber aisle using hand tools. Relax. See this?

Hint: It's an RV.

It's a mobile operating room. It belongs to our buddies at Pets In Need and they're cool enough to partner with us on this. 

Home Depot has been awesome enough to let us set up the mobile spay/neuter unit in their parking lot. It looks like a big RV from the outside and inside looks like a fully functioning, sterile surgical suite complete with all the usual surgical tools and staffed by the same amazing vet staff from our medical center here in Milpitas.

Everything is basically the same - same process, same surgery, same drugs. 

The drugs...they are good...

Seriously, it's legit. Lots of love. Fantastic medical staff. Clean facility. No skill saws.

Ermaghawd! Sign me up!

How do I get my pooch on that bus?

So very glad you asked. 

First, call to make an appointment. Our next mobile date is this Saturday, March 26th. Give us a holler at 408.262.2133 ext 380 to schedule. Hablamos espanol tambien. Llámanos at 408.262.2133 ext 381. 

When you make an appointment, our staff will give you pre-surgery instructions. Things like 'don't feed your dog a few hours before' or 'bring him at this time'. Pretty basic stuff. 

Make sure you have proof of residency in one of those zip codes - a utility bill or lease or something. They'll ask for that when you drop them off.

When you drop your dog off, the person checking you in will tell you when to come back and get 'em. Then just go shopping or something until they're ready. It really is that easy. 

This is my grumpy face. 

But I can't make this Saturday!

Don't worry - we've got you. We'll be doing this once a month. Follow us on Facebook - we'll post future dates there. They'll also be on our calendar. 

But....what about my hair?

And no, we're still not fixing your hair. But we do have a grooming department that might be able to help. 

*As poopies are super-soakers of pee, instruments of mass chew-struction and producers of enormous quantities of poo, this is an entirely appropriate name for them.

25 Million? OVER 25 Million! Mutual Rescue™ Takes Over The Internet.

If every dog gets their day, a lot of dogs (and cats) will be getting theirs very, very soon. Because Eric and Peety and Mutual Rescue™ have inspired a nation. People are looking at shelter pets in a totally different way.

Us? They're looking at us?

Do we need to brag a bit?

Yes, yes we do.

So on Valentine's Day, we launched a short film about amazing adopter Eric O'Grey and the huge difference his dog Peety made in his life. Have you not seen it? You need to see it. Here -

Some of our awesome friends like Dr. Andy Roark, Oskar the Blind Cat, BarkPost, Dogly and SF Gate posted it too.  And something amazing happened. Not only did the US go crazy....

This is not the last reference to Omaha you will see in this blog. 

But the rest of the world did as well.

Eric and Peety in Chinese.

Thus far the video has been viewed over 25 million times.

What is 25 million?

• ·      It is the combined populations of New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, Philadelphia, Phoenix, San Antonio, San Diego, Dallas and San Jose. You can even throw in Omaha, too.  
• ·      Or, to look at it globally, it’s as if the entire population of Australia watched it. And every single person in The Bahamas and Belize joined them.

Sorry Bahamas. We couldn't find a graphic that had all three flags in it. 

It's been shared over 550,000 times. 

By contrast, A TMZ video about Beyonce renting a mansion for the Superbowl had 370,00 views and 178 shares.

Sorry Bey. We love you. 

550,000, so you know, is more than the entire population Dresden, Germany. Which is funny because Germany has shown the video a lot of love.

As has Chile.

Peru, Brazil and Argentina have checked in, too!

Poland had the video on TV. 

And it's been translated into Thai.

Chuck Norris - THIS Chuck Norris -

We were a little afraid to post a Chuck Norris meme. Because...he's Chuck Norris. 

even wrote a blog about Eric and Peety. The chief export of Chuck Norris might be pain, but the man has a big heart for animals. Thanks Chuck!

So what does this tell us?

What?

 Eric is awesome - which we already knew.

Shelter pets are awesome, which is another thing we already knew.

When you save animals, you save people, too which (again) we already knew.

We know EVERYTHING. Because we're real smart. Even if we poop in shoes. Because we're puppies. 

That this love and gratitude for what animals contribute to our lives is universal. It crosses all boundaries. 

Which makes us feel pretty awesome about humanity. 

Galahad, like all of us, finds amazing photog Jackie pretty awesome, too.

To submit your own story of Mutual Rescue™ go here.

We Need Everyone To Get Over The Tail Thing.

We are having a little issue.

What?

It's not really a little issue. It's actually a highly populous issue made up of lots of little guys. So it's a big issue with a lot of adorably quivering whiskers.

Are you talking about us?

As you know, we like to help our buddy rescues and shelters out. So when a local rescue got inundated with 300 adorable little pet ratties, of course we threw our doors open to lend a hand/paw.

And thus, like a much less dark and more hopeful version of the pied piper, the adorable little rattie muffins invaded HSSV.

Do you people have snacks here? Because we LOVE snacks. 

About 50 little rattie muffins at the moment. Many of them weren't in very good shape and needed extra medical help. All of them needed to be fixed as rats multiply faster than a super-computer.

You wanna see a cool trick where 2 of us become 20? Neither do we. 

Yes, we do fix rats. Have we mentioned how amaze-balls our vet staff is?

Anyhoo, these guys need homes and they need them fast. While we grabbed a whole bunch of the little dudes, there are still a lot of other ratties waiting for a chance to come here. Which means we need each and every one of you to get over the tail thing.

What's wrong with my tail?

Yes, the tail thing. Rats are the friendliest, smartest and most sociable of the pocket pets. They're  like pocket dogs. They learn their names. They can learn tricks and basic agility courses. They like to hang out with you and go through your pockets. In terms of pet-most-likely-to-learn-to-do-taxes, it's a rat. They're brilliant. But when we talk to people about pet rats we hear the same thing over and over again.

"It's their tails - I can't deal with them".

This guy's tail is okay but mine is a problem? 

Ok. That's just absurd. Cats have tails. Dogs have tails. Bunnies have tails. Why do these not freak people out? Is it because rat tails are hairless? Since when has being hairless been a problem? There are many things in this world that are hairless that American LOVE.

So his head doesn't freak people out but my tail does? 

And there are many, many things in this world that have plenty of hair that divide us more than the wee little tail of a pet rat.

That guy's hair kind of freaks ME out.

What do we need to do to make you get over the tail thing? Would flowers help? Would it convince you to come meet some of these adorable little nuggets that are hanging out at our Neighborhood Adoption Center at Petco West San Jose?

My whiskers quiver even more adorably at the smell of spring flowers.

Because once you stop in and meet them and see how sociable and bright they are, you will fall in love. Not a flower person?

It is a nice break from the rain. 

Would a desert scene persuade you? 

Are you persuaded but not able to commit to a rat? We could also donations of cages (no tanks, please). Want to enjoy the joy that is rattiness but not have a hectic travel schedule? We're also looking for rattie fosters. 

***A huge thank you to our volunteer photographer Jim Allen who makes all the pets at our NAC's at Petco West San Jose and Sunnyvale look good. Taking beautiful photos of wriggly, curious little guys is a herculean task and we couldn't be more grateful for his photography (and photoshop) skills***

Exuberant Smooshy Blockhead Seeks Temporary Accomodations

This is Lemmy.

Hi.

He's a big, lovely, squishy marshmallow of a pooch with a heart of gold and a head the size of a compact car.

Behold my enormous melon. 

Lems loves people, loves grass, loves ball, loves playing, loves just about everything.

Smoosh my face again, too..

He doesn't love the shelter. He's been here a while and it's starting to make him sad. When playtime is over he flops down on his stomach and refuses to go back in to his room. It's breaking our hearts a little to see such a happy muffin be depressed. Plus he weighs a lot and carrying him in is TOUGH.

Different species, exact same facial expression. 

Even when Lemmy is depressed, he still has to smile at every single person he sees. Which means it's impossible to get a picture of Lemmy looking sad. Thus we use this photo of a sad panda to represent Lemmy's sadness.

Anyhoo, we had a great idea. We do that a lot around here: great ideas.

Sock it to me. What's your great idea? Belly rubs? 

What if we found Lemmy a foster home? A place where he could live and hang out until he finds a forever home? If we could find someone that has some big-silly-dog experience but can't have a dog forever, this could be a win/win.

Someone who understands dogs like him.  He's a bit of a meat-head....

It appears the water bowl is empty...

Though he thinks of it as being a problem solver.

He loves other dogs but is a bit too much for most smaller ones. He adores playing with other big blockheads though.

I'm like a frolic-some linebacker. But I love my buddies. 

While he doesn't have a mean bone in his body, he can be a bit of a rhino in a china shop so cats and lots of low-sitting valuables are probably a very poor idea. He is working on crate training..

What do you mean I'm doing it wrong? 

Though he's still got a ways to go with it. 

While a forever home would be fantastic, a foster home would be great too. Let's get Lems out here and into someplace where he can always be his ridiculously gleeful, squishy, loving, chunknugget self. Don't make us use another sad panda photo:

Heartbreaking.

Though it really does look quite a bit like Lemmy when he has to come back in from the yard and go to his room.

If you're interested in fostering Lemmy, call Casaundra Cruz at 408.262.2133 ext 183. If you're interested in adopting this big old smooshball, call adoptions at 408.262.2133 ext 150.

No one likes a sad panda. Everyone loves a smiling Lemmy. 

Seriously. Come smoosh my face. 

Let's keep Lemmy smiling.