A Frosty Update To Wrap Up 2016.

He likes coyote scat and walks in the desert.

This view makes him happy.

As do the holidays,

Never has a dog been more willing to wear silly headgear..

though they can be exhausting.

Post holiday derp-face.

So can those walks in the desert, to be honest.

Post coyote-scat investigation snooze.

Which is why it's good to have a sunroom to stretch out in.

He had missed six months of Pit Bulls and Parolees.  But luckily New Mom likes that show, too..

New Mom, let's binge watch. Please.

So he had a chance to catch up. It was a looooong journey home for everyone's favorite big bubba but with so many people asking how he's adjusting to his new life and his new state, we had to take a moment to do an update. The TL:DR? Wonderfully. He's doing wonderfully.

Two weeks ago Frosty pulled out of HSSV en route to his new home in Tucson. He had a bully stick, a KONG, a human chauffeur (we didn't trust him to drive himself) and a scheduled rendezvous with New Mom and Dad in Palm Springs for the second part of his long journey home.

Approx life span of 2 foot bully stick? 20 minutes.

New Mom had worked at HSSV and retired a few years ago to Tucson with her husband, New Dad. They had lost their big dog a few months back and had tentatively started looking for a new one when they noticed Frosty on our Facebook page. When New Dad was on a trip to San Jose, he stopped in to HSSV to meet Frosty. It was love at first sight. The only thing left to do was get him ready for his trip to his new home.

The days before he left had been a whirlwind of goodbyes. There was his farewell party..

Approx life span of doggy cake? 39 seconds.

Some quiet goodbyes with good friends like Carl, Jackie Mac and DeEtte..

You'll write, won't you Jackie?

And then it was time to go. About an hour into the drive Frosty decided he wanted to sit in the front seat, as his Doggy Dates had told us he loves to do. So that's what he did.

Sorry 'bout that somersault into the front seat. My bad.

He finally passed out with his head on his chauffeur's lap and aside from a quick break outside of LA....

He slept all the way down to Palm Springs where he met New Mom and Dad. There was a long walk with New Dad while New Mom signed his paperwork and then it was settling onto New Mom's lap for the rest of the drive...

Snuggle snuggle snuggle snuggle.

He didn't mind sitting in the backseat because New Mom sat with him. They got home to Tucson at 2AM and he found his new bed and new stuff, which was very exciting...

So New Mom, we're all going to sleep in this together, right?

 But he decided he'd rather put his ginormous white butt in bed with New Mom and New Dad and sleep with them instead. 

All in all, life's been pretty good for Frosty since he left. He not only has New Mom and New Dad but also their extended family who all love him as well. It's not a bit less than what he deserves. To everyone who loved on him, cheered him on, took him out for Doggy Days Out and shared his story, he extends a huge thank you. And so do we. 

Meanwhile back at HSSV Frosty's legacy has made life better for so many other pooches. The Doggy Day Out program that started as an attempt to get him some relaxation and exercise is going strong, with lots of other big pooches getting the attention and normalcy they so need.

Thanks Frosty...

Yup, 2016 has been a rough one in a lot of ways but isn't this an awesome way to wrap up the year?

Thanks Frosty. Thanks New Mom and Dad. May everyone have an amazing 2017.

In The Land Of Pirate Kittehs, Party Cats And The Perfectly Imperfect.

What is perfection? Aside from being vastly overrated, of course.

Perfection is overrated. I, however, am perfect and not overrated. Take note. 

Particularly when it comes to cats, what exactly does perfect mean? Is it graceful and lithe?

Horrible crash landing coming in 3, 2, 1....

Or perfectly svelte?

I distrust anyone who practices self deprivation...

Well, that's lame. And boring. And untrue.

You are boring me even more than hoomans usually bore me.

We see a lot of cats. An awful lot of cats. We'd even go out on a limb here and call ourself cat-experts.

I stick out my tongue at your impudence. 

And what we've found is that all cats are pretty perfect. Particularly the more interesting characters we see.  Lately we've seen a huge influx of pirate kitties..

Ahoy mateys. 

Which doesn't bother them at all. They can still destroy a Christmas tree with the best of them.

Trust me, I'm taking this thing DOWN.

In fact they find other cat's extraneous eyes a little redundant though they would never be as gauche as to say that. We appreciate their tact. We've also had some dentally challenged kitties..

Yeth? Ith there a problem?

For whom lack of teeth present no problems at all. In fact they're quite delighted to be on a soft food diet. Hooman, do open me a can now. 

And then there's the Party Cats, the most perfectly imperfect of them all. 

I am so plotting something. So very plotting something.

The Party Cats refuse to adhere to the stereotype of shy, retiring kitties who enjoying napping and lap time. No, the Party Cats are here to party - they want to chase a laser pointer, run laps around the house, annihilate the fuzzy mouse toy and present you with the remnants of it. 

If look in the corner you'll see the remains of the toys who crossed me..

A little petting on the cheeks and head is adequate but let's not go overboard with the lovey dovey stuff. For Party Cats the family that plays together, stays together. These overgrown kittens are outgoing, playful and guaranteed to make you laugh and keep you on your toes. If you can't decide if you want a dog or a cat, you probably want a Party Cat.

I need a laser pointer. NOW. 

No one is perfect but no one pulls off imperfection like a cat. Cats just are who they are and they own it. Let them be role models for us all. The holidays are here and with our Home For The Holidays promo adoption fees on all adult cats is just $15. 

Don't we all need a little more glorious imperfection in our lives? 

Shameless Puppy Propaganda: They. Have. Invaded.

They arrived en masse, a collection of messy paws, sticky fur, that delightfully slightly sour breath and whimpers and grunts, tails whipping in every direction. It was the puppy invasion. And it wasn't the first time this has happened to us. Much like the Great Cat Bust Out of 2016, another shelter had needed help. This time it was with an inundation of underage puppies. And once again, we had said yes.

Thanks guys.

Because that's how we roll. It's what we do.

I rolled. Now I have to figure out how to get back up. 

There were the eleven four week old pibble puppies. Little tan and white potatoes squirming every which way, their little blockheads emitting grunts and squeaks.

So small. So snuggly. So. Much. Pee.

The seven spaniel-ish nuggets, only six weeks old and all wispy fur. Seven puppies in the holiday month? Of course they were named after Santa's reindeer.

The spaniel puppies left for foster before we could get a pic so we're subbing in Ermaghawd Puppy. Because look at him.

Two separate litters of Shepherd puppies, all barely six weeks.

They were just sleepy from the ride. No puppy eggnog here. 

While most came in as orphans, a fluffy Shih-tzu mix family arrived, mom watching over her teeny baby, smaller than a can of soda.

We have nothing to say except 'good mamas'.

Have we mentioned this has been happening to us a lot lately? These twenty nine underage waifs joined a whole mass of other way-too-young'uns that have been filtering in from other shelters, good samaritans and all over the place. Last week's tally included one chi mom with four babies, two chi babies with no mom....

Yer my mama now. 

 and a whole mess of rambunctious six week old Shepherd/blockhead babies who promptly set to fingerpainting with their own poo* in a holding suite while waiting for their foster home to pick them up.

Fingerpainting makes us sleeeeepy.

Which bring us to you, dear reader. If you follow us on Facebook, you've probably seen our puppy breaks. A cute diversion from your work, thinketh you....

Nothing in life is free, people. 

Not so fast, sayeth us. Because we might have some ulterior motives with those oh-so-cute clips of frolicking puppies. Those puppy breaks might, in fact, be well thought out puppy propaganda, designed to bend you to our will. Or, more accurately, to their will.

We've come for your soul. Or just your spare room and some cuddles. 

Yes, dear readers. The puppies want you. The puppies need you. The puppies are, in fact, calling you. Much the way the other shelters call us to help with puppies. Because we can't help the puppies without foster homes. Foster homes like...

Oh, hey, you there...

Yours. That right, that puppy is looking right at you. If you have some space, some spare time and a desire to save lives in a very tangible, direct way (and enjoy puppy breath) we need you. We have a training coming up next Saturday, December 17th at 9 AM at our Milpitas ACC. We would love to see you there. Sign up here.

I packed my snowman. Let's go. 

If you want to help but can't foster, we could use some supplies. We are going through pee pads like, well, water. We provide our foster homes with everything they need to care for their little muffins which means we need to have it on hand. And this tsunami of puppies is draining us. We have an Amazon Wishlist just for the poopies here. Give 'em a paw. Or a place to pee. 

We can haz pee pads? At your house?

After all, who DOESN'T want to help these guys?

* A moment here for a shout out to our Animal Care Technicians, our huge hearted army who patiently and gently clean and care for all the muffins while they're in the shelter. Yes, all the pups will go out to foster but until they leave twenty nine puppies will make a ginormous mess. We really do have the best staff.

The Cat Problem.

We have a cat problem.

Excuse you?

Okay, so maybe it's more of a person problem involving cats. If you ask cats, there is no such thing as a cat problem, just an awful lot of people problems. Such is the nature of cats. Such is why we love cats.

Now that we have that straightened out, carry on Problem Hooman.

The issue is thus: we are chock full to the brim of absolutely amazing cats really wanting to go home.

We need some peeps of our own, Newman. 

Cats like Lady Pumpernickel, who has appointed herself the official greeter of our Sunshine Community Cat Room. 

Yo. Come on in. Can I borrow your lap for a minute?

While she loves the visitors and attention, she'd really rather light out for a place of her own where she can be permanent greeter as opposed to this temp gig. The problem is not the cats.

Stunning, yes. Affectionate, yes. But a problem? You offend...

But rather the lack of folks coming to adopt them. We're not talking about the kittens, devious little monsters that they are, who have no issues resorting to subterfuge and smuggling to find themselves placements..

Stuff yourself in there, Bob. Then when you she gets you home go full-cuteness mode.

No, they're doing just fine. As are the d-o-g-s who seem to be flying out of the shelter on fleet little paws...

May we not say the 'd' word in this blog? Please? 

It's our wonderful, affectionate, calm, friendly awesome cats who keep finding themselves overlooked. This isn't entirely unusual as we've just come out of a very long and very busy kitten season but it is odd as it's Home For The Holidays time where adoption fees on all adult animals are just $15. 

Only $15 to adopt me and my mustache? A bargain!

We know Gracie. But we're a little bit at loose ends because we have allllll these awesome cats getting overlooked. Our Sunshine Room crowd is the friendliest group of cats we've ever seen. If you go in and sit down on the sofa you wind up buried under a pile of gregarious felines. So we might have to do it...

No. Absolutely not. No. 

Yes Pixel, it's true. We need to get you guys noticed. So we might need to break out the...

Don't get crazy guys, it's actually kind of warm. And there were treats. 

holiday costumes. 

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

We don't know why you're upset, kitten. You're not in the line of camera fire for this. We know the cats don't always love it but it does get them noticed and shared. Last year all of our kitty models from our holiday shots were scooped up quickly. 

Scooped up quickly? Really? Right here. Pick me. Get the costume. 

And there were lots of treats involved...

Is my dignity worth freeze dried tuna? Yes. Yes it is. 

We don't know. It's just an idea we're kicking around. But it would probably help if folks spread the word about Home For The Holidays, The Gregarious Feline Pile and our current cat and/or human issue.

Ahem.

As Annabelle said, Ahem. And yes, she is looking at you.