Three Love Stories That Could Turn Us All Into Huge Saps.

Spring has sprung and love is in the air. We see love stories happen here on a daily basis - animals meeting their new forever homes, matches made, new lives embarked on. These inter-pet love stories, however, make our hearts go pitter-patter. No worries - everything is very platonic as everyone is spayed and neutered. But let's hear it for love. 

Chilling with my bestie after a rousing game of 'nibble and run'.

1) Sasha And Mico: #FriendshipGoals

First there was Mico. The teen months were not bearing down well on the handsome dude with the multi-colored eyes. He was surrendered to us for being more than the owners could handle. At thirteen months he was all energy, all go and no manners. He's a smart guy but like most smart kids with no outlet, he was getting himself in all sorts of trouble. Jumping, mouthing, yanking, playing tug-o-leash - he was a mess. He needed to run off some energy and he desperately needed some attention. Our behavior staff was doing the best they could but sometimes the only thing that can run out a teenage dog is another dog.

And then Sasha moved in across the hall. Another wayward youth, the sky-eyed husky with the snowman coat had originally come to us from a buddy shelter. Quickly adopted out, she was quickly returned with a new adjective attached to her: relentless. Her endless search for play and attention had driven everyone in the house - dogs and people alike - nuts. Like Mico, Sasha had the energy of an endurance athlete with a bad caffeine addiction. Like Mico, she needs some help in the manners department.

At a loss of how to keep the two troublemakers happy while they found them each the perfect (inexhaustible) home, they put them together for a play date. And magic happened.

Not only did the two not mind each other's manic play style, they loved it. Now they play together twice a day to keep them occupied while our adoptions staff searches for homes who love super active dogs and want to do a lot of training. They don't need to go home together but for as long as this love story lasts, we're on board with it.*

2) Yavin And Yodi: #RelationshipGoals.

Yodi loves the cat cot. Yavin loves to hang out at the door and wait for people to walk by. Yodi wants to sit on your lap. That's cool, Yavin can have a snack until it's his turn. Now Yavin wants your lap. Whatevs, Yodi will take a snack break.

Yodi doing what she does best: guard kitteh.

You ever meet those two people that absolutely love to be around each other but don't always need to be up in each other's business? That are fine being together without being the center of each other's attention? If they were cats, they'd be Yavin and Yodi. They're both awesome but they're twice as awesome together. And we cannot get enough of them. Which is a good thing as they're both kind of hefty kitties.

Yavin was already in the home and a few years old when the family added Yodi. Yodi was a sweet gal but a pretty shy kitten. Until she met Yavin. Then she blossomed. The rub? The magic only works with Yavin. Without Yavin, Yodi gets easily scared. And Yavin adores his bestie who is now five years old. When they were surrendered together we made the decision to keep them together. So they're looking for a home together.

Yodi as kitten and as adult. We lurf her crazy eyes. 

They promise to always meet you at the door. Yavin promises that even though he's a mellow guy, he'll always be up for the odd game of laser toy or crinkle ball. Yodi promises that she'll always be up for that Netflix marathon, no matter how long. And they both promise to always be the relationship you wish you had. Adopt them.

Seriously. Adopt us. And oh, snacks. Yes.

3) Glenn and Rick. #SiblingGoals

Doesn't this look like the album cover for the bunny band EVER?

They came in as a clutch of little huddled bun-lets, all white fur, red eyes and as skittish as the day is long. Barely eight weeks old, they were an accidental litter born to a responsible owner who wanted to do the right thing. Through our PUP Program, we fixed mom and dad and sent them home and set about to find the babies new homes. 

Glenn in his skittish phase. 

While the rest of the sibs found new homes (wee little bun-lets are pretty hard to resist) Glenn and Rick were constantly looked over. We sent them to our Petco West San Jose NAC to see if a change of locale would do the trick. We also kept them together as the brothers seemed to really, really enjoy each other. And snacks. 

The new digs haven't found them a new home but it has found them a totally new attitude. In the more social environment of Petco, they found themselves meeting all sorts of new friends, including a stuffed bunny toy the two curl up with to sleep every night. By meeting all these people and always having each other's back, they grew from skittish, huddled buns into veritable social butterfly buns. Easy going, friendly, and the perfect pair for a first time bun owner. Now we just have to find them an owner. 

An owner who knows how to make a salad, please. 

The good news? All these kids are STILL looking for a home. Don't we all need relationship role models? Isn't it awesome that you can adopt them? Fantastic. Now hurry in. 

*To meet Mico or Sasha call 408.262.2133 ext 150 to make an appointment. 

Three Things To Feel Awesome About Right Now.

1) Because People Are Good. Really, Really, Really Good.

When a good samaritan saw some folks carrying around wee little pups in a duffel bag with no mom in sight, he knew it was not a safe sitch for the little muffins. It wasn't his problem - but he made it his problem. He talked the people into giving him the pups. He bottle fed them overnight while he researched a safe place to bring them. Then he brought them to us. That's really, really good person #1.

Tiny little days old potato puppies. 

Once here, staff fed and cared for them until an awesome foster home could be found. That foster parent spent weeks bottle feeding, raising and caring for the little foundlings. That's Really Good Person(s) #2-5. We're counting the staff and the foster folks*.

Because so many really good people helped see them through safely to adoptable age, they turned from little potatoes into actual puppies. When they did, folks queued up to adopt them. So let's add all the folks who wanted to adopt the Duffel Bag Puppies onto our Really Good People List. And now the number is too high to count.

Now actual poopy-sized poopies. 

#2: Because Cataleya Carries Her Own Toys

Actually we could just say 'Because Cataleya' period. Everything this enormous-headed pooch does is ridiculously adorable from her ginormous, basketball sized grin...

Look at that noggin! It's huge! It's happy!

To her willingness to pack her own gear on the way to the dog park.

Stop. Just stop. We cannot take the adorbs. 

She's pretty much a guaranteed smile on paws. More good news? She's an honorary cat this weekend. With our All About That Bass Oversized Cat Promotion adopt fees on all cats are just $20. We included her in the promo so her adopt fee is just $20!

Reason #3 To Feel Awesome: The Remy Comparison.

Remy came in with a broken leg after getting hit by a car. Our amazing vets were able to save the leg by doing a complicated surgery involving a metal plate (we have the bestest vets ever). In a few weeks Remy will be back to normal but to sum up right now:

Hit by car.

Extensive surgery.

Stuck on exercise restriction - no running for six weeks.

Yet still Remy looks like this:

If this picture doesn't make you smile, we got nothin'.

Yup. He's smiling. He's smiling in pretty much every picture we have of him. Because that's how he rolls - all waggy tail, kisses and smiles.

So if Remy can smile, we can all feel awesome about something today.

If you don't feel awesome, we can help. Pop in to snuggle a dog or cat at any of our locations. 

*Psssst - we have a dog and puppy foster orientation tomorrow. Sign up for it here!

Even When You Lose, You Win: The Catch-It Challenge.

Sometimes we all want things but maybe aren't the best at getting what we want.

As hoomans, it's easy to get discouraged. We have one miss...

Aaaaand we just quit trying. 

Dogs, however, are a totally different animal (obviously).

They have one miss..

And realize that trying a) is fun and b) gets you a cookie.

I got a lot of cookies. I even ate the ones that bounced off of me. 

And they just keep trying until they get the cookie.

We have a lot of cookies. People are awesome and donate a lot of cookies. Our volunteers are awesome and bring their own cookies for the pooches. Our employees are awesome and bring things like cut up chicken and cheese for the dogs.

This woman is an endless font of cookies. 

 (Auntie Cookie, aka Exec Assistant Lorrie Sprain, we're looking at you).

We digress - we have a lot of cookies. And we have a lot of pooches.

I like cookies. A little too much, actually. 

We live in a cell phone culture, where everything can be filmed. So we thought, hey, wouldn't it be fun to have a friendly competition and film the pooches catching (or not catching) cookies? Even if the dogs lose, they win because they still get a cookie and we're not above doing a few practice rounds...

Until they get it right. 

We had three takeaways from this:

1) Sometimes you just need to stick to what you're good at. Which, in Amber's case, is kisses. Lots and lots of kisses. 

2) Cats are not amused by the Catch It Challenge, though our resident clown kittehs Frank and George had a blast with all the treats.

3) Watching dogs with ginormous ears try to catch anything might be the best thing ever on a rainy Monday. 

And oh yes, one more thing: Don't give up. You might not always win, but the trying is fun. 

And hey, cookies.