He Should Have Been Prince Hugo.

Wanna play tuggies?

When you look like Hugo it's easy to be misunderstood. While the best words to describe him are 'goofball' and 'marshmallow' he can be timid in new situations. Timid in a chihuahua is one thing. Timid when you weigh 90 pounds and have a head the size of a Volkswagen Beetle is another. Even Hugo's shaking, cowering timid can look scary if you're not used to extra large dogs. Once he's comfortable, he's a very sweet, very bouncy boy. Before he's comfortable he's a quivering pile of terrified. A very large quivering pile of terrified.

Hugo's met a lot of people but he still hasn't found the right fit for a home yet. He loves to play fetch, he's fine with handling and will do anything for a cookie. In thinking about who would be a great home for such an awesome, loveable dog who deserves the best, one thing comes to mind:

There might be a little drool on the carpet. No worries.

The Royals.

Why would Hugo be an awesome dog for William, Kate and little Georgie?

They're a young couple with a lot of energy. Hugo would be an awesome running partner for William. He'd love to go for walks with Kate when she's pushing the pram. While he's generally recommended for older kids due to his size and energy level, we offer training referrals to help the family integrate a large dog into the home.

He looks smashing, doesn't he?

They like to travel. Hugo loves to go places and do things. True, he can be a little shy at first but with gentle introductions he does wonderfully. All he needs is his tennis ball and his people to feel at home. And if they have to leave him alone he does just fine - no anxiety there.

They own their own home and have landlord rights over most of their country. This is a huge bonus for an extra-large pittie. Renting with bully breeds (or any large dog) can be difficult. A lot of landlords have restrictions on size and breed. Not only does the Royal Family not have to worry about that, they can also get around potential breed restrictive laws by banning them as Williams' grandmother also happens to be the Queen of England.

My word, he's a heavy chap.

In a perfect world, they'd be rushing over to bring him home. Unfortunately that doesn't seem very likely. They've been a little busy lately, what with the baby and all, and importing dogs from the US can take a while. Hugo is ready for his forever home now. He's been doing very well learning his basic commands and is always ready to make new friends over a game of fetch.

If you're looking for an athletic marshmallow of a dog and like your pooches big and regal, come down and meet Hugo today. Bring your throwing arm and some treats and prepare to abdicate your heart.

Summer Camp Counselors seeing education at work

by Bridget Keenan, Director of Development


When I give tours of our new Animal Community Center, I love to spend time in our Education Center, explaining to our “tourists” that Education is a powerful way to really make a difference regarding pet homelessness in the future of Santa Clara County. Teach a child why a dog barks or why a cat scratches, and they will bring this information home to their families and help their parents understand why the puppy needs training, or why the cat needs a scratching post, so mom and dad don’t get so frustrated with the pet that they are surrendered to a shelter. Teach children that animals are individual beings — that they can make the animal feel loved or feel hurt, happy or sad, safe or scared — and you are teaching children how to be responsible pet owners, and ultimately responsible members of society.

For four weeks this summer at our “Amazing Animals Summer Camp”, we enjoyed a flow of about 75 children between the ages of 6 and 12, who each for one week came to our Animal Community Center and learned about dogs, cats, rabbits, snakes, tarantulas, frogs, and more. There were nearly 20 teenage camp counselors who worked with the children; these counselors may have learned more about animals and children than even their younger charges did! After their summer here, our counselors shared their favorite experiences.


Adam Donald reported: “Another activity was about the overpopulation of cats. During this activity, the campers were able to discover why there were so many cats in Santa Clara County and learned ways to prevent this….the campers [learned] about a variety of different animals and that all animals are valuable.”

Sarah De Vargas shared, “The children were also focused on how to take care of animals because they wanted to make sure that they were treating pets right and that they were being great caretakers of their animals.”

And Sammi Mielke wrote, “My favorite activity that we did was making habitat boxes and it seemed like the kids liked it, too…Although this was a fun activity, it also taught all the kids what animals needed to survive. A lot of the necessities for the animals turned out to be the same for us.”

Our campers and counselors learned important lessons that will stay with them their entire lives. I like to think that, because of our incredible Education Programs, we are much closer than ever toward ending pet homelessness in our community.

Animal Welfare and Boys

I’m always amazed at the ratio of girls to boys in Educational programs at Humane Society Silicon Valley. It’s not a problem, just an interesting factoid of note. Many more girls than boys volunteer and get involved with animals, but when the boys are impacted by what they learn and connect it with compassion, I’m always very impressed. I love that boys learn to be more nurturing and gentle when they come to our programs – and I just know that translates to a kinder and gentler world.

Adam, who was a camp counselor at HSSV’s summer camp stood out to me this year. The summer camp program was a joyful thing to see here on the HSSV campus – kids running around in bright orange camp t-shirts, learning, having a ton of fun, playing games and creating different projects

(see Jesse and his artwork) – and most important, becoming compassionate future community members who connect with something larger than themselves.

We asked Adam to share what was special to him at summer camp this year. When I found out that he had originally been required to complete community service through his high school, I was especially excited about what he ultimately shared about his experience during the summer. He wanted to come back to be a counselor again – and not as a requirement for school – he was inspired! I’ll share a few paragraphs of his letter, but highlights for me were that he most valued forming a bond with the campers and that camp gave him an opportunity to be a role model for other boys in the program.

This is from Adam:

While volunteering, the funniest moments were those that happened when the kids were in the opening circle. The kids were so involved and excited about the songs, and that involvement always brought a smile to my face. There was such creativity in those songs – one camper performed it “Valley Girl” style and another performed it astronaut style. Those versions made me laugh the hardest.

As a camp counselor, the most important thing for me is forming a bond with the campers. This happened for me within a matter of hours! My most memorable camper was Josiah. He absolutely adored me from the minute I sat down to color a picture with him. He had so much energy while jumping around on me and playing with a beach ball. He was always in good spirits. He loved to introduce new games for the other campers. I will always remember him and the relationship we formed during those five days.

The camp involved a lot of fun activities that taught the kids about animals while still keeping it interesting. We made dog food and had a competition to see whose dog food was the best (Buster was our taste-tester and admittedly, he seemed to pretty much like ALL food). It taught the kids what type of food is good for animals and highlighted which foods are bad, especially in large quantities.

The kids also learned to train with the Director of Education's dog, Buzz, a CGC certified pitbull adopted from Bad Rap. They also learned to always ask the pet owner before petting an animal. They learned about cats and why there are so many in Santa Clara County and how to help. They also got to see presentations by the Youth Science Institute and Happy Hollow Zoo so that they could, learn which animals actually make appropriate pets.