Bandit came to us one New Year's Eve Day a month after we suddenly lost our dog Jasper. Jasper left behind our Samoyed, Tabuka, and she was lonely. We weren't quite ready for a dog yet butTabuka was so sad and needed a friend. A friend told us about a dog featured in the newspaper who was at a shelter in a nearby town so we went to look. On the way we had car trouble and had to stop for repairs. By then the shelter was about to close but we were almost there so we went. Good thing!!

When we got there the animal control officer showed us the dog in his kennel. He was a Doberman/Shepherd/Terrier mix, about 8-9 months old and was found roaming the streets. He said, "Should I bring him to the lobby so you can see him?" We said yes, and the dog immediately was jumping on us and licking our faces. Within 5 minutes my husband and I looked at each other and said, "I guess we found our dog!" It was that simple - we never looked at other dogs. Sometimes you just know.

We stopped to see our vet on the way home to have him check out the dog. While waiting, we tried to decide on a name for him so we didn't have to put "Dog" on his vet records! Since it was after Christmas, the office had many Christmas cards on display from customers so we read all the pet names trying to find a good name. A woman there said to us, "He looks like he has a mask on his face. How about Bandit?" PERFECT!

Tabuka didn't take immediately to Bandit but very shortly after they became best buddies and she was happy again. They were good friends for years.

He was a terrific dog who fit into our lives effortlessly. He lived for almost 14 more years and survived cancer and heart disease. He was simply the best and we will never stop missing him and loving him.

It was a hot summer day when our young 18 yr old neighbor told us he had just found a puppy abandoned on the side of the highway. Left inside a small pet carrier with only a blanket he drove back to the city with her. We asked him to bring her to show us, with our first intentions of only viewing her. She was only 3wks old ( determined by the vet next morning). We immediately were concerned for dehydration so went and bought puppy formula. I took her to work that night (security) and fed her 8 ounces with a syringe in the next 8 hours. The young boy who found her wanted to keep her but after months of bottle feeding until weaning, she would not be separated from me (cried constant and refused to drink when separated from me). Ironically she is a shepard/ akita. Akitas were bred as guard dogs in Japan. Myself being Japanese and working as a guard, i feel she was the perfect match meant for me. So at almost 4 years old to date (photo) she remains my big baby. She is the best thing to come into my life other than my own children. She is extremely loyal, loving, comical and smart. Extremely spoiled everyday. We all love her more than words can descibe.

Before we adopted Sadie we had a Sheltie named Star. We weren't looking for a second dog but one evening on the computer I just happened upon a shelter dog website. I saw a beautiful cocker spaniel on the site and called about her the next morning. They said she had been in the Shelter for six months and at the Pound for six months before that. I couldn't believe my ears that this beautiful dog had been "locked up" for a year of her life. I told my husband that I just had to go look at her.

The next morning I went to the shelter. They brought her to me in a little room. She crawled on her belly & chased a fly. I went home and told my husband about her. The next day I took our sheltie over there to see how they got along. They both did the normal butt sniffing & seemed ok with each other. I decided that we had to give her a home. My husband told me that she would be my responsibility and he wasn't going to have much to do with her because he wasn't ready for a second dog. For the first couple of days he was kind of distant with her but by the third day he invited her to sit on the recliner with him. That was the beginning of their wonderful friendship. Her name was Lady but to give her a fresh start we named her Sadie. Sadie has been such a joy. It took a while for her to trust us. Sadie is so funny. She snores. When we go somewhere without her she waits by the window and it warms my heart so much when I come home to see her excited and wiggling all over the place. She loves to "go bye bye in the car" with me too.

I truly believe that sometimes our pets find us because it sure happened to our family! Sadie is a member of our family and we love her so much.

For years, I adopted “mature” shelter cats because they are like many of us: getting older, but still worth the time and effort if given a chance. This time, though, I was seeking a youngster to grow into the position of Animal Assisted Activities (“therapy”) Cat.

While there were many worthy adoption candidates at CAT in Sherwood, OR, Spenser had me at first mew. He was adorable – eight weeks old with long silky fur, light blue eyes, and dark tabby markings that appeared to be painted in watercolor on his sweet face. I brought him home and he fit right in with his five adult siblings, although the not everyone was enchanted by his kitten high jinks.

Spenser became an adored visitor at Memory Care where he would recline in his hot pink carrier, wearing his little blue harness, while everyone ooohed and aaahed. He was a star.

Spenser was learning to tolerate the car, but that changed during a traumatizing ride. He was hiding in his carrier, wary but resigned. We were on noisy, busy Route 101 when a huge truck passed with its horn blasting, followed by a car with its radio on full blare. Spenser panicked and frantically tried to get out of the carrier, which landed upside down on the floor. After rushing to park, I lifted the terrified little guy out of the carrier to soothe him. He clawed his way out of my arms and propelled himself under the seat where he remained for hours (only time and tuna could get him out).

Now, the therapy kitten needs therapy for his motorphobia. He runs the other way when he sees his formerly beloved carrier, and he is so fearful and anxious that it would be cruel to force him back into service, even for such a good cause. We’ll work on it as he grows up, but for now I have to be satisfied with a beautiful, playful, affectionate, happy young fluffball who prefers to be a homebody. Hey – it could be worse!

We were in the yard one Sunday afternoon last fall while the farrier was shoeing one of our horses. I turned around and saw this little guy sitting at our gate and went over to check on him. He was very drowsy and smelled of shampoo. He had no collar so I took him around to all the neighbors, vets, groomers and put up signs and checked with our local shelter. Our neighbor later told us that he was laying beside one of our cars on the other side of the house when they had driven by earlier that day. Someone must have seen our farrier's dogs in the yard and put him out. He was not claimed so we kept him. The vet aged him between 1 and 2 yrs old. Other than ear mites and dermatitis in his ears he was healthy.

Hobo is so dramatic and is such a little ham with his endless energy and goofy expressions. Our rescued hound loves him and so do we!

Hello from Hong Kong!

I'm Bull's-Eye, named after the other major character in 'Oliver Twist'. I too am always asking for more! Thankfully, I wasn't mistreated when I was growing up, but it was tough being kept in a cage day after day, nose to nose with my Yorkshire terrier friend (now also happily adopted) for two years because my elderly owner couldn't take care of me. Later I was left alone to run around a yard until Hong Kong Dog Rescue heard about me from a neighbour. Then I lived for eight months at Pet World – a dog hotel and boarding kennels, which was great fun – but the fees were stacking up and I really needed a permanent place. I starred on YouTube while a home was sought but English bull terriers aren’t popular here; many people seem to think I'm a pit bull and are scared of me. Although it took a while, my people found me. For him, it was love at first kick: soccer is my game and I'll chase a ball all day. My charms took longer to work on her, but now, when she thinks he's not looking, she's just as soppy with me as he is! Now I'm four and a happy boy. Sure, I still have a rap sheet: I'm born to chew and destroy all my toys; I'm boisterous and do my bounce-off-the-walls "donkey dance" when I want to take a walk; I'm demanding, because I want my dinner NOW; I like to make myself at home on the rooftop furniture, as you can see; and I've even devoured a few paperbacks (and I don't mean by reading them). But I know my people wouldn't have it any other way. Hey – it's a dog's life!

Bull’s-Eye (and Stephen), Mid-Levels, Hong Kong

Captain Jack Sparrow was rescued by me at my old apartment complex when the maintenance personnel threaten to throw the kittens, living around the trash/garbage compactor, into it. They "threaten" this action because the kind-hearted neighbors, including myself, were leaving food and water for the 4-5 kittens living around the garbage compactor due to the extreme heat during a brutal Texas summer. When I and my neighbors found this out we scooped up the kittens and divided them among ourselves. Captain Jack made it into my arms along with a beautiful all black kitten named Simba. But Simba story is for another day. Captain Jack made himself at home with the rest of my cats and he is the pirate ruler among them. He is a beautiful orange and white cat that might be a little over weight from living the good life on catnip and too many treats but I would not have it any differently. Captain Jack turned out to be a very vocal cat that will come bounding into the kitchen when I am in there and "demand" his share of booty... aka... cat treats! A couple of years ago the vet discovered that Captain Jack has a heart murmur and needs medication daily. The vet said he was one lucky kitty to be rescued by me because without medication Captain Jack's life out in the wild would have been very short indeed. I told the vet that Captain Jack was not the only one rescued that day. He brings so much unconditional love and laughter to my life that I can not picture my house (I moved out of that apartment complex to give my cats a bigger house to roam) without him. Please open your heart to rescue animals because they give so much more then they take. Adopt not shop and make room in your heart and home for a rescue... you will never regret it!

I got a call from Longdogs Rescue in Sacramento, CA. Someone had just dumped a 7 pound mini petite chocolate dachshund in a night drop behind the local shelter. It was 12:00 midnight in January and this person just didn't want to deal with the folks inside the shelter. In the morning the employees found this little girl just shaking with the cold. She had no idea what she could possibly have done for someone to abandon her like this. I told the Rescue that I could not take one right now as I had just lost a dachshund.....but....I WOULD COME DOWN AND JUST LOOK....Well, you all know the rest of the story. Emma is with me. She is the most loving little girl that you could ever want. Emma never meets a stranger...she kisses all who come near her. I swear she is just so grateful for being rescued. She is now a therapy dog and goes to nursing homes to meet the senior citizens and just loves the attention. She goes from room to room spreading joy in each one.

When I came out of the Grocery store back in November I passed a couple of children looking at an SUV and pointing, so I stopped to listen and they had heard a kitten in the SUV engine. So me and another shopper got partially under the SUV and we seen this little grey kitten, but we could not reach him. I went back into the store and had the manager page over the intercom the description of the SUV to get them to come to the front. The lady who owned the SUV was shocked their was a kitten in her engine, so she popped the hood and me and the other shopper were able to pull him out. I took him home with me with the intention of taking him to the shelter. The poor kitten was covered in fleas so I gave him several flea baths to get them off and I fed him the poor little guy was so hungry. The more I held him, the more attached I became and in the end instead of taking him to the humane shelter I got him checked out at the vet (luckily he only had ear mites, which we treated) and I have had him since. My rescue Kitten name is Blue and and he is a healthy and so full of energy and he has brought joy to me ever since.

This is Sirius (the shelter had him named Noah). The reason I changed his name is because he had trouble trusting people since he was abandoned, neglected and most likely abused, yet the people he got close to he would do anything for.

When I first saw him at the shelter his hair was tangled, he smelled horrible (due to he was covered in his own messes), he had fleas and he wouldn't even lock eyes with any of the visitors (while all the other dogs were barking and trying to see who was the new visitor and hoping for a home... he just laid there.) He looked broken, I asked about his story. Turns out his old "owners" left him in their apartment when they moved without food or water (he still has a habit of jumping in a tub if he gets thirsty to get water even through I always have a water bowl out for him). They also assumed he was abused just due to his condition when they found him and the fact he was scared of people (he had a greater fear of men).

I asked to see him and they were surprised by how he took a liking to me right away, I think he sensed I had also been hurt before. I decided I needed him in my life and adopted him. He does not like to leave my side (at times we call him my shadow). He still get nervous every time someone leaves, still has a fear of new people (more towards men still), but the people he knows and trusts he is one of the most caring dogs. He is my best friend and I know he will always be there for me. Everyone knows were each others perfect match.