Show me your rescued and/or pampered pets!

[ButtercreamDream]

I've had a tough month.  I stopped adopting ferrets, and started fostering when I knew I was planning on having kids soon.  Then, I stopped taking foster pets when I had my baby, 9 months ago.  Since then, there have been TONS of people surrendering their pets, and no new adoption candidates.  The other foster houses are dropping out for even better reasons than mine (serious illness, or they just had their 3rd kid in 3 years).  I keep getting desperate calls, like "I don't want to pressure you, but there's no other place", so I'm back in.

The difference is that I used to pick up from the main shelter home, and I would keep them until they were adopted (which has never actually happened, since I always took the old/or and sick ones ) or they die.  I would pet-sit as well, for shelter donations, and that's when you meet some very caring pet owners.

Lately however, the main shelter shut down, so now people bring me their pets for surrendering directly.  I can't keep them all, but I've been doing the intake and assessing them.  Other members have been good enough to take in the really bad ones that need lots of rehab, or serious medical conditions, since I have a baby at home.  The things I've seen in the last month have made me  .  I wanted to punch some people.  Like, seriously...  I wish they had to go through what they did to their pets.  I can't even share the stories, because I'm pretty sure it violates the "no animal abuse" policy.



Anyway... This is where you come in!  I need my faith in people back!

Please tell me about (and show me, if you can) your rescued and/or just plain pampered pets.  I want to see the ones that are well taken care of!  Tell me what makes them special, and why you love them 

Please?

ETA some of my own guys!--------------------------------------------------------------------

This is Sadie.  Her mom was dropped off while pregnant at the humane society, so I had her since she was a puppy, until summer 2 years ago, when she died from cancer.  She was a little like 'Marley', until I discovered the dog whisperer, and realised that I was the problem, not her!  FYI, you CAN teach an old dog new tricks, lol.  She was a super loving lady, who lead a pampered life.

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Here is Moose.  He's the only ferret who is actually mine right now.  He was a lab testing animal, and I adopted him and covered his vet bills for getting him fixed. He's almost 4lbs of ferret!  He's super calm (for a ferret), and he's taken a lot of rehab to turn him from a cage-only animal, to a regular pet.  I've had him 2 years, and I only JUST got him to try a treat for the first time this week!  He had no idea how to play, or even explore when I first got him.  He's so sweet, and a perfect starter ferret for my kid to be around.

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This is curly, passed out after a good day of playing.  He was one of my foster ferrets until recently.  This poor guy had the worst broken tail my vet had ever seen, broken in five places (he guessed that Curly had been swung around by his tail).  He wound up having to have part of it amputated.  He was abandonned without food or water, with 2 other ferrets, in an apparetment for TWO WEEKS!  All 3 were close to kidney failure when the land lord found them.  Curly probably will have a shorter life because of it, but he's got a posh life now.  He's a complete sweetheart, and you would never know what he's gone through.

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Here's Pixie in the tunnel.  She's super fast and tiny.  Her owner was really good, but she got cancer, and couldn't care for her anymore.

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And here's Moose, trying to snuggle with Clyde, Bubbles and Pixie (on top).  He wasn't full grown in this shot, but he was still twice the size of the next biggest ferret.

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This is Nova.  He was my baby.  He was never fully healthy, so he spent so much time being separated from other ferrets as a baby, and being taken care of by people, that he craved human attention and snuggles.  The pet store he was at was supposed to send him back to the breeder to be put down, because they couldn't give a health guarentee with him, but I convinced the manager to let me buy him (I worked there, and had become very attatched).  He only lived to be 4, but he had a good life, and I'm so glad that I was in the right place at the right time to save him.

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This is Sid.  He was my first adopted ferret. 
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He won my roomates and I over with the most adorable poses.  When we went to pick out a ferret from the rescue for the first time, he got up on the couch to get our attention, and then went into a gift bag, and looked at us with those puppy dog eyes.

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That's only a few of my adopted and fostered pets, but that's all I've got on hand.  When it comes to rescues, I've had everything from baby ducks to a horse.  I've loved them all, and I hope I gave them a better life.   

[kaoskat]

All four of our dogs are rescued. Three of them were fosters that belonged with us and one was a private rescue when her breeder/owner decided the dog was not being treated fairly (after 9 months) and contacted my grandmother, who called me.

Onigiri: She spent the first 9 months of her life never leaving a small crate. She's a dainty little princess who doesn't like to go outside when the ground is wet. She likes to wear clothes and will dance for them. She doesn't eat treats. She breathes them in. In spite of missing most of her teeth (poor breeding).
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Shada: She and her littermates were abandoned in a graveyard as pups. She was returned to the shelter twice for being "too shy". The first time, after being locked in a laundry room for 3 days with no food and water because she went in there to hide and wouldn't come out. The second time, after only 3 hours because she wouldn't visit with her new owner and her guests. She stayed with a foster, whose other dogs were bullying her and she spent alot of her time there afraid to move. We knew she was staying the second she came through the door. She's terrified of thunderstorms and is currently ripping our house to shreds and hurting herself on a regular basis. Ugh. But she's ours and we will get her through this. Somehow. Other than that, she's a perfect dog. Not shy at all. Her first day here (4 years ago January) was a nightmare. Our other dog, who had been having frequent seizures, had to have the vet come to put her down and I got whisked away to see a dying family member out of state. Still, when my father came that evening to pick me up, she rushed out to greet this perfect stranger like she'd known him forever. She hasn't been shy the whole time I've known her. All we did was let her be and let her just observe all the crazy her first day and she was fine in spite of the crazy.
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Nori: She was left abandoned in an apartment while heavily pregnant with her mate and no food or water. She was so covered in fleas her fur looked like it was alive. When she arrived here, her gums were this nauseating white-gray of severe anemia. She was bones with a huge belly. She weighed around 5 lbs (she's 15lbs now). She was super aggressive. We decided then she would be a permanent resident and not a foster. A week later she delivered 6 big healthy amazing puppies. She was the best mother ever. She was completely addicted to her pups. It broke her heart when we had to ween early after a uterine infection made her really sick. This starved mother Chihuahua, who successfully birthed 6 healthy good sized pups, never once needed help feeding them. She protected them, she loved them, and she cared for them every second they were here. We kept her youngest and she still takes care of him. They are the best of friends. She's come a long way and every once in a while, we find a new fear aggression trigger (like certain shaped shoes....hmmmm.....wonder why that might be......*glares angrily at previous owners*) we have to work out of her, but she's doing lots better. Her training has been tricky because in her last home her training was very clearly inconsistent and untraining is alot harder than training. She's completely nuts but she is the most insanely happy dog I've ever met. Her tail never stops wagging and she always has a goofy puppy grin on her face. She was 8 months old when we got her, so I would imagine she didn't get much of a puppyhood and she's certainly making up for it now. I can't look at her without smiling because her smile is infectious.
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Sandy: He's never known any home but ours. He (and his 4 brothers and 1 sister) came to us inside of his mommy (Nori). He's never known real pain or suffering his whole life. He has no fear. Of anything. At all. Why would he? His grandma will save him. He is completely certain of this. And he believes himself to be king.
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From his recent birthday:
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[Like A Tea Spoon]

Billie Holiday <3 She's a Chihuahua/Beagle mixed pup. She's well over two years old, but we can't say for sure how old she is. I went to an animal control center to adopt a beagle mixed 3 month old pup and found out she went home earlier that morning.

I stayed to look over the other dogs and found this in the puppy pens.
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Billie'sMugshot by PassionatePoppy, on Flickr

Every time I walked past her, she just sat and stared at me, wagging her tail. When I asked about her, the center said she had been there 15 days all ready. So, I decided to take her home! Animal Control does put animals down, and I didn't want such a chill dog like her to be put to sleep for lack of homes. $25 and a little paper work and she came home with me!

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Billie Holiday by PassionatePoppy, on Flickr

This was all she did the first week she was home with us. We found out after her third day with us at a vet wellness checkup that she was around 30-ish days pregnant. I opted for her to have the pups since it would be less traumatic for her... and I couldn't bring myself to spay/abort the litter since they were that far along and healthy.

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Puppies &lt;3 by PassionatePoppy, on Flickr

She got huge....

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Billie2011 by PassionatePoppy, on Flickr

After not showing pups an hour after her water broke, we rushed to my vet for an emergency C section/spay. I cried at the vets office thinking I had made a mistake about letting her have the pups. $500 and thirty minutes later... Billie gave us six puppies! She never left them and was the best ( you could say obsessive ) mother I have ever known.

All five pups found a home but one ended up staying with us since a home fell through. You know what happens... name them and they never leave! LOL Beaker @ six weeks old! She might be part husky since she has that curled tail and pointed ears. No telling who the father(s) were, but we all agree Beaker has Husky traits.

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81249nj_27 by PassionatePoppy, on Flickr

Beaker is now almost a year old. She's a silly little thing, and very skiddish around new people. She was spayed through the Atlanta Humane society last weekend.

Billie and Beaker are the loves of my life right now. They are rescues in more than one case. They keep me from feeling sorry for myself since I am currently jobless right now and having a hard time staying positive. It's hard to feel sorry for yourself when you got two wagging tails sitting under your chair while filing job applications out. lol

My first dog was a purebred Boston Terrier named Lola. I always say I'd never buy a dog while so many are homeless... but if given the opportunity to have a third dog, I'd definitely have a Boston again.

[gemini_pony]

My kitty peanut butter was found in a dumpster when he was only 4 weeks old! He had an eye infection and URI. We actually thought his eye was gone it was so bad.

My sick little boy :c when we first got him
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After some meds and a bit of cleaning up
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He grew fast!
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Current Pic
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[BlackCurtains]

Kat, your post made me tear up You, and others who rescue/foster/rehabilitate/adopt are so incredibly special. I admire you so much I only dream of doing the same, in my current living situation. But it's a dream I want to make reality one day

I did take in a stray, Mouse-
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Thanksgiving 2001, it was a cold, rainy night, and when I came home she was on my porch. I looked down at her and said, "Hello, little kitty." and she looked up at me and sighed a big heavy sigh. She had lots of issues; malnourishment, massive ear mite infestation, an injury to the tip of her tail (the nerves were severed - probably by a car) and she was so young. Much too young to be away from her mom.

She's a fat happy 10 year old now She went to the vet this past Tuesday and received high praise for her health She's a little... special... but I love my Muncher Fluffs

Annnnnd for the heck of it, this is Bass-
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She's been with me her whole life - 12 years. She's completely spoiled (and knows it!). The light of my life

[Gingerbread]

Gorgeous pets everyone!

All of my dogs have always been rescues, usually the 'difficult' dogs that would otherwise have been PTS.

My two dogs I have at the moment don't have any issues at all though, apart from Rocco and eating.

Scooby is a BC x JRT. I was only supposed to be looking after Scooby for a few weeks whilst his owner (friend of my fathers) was in hospital, when he came out he decided he didn't want him back though His loss, my gain - Scooby is an amazing bundle of total diva-ness, loves every person on the planet, it a complete Victor Meldrew around other dogs, and is one of the most intelligent dogs I know. We've had a couple of health scares with him recently, with his heart and then with him developing a pot belly within a few days. he' was cleared of tumours or actual heart failure yesterday but I have to get another urine sample from him today (already taken one this morning) to try and rule out Cushings and a couple of other things.
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Rocco we've only had a couple of weeks, he is an Ibizan Hound whos owner emigrated. Rocco went back to his breeder who asked me if I would like to adopt him He is so amiable! He ignores Scooby when he's being a diva, and is such a clown He is so badly underweight though, we are really struggling to get him to eat anything, but he has put a teensy bit on Tripe sandwiches, apparently, are his fave food. No butter, just raw tripe wrapped in bread
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[Skeen]

Every one of my cats was a rescue.  I'll have to add pics later, lol!

Ember was 3 weeks old when her stray mother was killed by a dog.  The neighborhood never found the rest of the litter; Ember just showed up in someone's yard a few days later, screaming her head off.  A lady at work took her in and, since she had to bottle feed her, had her at the office.  I fell in love and took her home the next week and bottle fd her myself for weeks.  She hates me.

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Fuzzy and Slick were found at the library when they were about 8 weeks old.  Fuzzy was running around the entrance desprately trying to get someone to pet him, and runty little Slick had fallen into a storm drain - he was so ill his eyes had completely gummed over and he couldn't see.  When I told the librarians I would take Fuzzy with me they told me about Slick, and a nice man fished him out for me.  I was afraid he would die because he was so ill and so skinny (they both were) that I told myself not to get attached to him, but he pulled through and now he is my baby.  They're very close with each other, being littermates and all.  Slick got all the brains while Fuzzy got all the looks.

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Slick likes water.

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Flora was found in December in a friend's neighborhood.  She'd been there for weeks, stealing food from the neighbor cats and trying to get into garages to keep warm.  My friend had been trying to catch her but hadn't had any luck.  I saw her and just melted.  She was skinny, sick, injured, and freezing.  I shook a can of treats at her and she came running.  She let me pick her up and hold her, and when I put her in the car she just curled up next to me.  6 months later (and about $3k later, too...), she was fat, well, and all healed.  She's an amazing old girl.  I can't believe no one looked for her.    She's still all shaved from one of her various surgeries in this pic.

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Aadra310 found Stevie at a flea market.  She was also skinny and sick (and just a baby!) so we took her and told the man running the booth we were going to take her, and he was happy to give her to us.  I tore a tendon in my ankle walking back to the car with her, so Aadra, who is allergic to cats, had to hold her all the way home.  Stevie had every parasite known to man, and fleas, and ear mites, and an upper respiratory infection, and a SET OF LUNGS.  She's part Siamese and she definitely inherited their lung power with her blue eyes.  She's a very good girl now and loves her Uncles Slick and Fuzzy and her Aunt Flora.  Ember, not so much.

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Finally, Jupiter.  We found Jupiter on a retaining wall on the Turnpike in April.  She had either been hit by or fell out of or was flung from a car.  Whatever happened to her, she landed on her face and bounced.  Her mouth was all kinds of messed up and she had road rash all over her.  We named her Jupiter because she had a Great Red Spot on her head.  We took her to a vet at once and found she had snapped off or ground down 3 of her 4 fangs and she had damage to some of her other small teeth in front.  Her jaw was broken and her whiskers were gone.  She was limping and a bunch of her back claws had been torn out.  She was spayed, fat, and declawed, so she belonged to someone.  A local organization helped us pay for her treatments and surgery (which was totally unexpected, I just wanted them to take her when she was better!).  Now she has only one fang, but her whiskers have grown back in and she eats normally.  Her road rash patches all grew back in white, so she has random white and gray spots on her brown tabby coat - she looks like planet Jupiter with several orbiting moons, lol!  The biggest spot is named Ganymede, the others are Io, Europa, and the littler ones we didn't name.    She's a little slow, but we're not sure if it's because of being injured or if she was always like that.  What makes her case especially sad is that, again, no one looked for her.  I posted EVERYWHERE trying to find her owners.  But she's a very happy cat and we love her.  NOT the best pic of her, though...

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[Rosencrantz]

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This is French Fry! Her mob name is Fat Tony. She's a pseudo-rescue. When I was working at the vet as a work experience thing for a few weeks, she got brought in by her owner who said this:

"She's destroyed my apartment and got me evicted, so I want her put down." She was about nine months.

The head vet, he went: "No. Get out and leave the cat."

So while I spent my time cleaning and washing things, French Fry would tag along behind me and play in the clean water, etc. By the time I was ready to go, they had a 'well, she has to go somewhere' home lined up for her as a barncat, but I begged my mother to let me take her home with me, so she was my 'parting' present from the vet, along with a large aquarium that I used for rodents and is now heading onto a new life as a dinosaur vs soldiers diorama.

Anyway, French is not an incredibly destructive cat as the woman claimed. Upon entering the house, she did her kindest act which is she went up to my dog, who was a big jerkbutt to everything (but I love her), and became Oswald (the dog's) first animal friend within moments.

French is awesome. She's actually the same size as when she was a kitten still.

[Lorelei Redfern]

i've always taken in  stray/ rescused animals.  i acutly ended up with  4 dogs in an apartment complex that normally says 2 o.o  but 3 weere chiauaus.  when i move i ended up having to give them away  but i kept  2.  so i'll show ya the pics here.

first up  is my tinkerbell she acutaly rescused me.  shes  my  emotional support dog. i suffer from ptsd  adn a few other little issues adnd disorders so  about 4 years ago  my  dad talked to a friend of his who raised maltipoos.  (poodle matlese) shes hypo allegenic  so  sicne i ahve so many allergys having  a  dog like her is good for  me.   well the thing is shes a little miracle dog.  the mother  got bit by a snake.  and   the puppys kept dyeing well.  the last litter he did.  she only had 2 puppys.  my tinkerbell was one of them. i  acutly got to hold her at about  3 weeks adn knew she was gonna be mine.  and  4 years later shes a  happy helthyish  dog. with ocd.  but i cnat really blame her    shes a total diva.  lvoes to ride in her stroller.  loves to   be dresses up in clothes. totoal lapdog.  she does have astham though. sh allergic to grass and shes allergic to fleas.  shes a litle nerotic. but hey its  fine. 

and heres her picture.
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this is hr all dressed up (to help cheer you up)
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and this is my Itty bitty dog.  my vicous  all of 4 pound.. attack dog.  i actuly rescued her from somebody  who  found her running around the street. i think she was abused by a male at soem point cuase she does NOT like men.

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[SweetScoops]

Here are my girls, they're all rescues. The tricolor back in the picture is Tiffany and I've had her for 4 years now (She's 10.) She was dying when I got her and I litterally stayed up all night for about two weeks just holding her and begging for the treatment to work. We share a rough past my old sweetheart <3
And then there is Ghia (8yrs black and tan) and Selma (6yrs Blenheim) and I've had these two since June. They were about to put them too sleep because people thought they were to old to get adopted (Silly people) They are both healty and oh so friendly

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[Rosencrantz]

They have the best expressions, SweetScoops

[Radiance]

All my pets are rescues! I'll get some more pics posted soon. My cat Simon was found in a gutter during a rainstorm. He was maybe 8 weeks old, skin and bone, and half dead. After a lot of TLC he turned into a huge fluffy monster tipping the scale at almost 14 pounds! And he's not overweight. We think he may have some Main Coon in him. We've had Simon for 7 years now. He rules the house and terrorizes the dogs.

Zeus is our bully-type American Bulldog. He actually came from a breeder. He was the last of the litter and was getting older, so the breeder was just going to put him down rather than "waste" any money taking care of him. My husband heard about it from a guy at work and raced to the breeder's house to get the puppy. The breeder gave him to us because he thought something was wrong with him; he was very calm and didn't play as much as the other puppies. But that's just Zeus, he's a mellow fellow. He's almost 5 now

Honey Bee was a shelter pup. She's mostly Standard American Bulldog with maybe some pit mixed in. She's almost two, and is the most spaztastic dog I've ever known. I swear she has squirrel brains. She chases her tail and everything and is a big attention hog. She is the dominant dog and is always messing with Zeus.

Honey Bee:
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honey bee by xhuxhurocket, on Flickr

Honey Bee trying to get Zeus to play. He looks so resigned to getting bit in the face!
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zeus &amp; honey bee by xhuxhurocket, on Flickr

Jupiter is my 12yo Morgan horse. His previous owner had about 12 horses on a 1/2 acre dry lot. They were just crammed in there. The lady that owned the horses was fined and her horses were to be seized and adopted out if they were able. So that's how I ended up with him. He was emaciated and full of worms and had a huge, fresh scar on his hip. It must have been an awful injury because I've never seen anything like this on a horse before. Whatever it was, it's healed up now and Jupiter is now sleek and beautiful!

[Yurusumaji]

Nyx, our pound kitty. She was less than 6 weeks old when we took her home. Idiots at the pound tried to tell me she was 4 months old, even though she was smaller than the palm of my hand. She had fleas, worms and an eye infection. She was also emaciated because she couldn't eat dry food and that's all the pound was offering her.

Ride home. She rode daddy's shoulder most of the way.
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I don't have any photos of her within the last year, but she hasn't changed in ages, so this is what she looks like.
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Now she lounges like a P.I.M.P. 

[spiderwax]

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This is my baby, Binx.
She joined our family during summer time, four years ago. We had been looking everywhere for kittens, since out last cat had passed away. Living out where we do, you have to have a cat around, or else your house will be infested with rodents. So we looked, and looked, but with no luck. It was late summer, and everyone's litter of kittens had been rehomed.
Then one saturday, Dad called me down stairs. In his arms he held a tiny black and white kitten, my Binx.<3 He went to our local dump to drop off some trash, and the over seer there asked him "do you happen to want a cat"? Of coarse, Dad said yes. Apparently Binx, and her litter, had been left there, or in the woods near by. They would come out one at a time and sit under the Overseers truck until he gave them to someone, then another would come.
So we got Binx. She's is a sweety, with a feisty streak, and a love for children. She's the most precious cat I've ever had. <3
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Kenna's our pound puppy. There's not really a story behind her, except we dropped into our local shelter and her litter was there.  She's my bed hog buddy, and I find it hard to sleep without her around. <3 She's two years old this summer, and 70lbs of lap dog. @_@
--
Nyx and Binx look like they could be related.

[Eviecorn]

Here's my pound puppy, Arlo.  He's a lab/corgi mix.  I rescued him in 2005 from a shelter who had taken in animals from another shelter which had been shut down due to deplorable conditions.  He was a young adult when I got him, and was kind of hard to break of his wild ways, but he's been the best companion I could ever ask for.  He once even attacked a man who attempted to mug me when I was walking him late one night outside my apartment!  I think we're even. 

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And a photo to show him at maximum derp...

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