Blackjack

Blackjack is an example of how you can find a pure pred dog at an animal shelter.  Although he has no papers, there is no denying that he is a Flat coated Retriever!  I will never forget the first day I brought him home from Special Pals when he jumped on my bed and rolled inthe covers!  Despite his antics, he is a wonderful dog for the whole family, and came to us totally potty-trained!

Read more about Shelter Dogs v. Designer Dogs

Zorie

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Roolf

We agree – life without pets sure isn’t as much fun!

We have an old chesapeak, that is so beautiful, and has such a great personality the girls at the petco fight over who gets to groom him.  He is exceptionally pretty, people stop and say what kind of dog is that, he is so big and beautiful,  he is about 12 now and blind, but still gets around good, stays in the house most of the time now.  The vet comes to him once a year, for all his shots.  His name is roolf. At one time we had a chocolate (ginger) we had her put down 2years ago, still miss her,  we had a black for 15 years he passed about 8 yrs ago.  And best of all was cottie or retriever, lab mix  19 years of wonderful, had her put down in jan 2010.   We still have roolf, blu (spitz/chow mix) and Dixie (rodiaian ridgeback) they are so much joy.  Life without pets is dull.

Mo

Virginia and I learned this morning that our dog Mo died overnight.  Last week she started throwing up everything she ate.  We took her to the pet hospital where they discovered that the muscles controlling her esophagus didn’t work. From there, her muscles became progressively weaker to the point where she couldn’t walk.  Early this morning, she had a heart attack and they couldn’t revive her.  When we visited her last night, she seemed tired and ready to go.  We think Mo knew it would be difficult for us to let her go, so she made the decision for us.

As everyone who knew Mo knows, she was an eternal optimist a drama queen, an above all a lover.  She loved attention.  Not too long ago, our lawn sprinklers came on unexpectedly and she got a little wet.  When we dried her off, we evidently made a big deal of it because when the sprinklers went off the next night, she showed up at the back door soaking wet looking for some of that attention.

Mo was fascinated by all animals. Her biggest regret may have been that she never caught any of the squirrels she lusted after.  Perhaps she’ll get her opportunity now.

Mo taught us so many things about love.  She was a great dog.  We will miss her terribly.

Virginia and Don

Elmo

This is my little Elmo!

Little Elmo was found as a stray dog. When I first saw him, he was the most unappealing, unhappy, timid and sad little doggie you ever want to lay your eyes on.  He was all matted up, his sad little eyes were almost invisible, his claws were to long and he just looked so timid and pitiful that my heart immediately went out to him. I was assured that they would clean him up if I wanted to adopt him. I said I would like to take him.

The next time I saw Elmo, he had his surgery, he was clipped and trimmed and STARK NAKED!  Wow, what a difference!  He looked like a newborn, so funny and cute.

Well it didn’t take very long and Elmo developed his personality. He turned out to be quite the little watchdog, regardless if a bird, a cat, a squirrel or a person comes around my property, he lets me know!  When I come home from work, he has already turned on the lamp in the living room for me (it’s a touch lamp he hits with his paw), he has pulled out 1 slipper from under the closet door for me and he is ready to play or eat. I taught him how to sit, shake hands and roll over.  His favorite toy is a 2 liter plastic bottle.

I cannot imagine my life without Elmo and hope to have him around for a long, long time.

Choo Choo

This is a story of love. I had heartworms and my previous owner had decided to put me to sleep. This is when Special Pals came in and rescued me. I met loving people that fed me, walked me, talked to me and cared about me. Then I found new owners; a couple that wanted to adopt me. It was love at first glance. However, they had to wait several weeks until my heartworm treatment cured me before they could adopt me. They regularly came to visit me, took me around in the yard and gently talked to me. Then I found that my new house had 3 cats and one dog “Bezou” that became my best friend. We play together like brothers, we bark together, we run in the back yard together and we sleep in the bed room of my masters like babies. We receive a lot of attention and care and we are very happy. Thank you Special Pals for your rescue, your care and my new life.



And a big “THANK YOU ” to my adopted masters Christine and John.

Love,

Choo Choo

Minnie

I adopted Minnie (at the shelter she was known as Full House) a few weeks ago, and ever since she has been such a blessing to me! I am in college and I love coming home from class everyday to her sweet face!! She purrs all the time and has developed a strong liking for CATNIP! She has adjusted so well to her new surroundings, it feels like she has lived with me forever! She sleeps with me every night, and loves to sit in my lap while I watch TV. I appreciate Special Pals for taking such great care of all of the animals they take in, my only regret is that I cannot adopt them all! But for now, Minnie and I are doing great and loving life! Thank you so much for everything!

God Bless!

Sincerely,

Erin McRoberts

Hi !

Just wanted to let you know that the cat (“Sage”) that we adopted from Special Pals is doing wonderfully. My two year old daughter loves
Sage and Sage loves to eat turkey and sleep on my electric blanket. She is a wonderful and loving cat that has adjusted easily to our family. I have attached a picture of my daughter and Sage.

Sincerely,

The El Masri Family

Hi everyone there at Special Pals, I’m Angela, the girl who adopted Cricket.I just wanted to send an update on how she is doing….I took her to the vet on Tuesday,
they gave her a bunch of shots and told us she seemed as healthy as to be considered. She loves the big fluffy blanket and pillow we leave down for her for a bed. We live in a two story, and she hasn’t been too keen on going up the stairs, but last night my fiancé’ carried her up the stairs and we set her bed at the foot of our bed. She and my other dog, Julie, are getting along pretty well. We just love her and are so thankful that you guys are around and kept her for so long. We look forward to her living out the rest of her hopefully long life with us.

I’m attaching a picture of her, in her new bed (at first she would NOT leave the foot of the stairs, which is by the door…she was a little nervous, but soon enough she was up and wagging her tail and giving tongue baths to anyone who wanted one).

Love, Angela

Lady

I’m writing to let you know that Lady (Beagle) is doing wonderful. We’ve had her about 3 wks now, and if feels like she been with us for years. She sleeps in the bed with my 8 yr old daughter like a stuffed animal. She is completely house-trained now. She loves to take rides in car. We took her last weekend to Lake Charles to meet the rest for the family. Everyone was so amazed at how well mannered she was. That night she slept near my little girl and me, so we could make her feel safe at home. I haven’t taken any pictures of them, but when I do, I’ll send one to Special Pals. Once again thanks for making our home complete with Lady. Just for the record my little girl changed her name to Lacy, and she loves the new name.

Thanks

Tracey and Kiariel Busby

Diamond

Just a short note to say that Diamond is doing great as she lays her had on my leg. She is a completely different dog than the one that we left with. Amazing what a little TLC can do, she is a big baby and very playful and mischievous but fun. She still needs a little work on the housetraining and obedience but we’ll get there in time. Her ears have cleared up nicely and she is a big spoiled baby.

Regards

Valinda Arnett-Patton

Abraham

Here is a picture of our Abraham. We adopted him a month ago and at first he was so scared and our neighbors couldn’t see that he was the best selection for a pet because he was so depressed. We had no doubt after we showed him how much we loved him and that this was his home forever, He would be happy soon. Now a month later he isn’t even the same scared, depressed dog we selected. We are SO happy we gave him a chance and he is the BEST dog in the whole neighborhood. He is happy, and cute and so protective. He loves to play ALL DAY. He loves all of us and WE LOVE OUR DOGGY!

The Dorsey’s

Proud family of Abraham Dorsey

Handsome Hound – Bentley

Approximately 13 years ago my wife and daughter were watching one of the local television stations which had a segment with Special Pals. Special Pals was showing some of their animals on a news cast in hopes someone would be interested in adopting them. One of the animals was a dog named Bentley, who had a bandana around his neck. The lady showing this dog commented that he had been at the center longer than any other animal. Looking at the dog it was rather easy to see why. He was one of those animals that people refer to as being so ugly that he was pretty. Several weeks later my wife and daughter were watching the same segment with Special Pals. The newscaster asked the lady showing the animals if anyone had come to adopt Bentley, she replied NO. At that point my wife and daughter made up their minds to adopt that homely looking dog. That afternoon Bentley became apart of our family. His background was vague and all we knew was that he had been found around a body of water. Someone had probably tried to drown the poor dog. Well, Bentley still doesn’t like to get wet and he doesn’t like loud noises. He was an extremely shy dog and would cower if anyone raised their voices. It took approximately 4 to 5 years before he showed some progress as far as asserting himself. He began barking at me if I showed the least bit of attention to my wife and/or daughter. He is definitely a woman’s dog. Even now he only tolerates me. He has never bitten me nor anyone else. He is friendly to all our pets unless they try to sleep in his place on the bed, in which case they get snarled at. He gets his message across. He shares his food with the 3 cats that my daughter stuck my wife and I with when she moved to New York City.

Bentley especially likes to go to our lake cottage and enjoys taking rides in our small bass boat. He makes an interesting hood ornament on the boat, but forget getting into the water, that ain’t gonna happen. He chases squirrels but has never caught one. The squirrels all know him and I think Bent knows he will never catch the squirrels but he makes a heroic effort for a dog as old as he. He walks around the deer that we feed. The deer really don’t know what to think of him but have apparently excepted him. We have all grown old together. He tires easily as do I. He has had to have several teeth pulled, so have I and neither of us like to exert ourselves too much anymore. He creeks and pops when he walks, but so do I. He is the most intelligent dog I have ever known. When it gets late in the evening my wife tells him he can go to bed if he wants and he will walk off to the bedroom and get on his spot on the bed and waits for us to retire.

I recall one really funny occurrence. My wife and I went for a ride in the boat and of course we took Bent, he sat between us. My wife had this ugly looking cap that she put on his head. Several boats on the lake were looking strangely at us from a distance. It occurred to us that they must have thought that Bentley was a child, but a very ugly looking child. When they could see it was a dog they all began laughing. Bentley didn’t think it was so funny. He has been a wonderful dog. We have tried to make his life as pleasant as possible, he has certainly been a joy to us.

Thanks Special Pals
for a really special pal – Danny, Kathryn and Kendra Milton

* Unfortunately I have bad news. Bentley was laid to rest 2 weeks ago. He had developed what the vet felt was a tumor on his heart which pushed the esophagus to the side. (Cancer) In addition he kept getting thinner and thinner but was eating well. His arthritis became so bad he would avoid walking and laid around constantly. The pain he felt must have been awful. Bentley was 14 years old and gave us alot of pleasure and love. We miss him terribly.

Bentley - enjoying the good life!

Brianna

Hi! Just wanted to drop a line and pic and let you see how well Brianna loves her new home and playmate. Thank you for letting us adopt such a beautiful girl.

Tina Cain

Charlie

Attached is a picture of Charlie on Saturday. He had a great day, playing with my two dogs, overcoming his fear of the swimming pool to the extent that he would drink water from the pool edge (my dogs swim off and on all day), and hanging out with us happily wherever we were. Sunday was another story. Luis’ mother and sister came to the ranch, and Charlie panicked when he saw them. He remained extremely fearful throughout the day, showing new fears he had not shown before (e.g. he was afraid to go inside the house) and, as near as I can tell, shut down all ordinary bodily functions. I am hoping that all we had was a temporary relapse, in view of his great progress on other days. Charlie now knows the “sit” command and will perform it fairly reliably.

I’ll keep you posted. I do think Charlie may have a long term fear problem, but believe that he can become comfortable in a familiar situation.

- Alison