It's Monday afternoon and big, fluffy flakes are falling outside. Schools are closed. Businesses are closing. The US Congress has closed for this snowstorm. This web site made it through one Big Snow and Freeze with never a blink. Can we be so fortunate again this winter? With God all things are possible. Can people in the vicinities of zipcodes 10101, 20202, and 30303 be so fortunate? Probably not all of them will be. So, on the probability that all three Petfinder lists of animals seeking homes won't be updated tonight or tomorrow, and having prescheduled a batch of butterfly posts, I might as well preschedule tomorrow's Petfinder post.
Petfinder's dog pages seem to have been programmed to scold me about warning people to avoid phishing scams by not giving out personal information. Dog rescuers want to know they're sending dogs to people who can keep them and work with them, all the dogs' web pages said today. Do would-be adopters even have fenced yards? So, fine. Send them a snapshot of your fenced yard, dog pen, doghouse--that's relevant. If you ever took in a dumpster dog, trained him, and sold him as a working dog, send before-and-after pictures of the dog. Do not transmit information that identifies private individuals through the Internet. If people in these organizations want to feel that they're not sending dogs they have spent some time petting and vetting and socializing and de-flea-ing to a total stranger, that's reasonable. Get to know them in real life. Do not type any private person's real name, including your vet's real name, into a computer that connects to the Internet. Do not even suggest that people still have phones, now that so many of us think e-mail is quite enough to have--much less ask for a private person's phone number. Organizations can give out office phone numbers if they still use phones, but should anticipate that if private people call their phone lines, these days, it'll be from a store.
Organizations should, meanwhile, disclose when and where animals came into the custody of the organization. That information may help people track beloved pets who've been lost or stolen. One dog mentioned below was found "by a river" somewhere near some headquarters of an organization that has headquarters in half a dozen places. People want to know not only which river, but which was the nearest bridge. That information does not identify a person whose identity could be stolen; it only helps people locate missing pets.
And organizations that seriously want to place pets should make sure the people they're asking for money feel like honored patrons, not like petitioners--or like victims of scams. If you want to meet people face to face, why don't you give them directions to your home? Exactly. Don't ask potential adopters where to find their homes, either. Organization headquarters are a good place to meet.
Zipcode 10101: Encore from NYC
Her web page: https://www.petfinder.com/cat/encore-dfdb9314-a9dd-4542-b8dc-67795839dc3b/ny/new-york/linus-friends-fl1765/details/
There are Queen Cats who rule with an iron claw, but the most effective Queen Cats are the sweethearts who are so lovable, when they're pleased with their subjects, that everyone wants to please them. Encore is that kind of cat. Thought to be about five years old, she charms--and dominates--other cats and dogs as well as people. She is a "talkative" cat with a pleasant little meow her humans say they like to hear.
Hero from New York or Canada or Maybe California
The organization has bases on both coasts. They don't say exactly where Hero comes from. They say he's "simple-minded," that it's always a new adventure for him. He follows better trained dogs' examples, though, and wants to please everybody. He is a stray or abandoned dog who may have had no training or not made much progress. Though he's not extra-large the organization stress how much fun he is outdoors and want to be sure he's going to a home with a big fenced yard.
Zipcode 20202: Malcolm from Virginia by way of DC
Neutered early and still only about a year old, Malcolm is described as shy at first but affectionate when he gets to know people. He may bump his head against your leg as a signal that he'd like to be petted. He is described as clean, at least for a tomcat. He behaves well with other animals and they think he'd behave well with children, too, if they're taught to respect his boundaries.
Kim from Mexico by way of DC
The web page tells it like it is. Kim is a stray. She was sick, in mortal danger; they took her to a vet who pulled her through. She's had vaccinations against further diseases. She's not been trained, not even house trained. They want her to be adopted by people who can rescue a dog, not merely shop for a pet. You should send photos of the big fenced yard and roomy doghouse where you can keep her. (She weighs about 32 pounds and is only a year old, so she might grow bigger,) She's super-photogenic, thought to be a mix of clever Border Collie and lovable Labrador Retriever, but she has a lot to learn.
Zipcode 30303: Harvey from Chattanooga
His web page: https://www.petfinder.com/cat/harvey-487f7ba3-04e2-4665-9d9c-12106b3eed84/ga/atlanta/your-local-fur-mama-tn1052/details/
Here's another case where the organization is in Atlanta but the animal is in Chattanooga and can be delivered to other places for the right person. Harvey is described as cautious until he gets to know a place and its people, then showing a personality modelled on a Queen Cat's, as if there were such a thing as a king cat. (He is not, technically, even a tomcat. Neutered male cats can be called gibs, with a hard G as in Gibson, or as in gift.) He's gracious, sociable, purry, and cuddly. You'll want to please him. You'll need to watch closely for ways to please him other than overfeeding him. And someone has already sponsored Harvey for adoption! They don't say what the remaining adoption fee will be. It should be in two figures.
Before discussing this week's winning dog, I should mention that it's the second place winner. The first place winner would have been a bonded team of dogs, but www.joyfulpets.com is a weird site. The organization actually said they DON'T want their animal pictures shared or reblogged. Funny things happen in cyberspace and it's possible that a blog post brought them a lot of spam...but it's more likely that they're up to something of which some blogger, possibly I, disapproved.
Nadia from Mississippi
Where she's really from, who knows? She'd be coming to you from Mississippi. People who are too cheap to have their terriers spayed dump the poor things out, pregnant and scared, at crossroads in any old place that's farther from their home than they believe a dog can run. I've seen it done when the dog was so close to term she couldn't even jump over the drainage ditch. The dogs are even more afraid to go to strange people for help than people are to get close to a strange dog, so in many cases they just run till they can run no further, for days, months, having things thrown at them, being shot at, "bumped" by cars (often run over), bitten by other dogs, maybe trying to rear their puppies and not being able to feed them...There's a place in the afterlife, no doubt, where the humans who do that get to live the dumped-out dog experience. Their ancestors look down on them and yell, "Hit'm again!"
Nadia is thought to be more Staffordshire bull terrier than pit bull terrier. There are differences, but dogcatchers chasing a stray who's been reported annoying other people's pets don't see them. Nadia's lucky she wasn't shot. A foster family who have worked hard to help her recover from wounds, starvation, and fear think she could still be a wonderful pet for the right people. (Staffordshire terriers are often listed among the most lovable dog breeds, usually a few slots down below Boston terriers.) They show some anxiety about making sure they do send her to the right people. They recommend that she be the only pet in the family. They are willing to bring her to where you are, even up North, if convinced that you're the right person because this dog's profile is not the most adoption-magnetic, but they want to feel that they know you first. Send them a photo of your big fenced yard, and an indication of your plans for what happens to your pet if anything happens to you, if you want to take a chance on this dog. If I wanted to adopt her, I'd go out to Mississippi and meet her.
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