A year ago on July 1st, I came in looking for an adult cat. A friend had just committed suicide and I was looking for some brightness in the dark. As I looked at the adult cats, none of them seemed right, most wanted to be an only pet. We already had a cat and a senior Yorkie. I walked into the kitten room just to look. One of the Junior Volunteers was holding a tiny ginger kitten. I asked to hold her. She immediately started purring; it was love at first sight. It took me a while to realize
Read More

We were about a year out from when we lost my cat Nelson, and I was devastated by the loss. My other cat, Bogart, was noticeably sad and lonely as well. Our household felt empty, and though Bogart liked the extra cuddles, he missed playing with his big brother, Nelson. I decided that I would go to the humane society to look at cats, but my heart was so heavy, I was sure I wouldn’t find anyone to bring home. I wasn’t even in the cat rooms yet, when I walked past a little cage and a paw flew out
Read More

In March of 2018, I started looking for a companion kitty for Loki, my HSHV Alum. His 17-year old kitty brother had passed away, and I could tell that Loki was lonely. Being a volunteer at HSHV, I saw something on the website about a very friendly 3-year male cat by the name of Toby. Very friendly, outgoing kitties don’t last long at HSHV, so I rushed over on a Sunday morning to be there when the shelter opened. I visited briefly with Toby and sure enough, he was all loves, purrs, kitty chatter and head bumps into me. I
Read More

In August of 2014, while working a volunteer shift at HSHV, I came across a young male Siamese mixed kitty. He was very vocal in the cage, so I paid him a visit. His name was Loki, and I fell instantly in love with him. Loki was a kitten at the shelter when he was adopted, but a year and half later the family brought him back which turned into my good fortune. A year before, I had lost our Tuxedo girl kitty to old age and it took a year for before I was ready to add another kitty
Read More

Back in August of 2013, we adopted Remington “Remy” Steele from HSHV. Back then his name at the shelter was Walter and he lived in the admin offices. This was before the offices became the sanctuary for FeLV cats. Remy came into the shelter in April of 2013 and it was the practice back then to give long term kitties a break from living in a cage while waiting to be adopted. We really don’t know his back story when he joined our family at the age of 8 in August of 2013. But we do know that at one
Read More

We adopted our sweet girl Athena from HSHV back in December 2017 to keep our our rescue Kiki company. However, we lost Kiki October of 2018 and Athena had been lonely ever since. We decided we were at a place where we could get a new friend for Athena. We showed up at HSHV after the Love Train and saw Missy, and I knew that was our girl. She was the puppies’ mom and needed some extra love. It hasn’t even been three weeks, and this sweetheart has just completely blossomed! She went from being scared and hiding in the
Read More

One year ago last Sunday, we brought home Lulu. We knew that she was meant to be part of our pack the moment she dove into our laps the first day we met her. She has been the perfect pup for my anxiety, with her first instinct during a panic attack being to lie on my chest; no training required. Since being part of our pack, Lulu has found a deep passion for boating, napping, licking faces, playing with her bestest friend Mazie (who was also rescued from HSHV) and more napping. We never could’ve imagined a more perfect dog
Read More

I lost my dog last Christmas and finely decided to get a new puppy. I heard great things about HSHV’s Love Train so I decided to go check it out and ended up finding Krypton. I forgot how much fun it was to have a puppy around. He follows around his big sister all the time, and she has been a great help training Krypton. He had a brother and a sister in the kennel with him when I picked him out. It would be nice to get in contact with them down the road and see if one day
Read More

After getting our first house, we were beginning the process of rescuing a dog to help fill our home. Both my wife Bernadette and I grew up with dogs. I grew up with a Miniature Poodle, and my wife grew with a rescue Border Collie. We were in line at an adoption event a local rescue was holding for a few German Shepherd puppies when we got a text message from one of our friends to check HSHV’s website for a Beagle puppy and a young Husky mix up for adoption. So we rushed over from the adoption event about
Read More

Our daughter Grace was struggling with depression and feeling unloved. We struggled with medication, counseling and tough love, but nothing was helping her. We saw the Love Train was coming, so we surprised Grace and brought her over to see if she’d like a puppy! She was so excited. She quickly chose Bonnie, and suddenly had someone to give love to and get love from. Grace has come around to a happier way of life. Her grades have improved, and she looks forward to getting home each day to play with her Coko. This sweet little girl brought a light
Read More