adoption
Our guide to animal adoption; learn why, where, and how to prepare to adopt a cat, kitten, dog or puppy from an animal shelter or rescue group.
My White Spirit Dog
Thirty Years Ago: My mother had passed away two weeks earlier, and I slept on the couch most of the time, day and night. One morning, I was napping on the sofa and woke up, but I could not move or talk. I could only observe and watch my grandmother, mother, sister, and myself doing laundry in the kitchen sink. In my vision, it was a beautiful spring day. I could see outside and noticed a small black dog looking up at the three people she was with and then back over at me. It was cold and icy outside, but she appeared to glow with a beautiful white light surrounding and filling her.
By Denise Willis3 years ago in Petlife
How One Became Three
When I was a child, too young to remember much, my mom put my older brother and I in the car and took us to a stranger's house. We went to the back porch and I sat on cool, smooth concrete. Then, puppies came out. We left that stranger's house with one of those puppies. He sat in a box in the backseat, belted in, as we talked about names.
By Darby S. Fisher3 years ago in Petlife
Fizzi's First Valentine
Fizzi is my little seven-pound applejack, meaning he is half apple head chihuahua and half Jack Russell terrier. I brought him home when he was eight days old. Right away he had me wrapped around his tiny paw. Having Fizzi is like having a baby that will never grow up and I spoil him just as much as I did my two children when they were babies.
By Kristen Renee3 years ago in Petlife
Companion Calamities
It's been fifteen years since my dog passed away from old age, but I still have the memories. In 1993, my Aunt's Border Collie, Aurora, was pregnant, and she offered us first pick of the litter, once they were weaned. We also got to stay up late one weekend while they were born, but our parents hauled us home at around midnight.
By Natasja Rose3 years ago in Petlife
How Rocky Got His Name
I come from the desolate, thickly wooded back roads of Jackson County, Ohio. My house sat atop a slightly sloping hill among the wispy fields of weeds and the crunch of gravel roads. I was tucked in between two small towns, with a lonely two lane interstate connecting them (and me) to civilization. Fireflies and stars were the only sources of light on the road. No street lamps around there.
By A. L. Simpkins3 years ago in Petlife
Hands
Hands. The ones I know are mean and rough. Hands that grab and shake and hit. Hands that pull on my tail and ears. It is so cold and dirty where I am. The hands throw things at me that are supposed to be food, but someone else always gets them first. So cold. So hungry. We are so crammed together in here but each one alone.
By Margaret Lewis3 years ago in Petlife
The Way of the Range
“Why do you always wear black?” “I’m in mourning for my life.” —Masha The Seagull *** To be alive is to mourn. Beds where we once rested our heads, people we once rested beside, animals we’ve loved, family we’ve lost, our bodies. We mourn what has been, what can never be again, hopes dashed, love soured, spring flowers that cannot last. Some days I mourn my 20 year-old knees, my grandmother’s ability to drive a car after dark, cities where young love dripped from me, my child-feet standing on my father’s surfboard, his head still full of hair. Memory, a sweet grief, exquisite and excruciating.
By Jen Parkhill “JP”3 years ago in Petlife
My Soul Mate Has Four Legs
The last few years have been pretty tumultuous for a lot of people, for a lot of different reasons. Between a Pandemic impacting heavily on both my home life and professional life, a relationship breakdown and life in general doing what life does, it has been a busy and stressful chapter of my life. I know I’m not alone in this, and even though that is comforting to know I’m not the only one struggling at times like these, it can still feel like a very lonely experience especially when we are separated from the people we love through no choice of our own. Simple things we might have coped with before become compounded and feel insurmountable.
By Lilly Cooper3 years ago in Petlife
