December 8, 2016 Milly

“A chihuahua/dachshund cross and she’s the boss for sure. She’s adopted from the Cochrane Humane Society when she was six months old. She came into the shelter with two brothers. We knew she was going to be a foster failure as soon as we brought her home.

Her and Adie get along really well. She runs the house. She barks a lot unfortunately. She’s very protective of me and now more protective of us. Now that I have a baby. She likes any toys that Adie’s playing with! Most of the time she gets Adie to chase her around the backyard – she’s younger so has more energy.

She wants attention all the time, from anybody, and she uses her cuteness to her advantage. To get away with things. She loves kids.

Milly won’t chill with me. She’ll lay there for a second and if I don’t pet her, then she’ll get closer and closer to me – to my face. Or she’ll lick your ears. Some people don’t like that. I don’t really like it either, it’s just funny.”
Milly aka MillyMoo, MillyVanilly, Milly May

December 4, 2016 Sabin

“He’s a drama queen. He meows all the time for attention. The dogs like to chase him because he acts like a drama queen. Our old cat used to play with Milly, but Sabin will run away so they like to chase.

He’s about 12 years old, Dustin’s cat. I inherited him when we got married. We used to have his sister too, and the mom cat was a little bit messed in the head. And so, well he never used to clean himself. Our other cat used to clean him.

Since he ran away and survived for three weeks in the wilderness – which is crazy, we didn’t think that would happen because we lived by Stony Trail. I have no idea how he survived to be honest. He never used to like people so I don’t know how somebody caught him and took him to the Calgary Humane Society. But since he ran away, he’s been different. He puts up with the dogs a lot better. He won’t play with them still but puts up with them. And now he’s way more friendly and wants attention from people all the time.”
Sabin

November 25, 2016 Adie

“She can be very stubborn, in the sense of not going outside or not doing something I want her to do. We’ll be upstairs and I’ll tell her ‘let’s go outside’ – instead of going outside she’ll run downstairs and into the basement and go into her kennel. Then she won’t come out. That’s how stubborn she can be. I have to close the door to the basement before I try to get her to go out. Basically Adie does everything on Adie time.

I got her as a puppy when she was eight weeks old. She was a little adorable fluff ball. And she is a princess. She wants to sleep on the bed all the time. I have to wake her up to take her outside, she won’t wake me up to go. If it was up to her she probably wouldn’t go outside all day. I have to force her to go.

She doesn’t like wet grass but she loves playing in the snow. Loves to chase Milly around in the backyard but doesn’t like wet things touching her feet. She’s a very, very slow walker because she has to smell everything and pee on everything like a boy dog.

She loves kids. If we go out for a walk and she sees kids, she’ll top and bark to say hello. She barks because my dad gets her to do this ‘a-roo-roo’ bark to say hi to him.

My favourite things are how cuddly she is and her personality. She’s just so chill. If Moose and Milly are barking at somebody at the door, she’ll just be laying over there. She just doesn’t care. She’s so good and sweet. And she’s always there. I can cuddle with her if I’m upset and she’ll just kind of chill there with me.

She’s the one that plays with toys the most. Balls are her favourite toy – she loves them. Just pull a ball out and she’ll go crazy until you throw it. But she doesn’t bring it back to you. You have to go get it. And then throw it again.

But she’s super cuddly. You can pick her up and flop her onto her back and pet her. She just flops there like a little doll. She’s very sweet. I like her a lot. I’m very attached to her obviously.”
Adie aka Adie Ray

November 23, 2016 Jessie

“She loves kitties. She’s got a boy and girl kitty that she plays with all the time. She’s very gentle with them. She doesn’t think much of other people’s cats but she loves her own. The one cat kisses her every morning and she kisses her back. It’s like, come on you guys, get a room! When she plays with dogs she plays like the cats do, because she plays so much with the cats.

She’s a purebred border collie. She’s a little crazy. Too smart for her own good – too smart for us.

When she gets crazy, sometimes she’ll just get it in her head to run from one end of the house to the other and back again. We have hardwood floors so it’s just legs going everywhere. Like deer on ice.

She’s 18 months old. Her intelligence is the most challenging. It’s very hard to get her to understand that we’re the leaders of her pack not the other way around. It’s a learning curve with us and with her, but she’s doing really well. People are shocked who good she is for her age.

She’s a moocher at the dog park – big time. She can find the people with food like nothing.

She just brings so much happiness. She really does. Her unconditional love. She’s the best dog we’ve ever known and she’s amazing. She’s got a ways to go yet but we expect big things from her.”
Jessie aka ADD, Jessie Lynn,

November 20, 2016 Finnigan

“If he’s in trouble we call him Finnigan Rigby, if he’s being adorable we call him Finn Bear. We got him from the SPCA at 7 weeks. He was from a litter of what looked like chihuahuas, but he didn’t look like one. We just fell in love with him. We didn’t know what kind of dog he was or how big he’d get. We had no idea.

He always thinks he’s much bigger than he is so he always seeks out big dogs to play with. Then when they get on top of him, he cries, realizes how little he is. He’s a real ham.

I’m currently finishing grad school and when I’m working at my computer he’ll sit and put his paw on my face. He just wants to touch me. Makes me laugh and makes me cry- it’s so sweet. He will go up to dogs in the park and play bow, butt up in the air. He’s generally ridiculous.

Getting a 7 week old puppy was challenging – because his bladder could only hold an hour and a half of pee at a time. He’s very vocal now so we’re trying to train him for that. He’ll run up to people and dogs and bark, and really just wants to play with everyone, but it can be scary for people.

He’s very lovey. Wants to play with everyone – he’s pretty fearless. Which is good and bad. I think he’d try to play with a coyote if he saw one. He thinks everything is to play with. We had a cat when we got him so he thinks cats are up for playing. He also sleeps on his back with his paws up in the air – kind of a superman pose.

He’s really cuddly but also really athletic. So we can take him to mountains and he can keep up or we can cuddle. We just feel really lucky that we got to adopt him. He’s a good pup and he’s also really happy. I feel lucky that we got to rescue a pup that was so young and we could train him. And he didn’t have any real behavioural stuff. I’m grateful to have him.”
Finnigan aka Finnigan Rigby Rathenbone, Finn Bear, Turkey, I call him lots of things

November 18, 2016 Mowgli

“I don’t think I’ve had a dog like him before – he will show you his emotions. Super emotional. Like if he’s mad at you, he’ll sit on the couch and turn his back to you. Then he’ll look over his shoulder at you – like, can you tell I’m mad? His ears are the most perfect expression of any dog I’ve ever met.

He’s a rescue from Mexico. Found in a garbage dump with four other dogs. They were all tied up so they weren’t doing that good. But they were able to save them all and ship them up to Canada. We got him at 5 months.

He’s absolutely a delight. He’s really funny. He just likes to chew on people that he likes. Not angrily or hard, he just likes to hold your hand in his mouth. I think it’s really odd and I’m trying to curb it, but it doesn’t seem to be working. Digging is his favourite as well. Digging and running.

He’s super unique and gets me out of the house a lot which is good. He has his rolled up pillow on his bed and every morning he’ll pick it up, bring it onto my bed and put it on my face. So that’s what I wake up to every morning.

He goes to the park every day because he’s just too energetic. But he doesn’t chew on anything, except my pens. Every once in a while he’ll find a marker and destroy it. But nothing else, which is fine by me.

He can get pushy with other pups sometimes, that’s the only challenging thing. If he wants them to play and they don’t he’ll bark in their face, so we’re working on not yelling at others.

I think he’s pretty great. He makes me smile. Makes me happy just because he’s happy all the time. I wish I loved running as much as he does. Rescue dogs are the best. He’s my favourite. I’ll take him over any human any day.”
Mowgli aka Pumpkin, Weirdo, Yogi Bear

November 16, 2016 Keiki

“Her name means little one- it’s Hawaiian. She’s stubborn. She’s cute. She gets a lot of attention for whatever reason. I’m not sure. She’s an odd mix, a French bulldog, Boston terrier, probably something else. But people kind of take to her.

She doesn’t like other dogs anymore. I mean, she prefers the company of people, she’s not aggressive. Just has no interest. She used to when she was little, but now she’s just, people, people, people. And ball, and frisbee, and sticks and bones.

Her ability to catch is pretty amazing – up in the air. She can jump incredibly high – almost to your shoulder, if not above. That always brings a smile to my face. Her ability to find a blanket or towel anywhere in the house, crawl into it and make a bed. So I’ll come around the corner and she’s just underneath it, curled up. That always cracks me up.

She is stubborn. But it’s probably more me. I probably project too much emotion on animals. It’s not really her, it’s me. Either my heart breaks if we have to leave her if we’re going on holidays, or if she’s at home longer than I wish she was home alone. So it’s probably my issue – nothing to do with her. She’s fine with it – it’s me!

I do like her personality and that she’s sporty. She likes to play. For her size, she’s smaller but she still loves to swim, play frisbee, play catch, run. She’s never disinterested in playing.”
Keiki aka TT

November 12, 2016 Chewie

“He loves to jump on people. And he loves to lick faces. But he eats his poop! He’s getting better though. Chewie doesn’t like baths.

We named him Chewie because when he was small he looked like Chewbacca. He’s a shihtzu/poodle. He’s very playful and is excited all the time.

Sometimes he can be…not well behaved. He likes to play with the rabbits but they don’t like to play with him. Run Maggie run! He’s very friendly with all the kids at school. He likes to gnaw on that dangly toy and his bones.

He can sit and jump and lie down, high five and shake a paw. We also taught him a ninja crawl. So he lies down and we tell him to ninja crawl and he crawls on his belly. Sometimes we play frisbee. Sometimes we’ll hide and he’ll try to find us – by the smell most of the time. Sometimes we have to call him so he can find us.

A lot of times he runs and then crashes or slides. Sometimes on his bed he will go around the edge and his butt will go up and down in the air. He’s very funny.

He’s got bright eyes and pretty eyelashes. He sticks his tongue out a lot of the time – just the tip. He likes to run and run around you and run and run. If our bedroom doors are open he runs in and grabs something then chews on it. He’ll chew anything he can chew.

He jumps on other dogs, especially if they’re big. We love Chewie A LOT! I used to be afraid of dogs until we got Chewie.”
Chewie aka Chewball, Chew-Chew, Chewbacca, Brat

November 10, 2016 Maggie

“She likes to play with a slinky. We pull it and he tries to get it. He pushes it around. He finishes his food very quickly.

He’s also a boy. The pet store told us he was a girl, but he’s a boy. Mommy figured it out. She – HE – sheds more than Daisy does. He loves fruits and vegetables too – like Daisy.

He always sits in a position where he looks like a duck. He’ll tuck his legs and arms in and he looks like a duck on the water. He does not like being held but she he likes to be petted all the time.

His ears are mostly down but sometimes they go up. He also likes to eat treats off your hand and it tickles.

I like that we can pet her and he doesn’t run away or hide. She used to like – HE used to like to be picked up but not anymore.

Maggie’s three – we’ve had him for three years. She goes on the hard floor…HE goes on the hard floor. Isn’t scared of it. I like his two black eyes and the black spots.”
Maggie aka Meatball

October 6, 2016 Daisy

“We can hold her and she’s fluffy – HE’s fluffy. We thought she was a girl when we got her, well we thought HE was a girl. And later we found out he was a boy. We just kept his name. We got his name from Bambi. Thumper’s sister.

We give her treats and cuddle her sometimes. We usually just pet her. She’s really fluffy! She’s a lion head. When we hold her she – HE gets fluff all over you. We’ve had him five years and he’s five years old. We got her when she was a baby. He used to be little. He was a surprise, a present – I thought he was a suitcase, but he’s better than a suitcase.

She doesn’t know any tricks but likes vegetables. And strawberries. We like strawberries too and share them with her. He has a little white paw and the rest is brown. You can feed him treats off your hand which I like because it kind of tickles your hand.

People don’t always know he’s a bunny – they thought he was a dog one time. Because he’s so hairy.

He doesn’t like to go on the hard floor. I don’t think she’s ever gone on the hard floor – HE’s ever gone on the hard floor. I like how bunnies noses twitch all the time.”
Daisy aka Daze