We Asked Animal Shelter Workers How They’re Staying Hopeful & Strong, This Hard Summer
In this hard summer, of a hard year, we wanted to know what was giving people in animal welfare hope, and strength. What is keeping you going, keeping you fighting for the animals in your care, and the families in your community? Below, we’ve shared some of what you told us. It’s very moving, and powerful, and inspiring. We teared up more than once, to be perfectly frank, hearing what you had to say. Thank you to everyone who spoke with us. And thank you to all of you who are working so hard, through all of this, to keep pets safe...
Dog Kennels vs Crates: How to Safely Keep Your Dog Contained
Keeping your dog safely confined when you can’t properly supervise her is important for training a puppy or acclimating a new dog to your home. When it comes down to kennels vs crates, the choice is personal for what is best for your dog, home and family. Interestingly, while dog crates and kennels are normalized here in North America, they aren’t routinely used in other parts of the world like Europe or Australia, who instead create dog-proof areas. Some people use the words kennel and crate interchangeably, however a kennel is...
The We Foster Challenge winners are in!
The We Foster Challenge winners are in! This Challenge was all about strengthening the incredible bond between humans and pets through Foster Care. From May 1 to May 31, 2022, animal shelters and rescue organizations across the country piloted new approaches to implement or expand their foster programs. The 247 participating organizations made their programs more accessible with easier applications and onboarding, long and short-term foster options and mentor groups, resulting in 28,805 volunteers fostering 11,344 dogs and 29,652...
Dug Up at Dogster: September 2022 Dog Events and Dog Holidays
Did you know that nearly every U.S. president has had a dog in the family while living in the White House? It’s only fitting that there’s a whole day to celebrate dogs in politics on September 23. Personally, my girls Lucy and Emmy are looking forward to the cooler days ahead – and the pumpkin treats that follow. Show us how you and your #dogsterdogs are enjoying your September days by tagging us in your photos on social media. Don’t see your dog event on the list? Email us at dogstermag@belvoir.com and we will include...
Tiny Baby Rescue Goat Think She’s A House Cat
When a little baby goat named Lily got rejected by her mother at birth, she was instead taken in by the people at Friendly Family Fields Farm in North Carolina. Through a series of events, Lily has since grown up thinking that she’s a cat rather than a goat! Photo: YouTube/The Dodo Lily arrived at Friendly Family Fields Farm when she was only five days old, and because she was so young, it wasn’t clear if she was going to survive growing up. As a result, she was kept inside the house, and because she was indoors, she started...
Woman Who just Lost Her Dad Finds a New Friend in a Cat who Comforted Her while Visiting His Grave
“When I was a child, all problems had ended with a single word from my father. A smile from him was sunshine, his scowl a bolt of thunder. He was smart, and generous, and honorable without fail. He could exile a trespasser, check my math homework, and fix the leaky bathroom sink, all before dinner. For the longest time, I thought he was invincible. Above the petty problems that plagued normal people. And now he was gone.” by Rachel Vincent Yes, when we were young, we thought that fathers were invincible. They were the source of...
Millions of People Get Amused by Dog who was Munching His Owner’s Chips Guiltlessly
Dogs are man’s best friends. But they can be your fiercest rival, too, when it comes to snacks and relaxing on the sofa with a bag of chips. Photo: Tiktok/maroni_is_resting One fur dad was puzzled by noises coming from the living room where no one was present. He could hear crunching sounds and decided to check it out. To his surprise and amusement, his Dachshund named Maroni was on the sofa and enjoying the bag of chips he had left in the living room. As the dog met his owner’s gaze, there was an expression of mere nonchalance....
German Shepherd is So Jealous of Cat that She Forbids Their Owner from Petting the Feline!
Do you know that dogs can get jealous too? A German shepherd named Sam is making numerous internet users laugh and smile with her jealous reaction to a cat housemate. More than a million have already watched the video and it continues to entertain more people on Tiktok. Photo: Tiktok/thatshepherdsam Well, you cannot blame Sam since she and her owner were spending some serene moments together when suddenly this cat — unfortunately, a housemate of hers — suddenly appeared. The audacious kitty did not only break the sweet mood, but...
Cat Forms Unlikely Friendship With Bird And Squirrel That Visit His Porch
A cat, a bird, and a squirrel…it sounds like the opening line to some kind of irreverent joke. But it’s no joke. Instead, it’s an actual grouping of the most unlikely friends ever. While one would assume that both a bird and a squirrel would be easy prey for a cat, that’s not the case in one household. Photo: Reddit/u/ilovegingermen In a rather wholesome video uploaded to the internet by a Reddit user, we see that a cat can actually get along really well with both a bird and a squirrel. The Redditor shared that this...
After Learning They Can’t Have Children, Couple Finds Dog That Fills Their Home with Love
This story was originally shared on The Animal Rescue Site. Submit your own rescue story here. Your story just might be the next to be featured on our blog! My wife and I were married only a few years when we discovered that having a child of our own was not to be. I think the need to fill that missing void put us on a search for a puppy. One Sunday, we stopped at a local humane society where we found our little boy Onyx. DOG. PHOTO: ADOBE STOCK / WIRESTOCK He was a lab/beagle mix who was the last of his litter, with brown eyes that we just...
Woman Adopts Stray Cat That Won’t Leave Her Dad’s Gravesite
It’s often said that you don’t adopt a cat but rather your cat adopts you. Personally, I agree with that sentiment. I really do think it’s the cats that choose us rather than the other way around. Every cat that I’ve ever had, has just come into my life as if they picked me to be their own. Photo: TikTok/@jadasezer But there is one cat adoption story that truly sends the shivers down your spine with how perfectly serendipitous it is. I know that there are coincidences in life, but this doesn’t sound like a...
Teacher Reveals Her Dog Ate Her Students’ Homework
When you’re a teacher, you hear plenty of excuses. Perhaps the one that is most timeless, however, is “my dog ate my homework.” To be honest, I don’t think that this works even the first time it was used but these days, it is so cliché that you couldn’t even imagine that a teacher would buy it. Photo: Pexels/Kampus Production That is, of course, unless you’re the teacher and it was your dog that ate the student’s assignments. That is exactly what happened to one teacher who posted the incident...
Woman Gives New Hope To A Horse At The End Of His Rope
I think that most of us understand what it feels like to be hopeless, at least to a limited extent. Our lives tend to go along from one day to the next but when something devastating happens, it can really bring us to our knees. It seems as if this is not only the case for us as humans, horses can also feel similarly. We see that clearly in the case of Shag-Ra, an Arabian stallion that had basically given up on life. Photo: YouTube/Phyllis1221 Fortunately, there was a kindhearted individual who understood what it was like to live that type of...
Duck Comforts Grieving Dog After His Friend Died
One of the most difficult things that any of us has to go through in life is grieving the loss of a loved one. We all face this type of situation in our own way but for the most part, we also need the same thing, the kindness of others. This kindness does not need to be shown by a family member or a close friend. There are times when even a kind word or expression from a stranger can make the difference between us grieving endlessly or feeling just a little better. Photo: YouTube/Inside Edition Nobody knows this better than George, a dog who...
Why Millions Of Pigeons Love New York City
There are many things that you might appreciate about New York City. Perhaps you love architecture or maybe, you just enjoy getting a hot dog from a street vendor. As it turns out, the things that many of us appreciate about the big city are the same things that pigeons also appreciate about it. No wonder so many millions of pigeons flock to the city every year and call it home. Photo: Wikimedia Commons Of course, there are many people who question why pigeons are such a problem. For some people, it is a big issue and an annoyance and for...
Researchers Say Dogs’ Risk of Dementia Goes Up More Than 50% Each Year After Age 10
Alzheimer’s impacts countless people, with about a half million new diagnoses each year in the United States alone. It isn’t entirely clear what causes the disease, and there is no cure. However, a new study has found that a similar ailment impacts many aging dogs, and it could provide keys to better understand the disease in humans. A study published in the journal Scientific Reports examined the prevalence of the neurodegenerative disease canine cognitive dysfunction (CCD) in older dogs. They found that it’s a widespread...
Study Shows That Mozart May Be Just What Your Dog Wants To Hear
When we leave home, even for a short amount of time, we worry about our dog. We want to make sure that our furry friend is comfortable and doesn’t get frightened, so we will often turn on some background noise. For some of us, it means turning on the radio and allowing the DJ to visit with our pet for a while. For others, it could mean turning on the TV and letting them listen to one of our favorite shows. Photo: Pexels/Andrea Piacquadio It seems as if your dog does have a preference, and researchers from Queens University Belfast in...
Harry Styles Offers To Watch Stranger’s Dog So He Can Pick Up Dinner
It seems virtually everyone knows who Harry Styles is, but there may be more to the singer than meets the eye. The British musician has become a household name since his appearance as a contestant on The X Factor back in 2010. Since that time, Harry has risen to fame with his music group One Direction and hit songs like “Watermelon Sugar” and “As It Was.” Photo: Twitter/@lanthebush Now, he’s going viral for an entirely different reason: kindness. Los Angeles-based Rory Carroll shared a tweet, calling out Styles...
Nurse Adopts Patient’s Dog After He Was Forced To Give Him Up
Life can be difficult when you’re living at a rehabilitation center and nursing home. Nobody knows this better than Jennifer Smith, who is a nurse at the Grand Rehabilitation and Nursing Home in Rome, New York. When you are a nurse at such a location, you quickly learn some very personal things about some of your patients. That includes something that Jennifer learned about one of the patients that had to give up his dog when he was hospitalized. Photo: PublicDomainPictures According to CNN, the man’s name is John Burley, and he...
Woman Travels The World With Her Cat After Escaping The War In Ukraine
If there is one thing that is universal, it’s the love that we have for the cats in our family. Once we have one, we couldn’t imagine living life without one. In fact, many of us will get more than one cat because there’s just too much love to go around. Photo: YouTube/The Dodo When we have a feline in our family, they are there for everything that our family goes through. This includes the good times and the bad times, as illustrated in the following video. The video, from The Dodo, is about Simba and her human mother,...
