Once again we want to thank you to Helen Woodward Animal Center for sharing this wonderful story of pet adoption from their Most Heartwarming Story Contest. It was submitted by Second Chance Animal Rescue Foundation, an Iams Home 4 the Holidays participating organization, in 2009.
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Pilot is a beautiful GSD mix whose person abandoned him in a rural area. He was found by the sheriff, who brought him to one of the Second Chance Animal Rescue Foundation volunteers. Pilot’s foster mom took good care of him; he got lots of good food, he had comfortable shelter, and as much attention as one person could give him. He was happy to be well cared for, but he was eagerly awaiting the love of his forever family. In December, thanks to publicity from the Iams Home 4 the Holidays program, SCARF received an application to adopt Pilot from his perfect family, and we brought him to the adoption fair at the Wag-n-Wash store in Colorado Springs. This is how his new forever mom tells the rest of his story:
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"After losing our beloved dog to cancer in 2007, we thought that we would never be able to open our hearts to another dog. It took over two years, but suddenly I felt drawn to the photo listings of the local rescues and shelters, most especially to the pictures of a German shepherd mix named Pilot. Somehow I felt as if I already knew him and could not wait to actually meet him. That day finally came on December 19, 2009, at a local adoption fair. I got to be the person who greeted Pilot as he came out of the transport van. He jumped up and literally hugged me with his front paws.
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“Adoption has special meaning to our family as two of our five children are also adopted. Pilot is now a permanent family member and loves his new home. All of our children, ages 3 to 14, greeted Pilot with open arms and excitement. Pilot has adopted us as his new family as well and never leaves my side. For the first several nights, Pilot would sneak over to my side of the bed in the middle of the night. He would use his nose to dig through the blankets to find me. Once he determined that I was still there, he wagged contently and went back to sleep.
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“After about a week, Pilot settled in and realized that he was finally ‘home’. He is still learning the manners of indoor life and figuring out that it is not his job to clear the dinner table each night! But he is such an eager learner and tries so hard to please. I have never known an animal who craved cuddle time, but Pilot loves nothing better than to lie in our laps and be hugged. We have decided that he is a real living, breathing teddy bear on four legs.”
Iams Home 4 the Holidays is an annual pet-adoption campaign dedicated to helping place orphaned pets into happy, loving homes. Started in 1999 by Helen Woodward Animal Center (in partnership with Iams) this is the campaign’s 14th year. Working with thousands of participating shelters and rescue organizations from around the world, the campaign has helped more than 7 million pets find loving homes. The pet adoption drive began on October 1 and runs through January 2, 2013.
To learn about how you can help get more pets adopted during Iams Home 4 the Holidays, visit www.Facebook.com/Iams and www.Facebook.com/helenwoodwardanimalcenter.
We'd like to thank Iams and the Helen Woodward Animal Center for providing the stories about these 3 great dogs that we've featured over the past few weeks.
.jpg)
Pilot is a beautiful GSD mix whose person abandoned him in a rural area. He was found by the sheriff, who brought him to one of the Second Chance Animal Rescue Foundation volunteers. Pilot’s foster mom took good care of him; he got lots of good food, he had comfortable shelter, and as much attention as one person could give him. He was happy to be well cared for, but he was eagerly awaiting the love of his forever family. In December, thanks to publicity from the Iams Home 4 the Holidays program, SCARF received an application to adopt Pilot from his perfect family, and we brought him to the adoption fair at the Wag-n-Wash store in Colorado Springs. This is how his new forever mom tells the rest of his story:
.jpg)
"After losing our beloved dog to cancer in 2007, we thought that we would never be able to open our hearts to another dog. It took over two years, but suddenly I felt drawn to the photo listings of the local rescues and shelters, most especially to the pictures of a German shepherd mix named Pilot. Somehow I felt as if I already knew him and could not wait to actually meet him. That day finally came on December 19, 2009, at a local adoption fair. I got to be the person who greeted Pilot as he came out of the transport van. He jumped up and literally hugged me with his front paws.
.JPG)
“Adoption has special meaning to our family as two of our five children are also adopted. Pilot is now a permanent family member and loves his new home. All of our children, ages 3 to 14, greeted Pilot with open arms and excitement. Pilot has adopted us as his new family as well and never leaves my side. For the first several nights, Pilot would sneak over to my side of the bed in the middle of the night. He would use his nose to dig through the blankets to find me. Once he determined that I was still there, he wagged contently and went back to sleep.
.JPG)
“After about a week, Pilot settled in and realized that he was finally ‘home’. He is still learning the manners of indoor life and figuring out that it is not his job to clear the dinner table each night! But he is such an eager learner and tries so hard to please. I have never known an animal who craved cuddle time, but Pilot loves nothing better than to lie in our laps and be hugged. We have decided that he is a real living, breathing teddy bear on four legs.”
Iams Home 4 the Holidays is an annual pet-adoption campaign dedicated to helping place orphaned pets into happy, loving homes. Started in 1999 by Helen Woodward Animal Center (in partnership with Iams) this is the campaign’s 14th year. Working with thousands of participating shelters and rescue organizations from around the world, the campaign has helped more than 7 million pets find loving homes. The pet adoption drive began on October 1 and runs through January 2, 2013.
To learn about how you can help get more pets adopted during Iams Home 4 the Holidays, visit www.Facebook.com/Iams and www.Facebook.com/helenwoodwardanimalcenter.
We'd like to thank Iams and the Helen Woodward Animal Center for providing the stories about these 3 great dogs that we've featured over the past few weeks.