Category: Awww

John Oliver Honors All Good Dogs in Emmy Acceptance Speech

Is 2024 the “Year of the Dearly Departed Very Good Dogs?” Earlier this year, Jon Stewart’s beloved three-legged Pit Bull, Dipper, crossed the Rainbow Bridge. Last month, I lost my sweet Ella, the poster pup for i Still Love Dogs. Last week, Hank, the adorable mascot for the Milwaukee Brewers, passed away. Sadly, several people I know have also had to say goodbye this year to their four-legged BFFs.

So when John Oliver thanked his “most fantastic” dog during his acceptance speech last night for winning the Emmy for Outstanding Scripted Variety Series for “Last Week Tonight,” I got a little choked up. 

“She was at our wedding and she got us through the pandemic,” Oliver said. “She was with us for two pregnancies.” Awww.

At this point, Oliver was cut off by the orchestra—playing a rather somber melody—because his speech had reached the time limit. But Oliver continued speaking.

“We had to say goodbye to her,” he said as the sad music swelled. “I feel like Sarah McLaughlin right now. She was an amazing dog.”

I’m guessing that, like a lot of viewers, I got a lot choked up. Using a bleeped f-bomb, Oliver jokingly cursed the orchestra. The music stopped.

“This isn’t just for her—this is for all dogs,” Oliver said. The audience (and, I’m guessing, a lot of us at home) cheered. “All dogs, you are all very good girls. You are very good boys. You all deserve a treat. Play me off now! Thanks so much.”

If there were a category for Outstanding Emmy Acceptance Speech, Oliver would be the deserving winner.

Here’s to Oliver and all the good dogs who are with us physically or in spirit!

Photo: Steve Jennings, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Rest Easy, Sweet Ella Mae Brown from the Downey Pound

Almost 15 years ago, while searching local animal shelters online for a pal for our boy Leroy Brown, I fell in love with the photo of an 8-week-old Pit Bull mix puppy available at the Downey Animal Care Center.  I took the afternoon off work and we drove the 20 miles to the shelter.

The puppy was even more adorable in person than in the photo. That’s her on the right—was she a little cutie or what?

We decided to adopt her even though the shelter didn’t allow a “meet and greet” where we could first observe if she would get along with Leroy and vice versa. Well, we introduced the two dogs on neutral ground, and Leroy didn’t like the puppy, who we named Ella, at all. For her protection, we kept Ella in a crate and separated from Leroy.

I was heartbroken but had no intention of returning Ella to the shelter. I was working at i Love Dogs at the time, so I called Eugenia, the office manager, who also happened to be a professional dog trainer. She advised us to spend more time paying attention to Leroy than to Ella—and that worked! They actually became besties, as you can see in this video I made:

They didn’t always get along this well, unfortunately. They were the only dogs I’ve ever had who would get into vicious fights with each other. We learned to detect the pre-fight warning signs—one dog would usually start slowly stalking the other—and we’d immediately separate them. (Here are some helpful tips for safely breaking up a dog fight if you should ever need them.)

After Leroy died in September 2018, Ella became our only dog. I work at home, and Ella became my shadow. She had a bad habit of barking at me while I was trying to do phone interviews, but the interviewees were pretty understanding. Otherwise Ella was practically perfect, if I do say so myself.

Ella’s health started failing about a year ago. She was 13 at the time, which is pretty old for a Pit Bull. She was truly a trooper, and we really thought she would make it to her 15th birthday at the end of December. She had good days and bad days. But when the bad days outnumbered the good ones, we made the difficult decision to free her from her pain. 

Ella and Leroy are now reunited. I hope they’re getting along at the Rainbow Bridge or wherever they happen to be. This is the first time since 1995 that our home has been dogless, and it’s not something I want to get used to. When we’re ready, we’ll rescue another homeless dog or two, and our lives will be full again.

Bret Michaels Adopts Blood-Donor Dog Named After Him

Bret Michaels is a hero. So is Bret Michaels.

Allow me to explain.

Bret Michaels is the name of a 6-year-old homeless Husky whose donated blood saved the life of a kitten dying from flea anemia. The staff at the Nebraska Humane Society (NHS) named the Husky after the lead singer of the rock band Poison.

Last week, three stray kittens who were only a month old were brought to the NHS in really bad shape. They were “dirty, cold and covered in fleas,” and one of them was “wobbly, weak and lethargic,” according to a post on the NHS Facebook page. Those signs indicate flea anemia, which could be fatal for a young kitten. “He needed blood—and he needed it now.”

Fortunately, dog blood can be transfused to cats. Bret Michaels had just had bloodwork completed the day before, so he was the perfect donor. After just one round of the transfusion, the kitten was doing better.

“A round of ap-paws for Bret Michaels for being such a calm and brave boy, and to our vet team for their quick thinking,” the NHS wrote. “Little man is now on the road to recovery, and Bret Michaels is waiting patiently for his forever family!”

It was a very short wait. When Bret Michaels the human heard about his hero dog namesake, he decided to give the Husky a forever home. 

Michaels “loved the story and wanted to chat with us,” the NHS wrote in a happy update on Facebook. “One phone call later and guess who’s gonna be living the rock star life from here on out? That’s right! … We can’t wait to see how he thrives in his new home—we just hope it doesn’t get too confusing when someone tells Bret Michaels to fetch!”

Michaels (the human) told PEOPLE, “I could not have been more touched and more honored to adopt Bret Michaels the Husky, knowing that he gave blood to save the life of a kitten. I could not work fast enough to adopt this Husky and extend the awesome quality of little Bret Jr.’s life.”

Michaels and his family have been mourning the loss of their beloved 14-year-old German Shepherd, Phoenix, who died earlier this year. “So this story brought a smile back into my family’s life,” he told PEOPLE.

Bret Jr. will be joining Michaels’ two rescue shepherds, Nova and Draco. Here’s hoping they all enjoy “Nothin’ But a Good Time” together and they find one another to be “All I Ever Needed.”

To help the Nebraska Humane Society save more pets, visit their website. To cheer on Bret Michaels the human, go see him on his Parti-Gras tour.

Photo: Eva Rinaldi, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Dog and Goat BFFs Are Homeless No More

A young Pit Bull mix named Felix and a young goat named Cinnamon grew up together in Raleigh, N.C., and became inseparable. Unfortunately, when their owner was no longer able to care for the BFFs, they were surrendered last month to the Wake County Animal Shelter.

“People often mischaracterize shelters as dog pounds, but the Wake County Animal Center takes in a huge variety of dogs, cats, mice and other critters,” said Wake County Commissioner Cheryl Stallings in a press release. “Still, to see such a strong bond between a goat and a dog is really special.”

Since goats and dogs are social animals, “it makes sense they would find friendship,” Wake County Animal Center Director Dr. Jennifer Federico said in the press release. “In many cases of interspecies friendship, the species are not normally seen together, and sometimes, one is of a species that ordinarily preys on the other in nature — whatever the reason for these two bonding, it’s clear what would be best for their well-being is to keep them together.”

(Speaking of interspecies friendships, back in 2015 a pot-bellied pig named Pickles and her two Chihuahua/Pomeranian BFFS were facing a similar situation at a Pennsylvania animal shelter. The trio was adopted by Blue Hound Farm in Lewisberry, Pa., and are hopefully living happily ever after together.)

While Felix might be lucky enough to be adopted, chances were pretty slim that someone would want to adopt Cinnamon along with him. To increase those chances, the Wake County Animal Shelter reached out to its rescue partners. “We’re so thankful that our center has established such great partnerships with local rescues so we can send out a plea for this sweet pair,” Stallings said.

Chris and Mariesa Hughes of the Mr. Mo Project, a New York-based rescue focused on senior pets, happened to know of the perfect forever home for the buddies. And that home just happened to be in North Carolina — and the Wake County Animal Shelter just happened to know the adopters, who have been fostering dogs for the past 10 years. Even cooler is that the Mr. Mo Project will pay Felix and Cinnamon’s veterinary bills for the rest of the pair’s lives.

Felix and Cinnamon’s new forever home has plenty of space, and, best of all, a herd of goats that will likely soon become BFFs with both Felix and Cinnamon. 

“I’m so excited they will be living their dream life in Johnston County with their new family,”  Shinica Thomas, chair of the Wake County Board of Commissioners, said in a press release. “The Wake County Animal Center has a fantastic rescue network and they focused on the best solution for this pair after getting custody of them. This was the best outcome we could hope for!”

You might say their rescue is … wait for it … the GOAT, at least as far as these lucky pals are concerned!

To make a donation to the Mr. Mo Project, click here.

Photos: Wake County; Wake County

Prince Harry and Meghan Adopt Beagle Rescued from Breeding Facility

Once upon a time, a Beagle born in a breeding facility was doomed to spend her life having puppies to be used for medical research. But along came the Humane Society of the United States, which rescued the 7-year-old dog (along with 4,000 other Beagles) from that terrible, horrible place. And then that lucky Beagle, named Mia, was adopted by royalty. Mia and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex lived happily ever after.

“The duchess called me personally,” Shannon Keith, director of the nonprofit Beagle Freedom Project, told the Los Angeles Times. “She calls on my cell with no Caller ID and says, ‘Hey Shannon, this is Meghan.’ We talked for 30 minutes, and I thought, ‘Is this Megan Fox?'”

Nope, it was the Duchess of Sussex, who along with her husband had heard about the rescued Beagles. They wanted to provide a forever home for one of them on their 7-acre Montecito, Calif., estate. The Duke and Duchess paid a super-secret visit to Keith at her home in Valley Village, Calif., where they played with Mia in the backyard.

“The Duchess is holding Mia and was like, ‘We’re adopting her,'” Keith told the Los Angeles Times. “She was like, ‘No, we don’t want a Christmas puppy. We want ones we can help who are older.'” Mia, at 7 years old, is considered a senior. She has arthritis and a mass under her chin.

Before whisking Mia off to her fabulous forever home, Prince Harry asked Keith if the Beagle had a favorite toy. The Duke and Duchess flipped over a box filled with dog toys, and Mia chose a fox toy that she’d played with as she traveled across the country from Virginia to California.

“Okay, now we can go home,” Harry said.

Horrific Conditions at the Envigo Breeding Facility

According to the Beagle Freedom Project’s website, it took in Mia and her eight puppies after an overcrowded animal shelter asked for help. The BFP’s Shelter Safeguard program helps shelters rehome laboratory testing survivors.

During a historic rescue mission in June, the Humane Society of the United States removed about 4,000 beagles from Envigo, a facility in Virginia that bred dogs for medical research. The Beagles were removed after a lawsuit by the Department of Justice described horrific violations of the Animal Welfare Act.

Beagles with treatable medical conditions were being euthanized, some without first being given anesthesia. The meager amount of food provided to the dogs was full of mold and maggots. Over a two-month period, 25 puppies died from cold temperatures; over seven months, 300 dogs died from “unknown causes.”

“Basically, it’s a breeding prison,” Keith told the Los Angeles Times. “Not only were the issues not corrected after inspectors went, but they were getting worse.”

Non-Royals Want the Rescued Beagles, Too

The good news is that many of the Beagles, like Mia, have found loving forever homes. There’s currently a waiting list of about 1,000 potential adopters for the 25 dogs and puppies taken in by the Beagle Freedom Project, Keith told the Los Angeles Times.

If you’re interested in joining the Duke and Duchess by adopting a rescued Beagle, they have been transported to animal shelters and rescue organizations across the country—so it’s very likely there’s one near you. The Beagle Freedom Project offers a guide on how to care for these special dogs.

Here’s hoping every one of those Beagles finds a forever home in which they’ll live happily ever after. The End.

To help the Beagle Freedom Project save more lives, you can make a donation via their website.

Photo: “Harry Meghan” by dackelprincess is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.

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