Category: Awww

More Than 500K Pet Parents Respond to Sick Teen’s Dog Photo Request

While 16-year-old Anthony Lyons undergoes chemotherapy in the Phoenix Children’s Hospital, he has just one request: for pet parents to post pictures of their pups on the Photo Doggies for Anthony Facebook event page.

More than 500,000 people from around the world have been glad to oblige. (Unfortunately, those photos have been removed because “one person decided to bring his negativity upon a great thing,” Lyons wrote on the Facebook page this morning. He is still asking for more photos.)

Lyons, who has three dogs at home, is being treated for lymphoblastic leukemia and must check into the hospital once each month.

Until now, the only thing that cheered him up was visits from the hospital’s therapy dogs.

“It really helps, the pet therapy,” Lyons told MyFoxPhoenix.com. “I can be in here having a really bad day, and then one of the dogs will show up and it will be the highlight of the day.”

But the therapy dogs only visit one day a week, so Roberta Lucero-Koron, a friend of Lyons’ mom, set up the Facebook page last week. It was an immediate success.

“This has gotten so viral. One thing I have to say is, make yourself smile too by looking at these beautiful animals that God gave us,” Lucero-Koron told USA TODAY. “I can’t stop crying from tears of happiness.”

Lyons is expected to recover, although the cancer treatments will go on for three more years.

“I hope I can continue to see all the pictures of your dogs,” he wrote on Facebook this morning. “No matter what, they make me happy and I try and look at every single one of them!”

You can post a picture of your pooch for Anthony on Facebook. He is also featuring some of the dog photos on Instagram (like Ruby, right, the “happiest lookin’ dog I’ve seen all day”).

Photos via Instagram

Viral ‘Poetic Dogs’ Photo Series Transforms Shelter Pups into Authors

Photographer Dan Bannino, dog dad of a former pound pup, wanted to do something to help get more homeless dogs adopted. In June 2014, he came up with the inspired idea of transforming shelter dogs into his favorite authors, photographing them and then posting the pictures on social media.

His project, “Poetic Dogs,” has gone viral since it debuted in late November.

“I’ve realized how dogs are similar to writers: speaking through their expressions, sounds and movements, they’re telling you everything while saying nothing, just like an author would do with their fine words in a poem,” Bannino, who lives in Italy, wrote on his website

Early last year, Bannino adopted his dog, Rothko, from a shelter. “From that day my life has changed,” Bannino wrote. “When I adopted him, I realized how many dogs are in the same condition all around the world, and how a single adoption could change their lives and help support the situation in a dog shelter.”

Bannino is raising funds online to take more photos and publish them in a book.

Here’s hoping the stories of all these “authors” have happy endings.

Nespola as Mark Twain

“Nespola gave us a smile from the first moment we saw him,” Bannino writes. “With his white tousled fur and his incredibly funny yet elegant ways we couldn’t associate him to anyone else than the ‘greatest American humorist.'”

Aky as Leo Tolsky

Aky, a Golden Retriever mix, was dumped at a shelter when he became too old to work as a search dog. “Since his arrival, everyone at the shelter is taking good care of him and now he’s patrolling the area, solving cases of missing cookies,” Bannino writes.

Biscuit and Crumb as the Brothers Grimm

“Like Hansel and Gretel in the Brothers Grimm’s tale, Biscuit and Crumb are two little clever puppies,” Bannino writes. “The only survivors of a litter of eight, they were found under a bridge on a very cold day.”

Wall Street as Charles Bukowski

The oldest pup in Banino’s photo series, 14-year-old Wall Street was brought to a shelter after his owner passed away. “When I saw him he suddenly reminded me of the famous writer Charles Bukowski,” Bannino writes. “He didn’t like staying too much with the other dogs, he always looks drunk since he’s very old and not standing a lot on his feet, but as soon as you establish even the smallest contact with him, it looks like he’s telling you all his incredible stories.”

A Few More Author Doggie Dopplegängers

Ernest Hemingway

 Emily Dickinson

 Edgar Allen Poe

William S. Burroughs

Charles Dickens

Photos via Instagram

Happy Day Care Dog Puts ‘Snoopy Dance’ to Shame (VIDEO)

Until now, Snoopy was pretty much the king of the happy dog dance.

But a little pooch in a doggie day care may have just snatched Snoopy’s crown. A video of the dancing pup has gone viral after being posted on Facebook and other social media, with nearly 64 million views as of this morning.

Kevin Clancy posted the 30-second video on YouTube Saturday, with the understated title, “Excited puppy spots its owner.”

Try not to smile as this little guy hops back and forth on his rear legs as he moves his front paws up and down (a lot like a sped-up version of the ’60s dance, the “Jerk”), then starts bouncing up and down.

And just try not to re-watch it two or 20 times!

Kansas City Cop Stops Stray Dogs From Running onto Freeway

He doesn’t want to be identified, but a police officer in Kansas City, Mo., truly deserves a Compassionate Cop award.

As the officer rode his motorcycle on a U.S. 71 off-ramp yesterday morning, he saw two stray dogs — a Husky and a German Shepherd — standing in a grassy area alongside the busy freeway.

The officer contacted animal control. Then, instead of just driving off, he sat down beside the dogs, petting them and preventing them from running into traffic.

Debbie Downs happened to see the officer performing his good deed. She snapped a photo that has gone viral.

“As I pull up, it’s a motorcycle cop sitting in the cold grass with two stray — or what appears to be stray dogs, just sitting there petting them,” she told FOX 4. “It’s over and above for anyone. Most people wouldn’t look twice at some dogs running around.”

“Love this!” wrote the Kansas City Missouri Police Department, which shared the photo on its Facebook page.

The dogs were taken to KC Pet Project, a local shelter. Neither one was microchipped, and a phone number on the Husky’s tag was outdated. Fortunately, their concerned pet parents, Austin and Ashley Mozingo, had contacted local shelters after the dogs escaped from their yard Monday night. They soon were reunited with the lucky pair.

KC Pet Project spokeswoman Tori Fugate told KCTV the shelter wants the officer to be recognized for going out of his way to save the dogs.

Their pet parents are very grateful and feel the same way.

“It’s good to know there are still police officers out there who still enjoy helping out the community, especially in helping out such sweet dogs,” Austin Mozingo told FOX 4.

Photo via Facebook

 

Dallas Man Donates Entire Scratch-Off Jackpot to Animal Shelter

If you’re an animal lover and have dreamed about winning the lottery, one of the ways you’ve probably imagined spending that windfall is by donating some of it to an animal shelter or rescue (or even building your own).

Bryce Vucekovich of Dallas did just that. While the $500 he won from a scratch-off lottery ticket wasn’t quite enough to build a shelter, the 27-year-old spent it all on food and other supplies for Dallas Animal Services.

“I always kind of told myself, I want to give to them if I ever come across extra money,” Vucekovich told CBS DFW.

Vucekovich is dog dad to a three-legged mixed breed named Fred, whom he adopted from the same shelter on Christmas last year. He also has a one-eyed dog.

“I don’t think anybody wants to adopt a three-legged dog, but I made a beeline for him,” he said. “That’s my goal in life — to have a bunch of adopted rescue dogs.”

Teresa Cleek, manager of Dallas Animal Services, told CBS DFW that the shelter, which houses about 600 dogs and cats, is always in need of donations. She said Vucekovich’s generosity was “heartwarming.”

Here’s hoping the next lottery that good (make that great) Samaritan Vucekovich wins is the Powerball jackpot (currently estimated at $80 million).

Photo via Facebook

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