As told by Susan Rosenberg, PETCO Foundation National Adoptions Manager

Gracie never had a chance to be a dog, stuck in a tiny crate all day and night, no one to pet her, no one to care. She was treated like a forgotten toy.

Her family thought it would be fun to have a small purse dog, a dog to carry around and show off. They found her at a pet store. Price did not matter. They were determined to have a trophy.

The family never trained Gracie. Never completed her vaccinations or spayed her. It should not have been a surprise when she Continue reading »

As told by Paul Jolly, PETCO Foundation Executive Director

Emily Dickinson once wrote, “Hope is the thing with feathers That perches in the soul.” For me, Hope was a little dog with fur – a hope that a small four-legged creature might somehow create a little bit of magic; might somehow heal my brother, Peter. He had undergone surgery for a brain tumor the year before and at first he seemed to recover, but then he began to slowly slip away, struggling to negotiate the daily battle with his own body. He began to leave us, seeking another world to inhabit and I could not blame him.

So, we all thought, what can be done? What can be done to bring Peter back to us? What can we offer that will make him want to stay? And so an idea was born. Hatched among his four brothers. What if we finally got a dog? What if Peter had an animal all his own? And so a new hope was born.

After finally convincing my exhausted parents that a puppy might just be the answer, and after Peter was out of the hospital once again, we went seeking a new friend for my brother. We found ourselves in the Continue reading »