Happy Tails

success stories from BARC adopters

Dearest BARC--About one month ago my girlfriend and I decided to begin checking the local shelters for 'that-special-cat'. You were the first shelter we visited and within 15 minutes we had found him. Toughie (once known as Oreo) was a demure 6 year old male who won us over instantly by quietly climbing into our laps and informing us that Yes, in fact, we were here adopt him. We knew it would be futile to resist and it was quite possibly the best decision we ever made.

In no time at all Toughie has made himself an indispensable part of our lives and has even garnered the affection of all of our friends, family and neighbors (including several non-cat lovers). What we first mistook for shyness was in fact a special irresistible charm that this young man uses to woo his victims into submission to his belly rubs and eat scratching. Never once has he hissed, scratched or warned us that a line has been crossed, this kitty only knows one word...More. (We're teaching him 'please'). During a party, when most cats would be bunker themselves in the nearest closet, this lothario works the crowd, moving from lap to lap with the adoration of all. At night his place is at the foot of the bed, guarding us from the dangerous night.

Thank you all so much for taking such good care of our klutzy little man while we took an extra week to make his home comfortable and safe for him. Sincerely Stephen & Alicia

I adopted two dogs from BARC back in January 2005. They are from two different litters surrendered to the shelter, and both are some sort of poodle-mix. Anyway, they are awesome dogs and I love them more than anything. So, I wanted to send you an update on the fellers and express my gratitude.

Seamus is about 5 years old now. He is a very chill dog, and he's a little guy so his bark sounds kind of like a little monkey. He is easily my best friend and follows me anytime I even go to another room in my tiny apt.

Sprocket, his sister, seems to have more of the poodle genes in her. She is very intelligent and loves learning tricks. When she gets excited she has a tendency to high five like crazy. She is also a bit vengeful in an intelligent way. If I clip her nails (she hates it) or if i don't come home soon enough for her she will pee wherever is my chill spot in the apt. She's a nutter, but I love her all the same. When I first adopted her she was a year old (now about 5-1/2)vand was extremely nervous. I am very thankful she got into your hands where she could find a home. Since then she has become a more confident dog and rarely gets the shakes. Thank you. These pups have come to be my best buds. Every day I am thankful for them. Cheers-- Meaghann

Once upon a time there was a cute little fluff ball of a puppy. She must have been sweet and loving. But the people who took her home were neither. They hurt her and starved her and then abandoned her in the deep cold of December. For so many little ones this would be the end, but then the people of BARC Shelter found our poor starving little one whose bones showed more than skin and who was so sick that most would have given up hope. At BARC shelter they showed her that not all people are hurtful and unkind. They gave her hope and love along with much needed care.

Then, they allowed me to adopt her. After several visits to our Veterinarian, lots of love, patience and good food… our little Daisy (a.k.a. Sofi) has grown into a strong little girl dog who runs around the yard with great vigor and a smile on her face. She is affectionate, sweet, and loving. She is gaining confidence with strangers and is a major attraction when we walk at the park. She is dog friendly, child friendly, and loves to meet anyone who will take the time to say hello. She has come such a long way and has become part of our family. She had two little Miniature Poodle brothers who are much older than her and taught her many things. Then the older little Poodle, who has had cancer for several years, died suddenly. It was a tragic loss, but the sweet innocence and endless playfulness, of our little girl dog has helped us all to cope. She was there for hugs when I was so sad, and she stayed close to her other little brother Poodle in support. Our grief will be with us for some time, but to have this little love here to show us how wonderful life is, helps all of us.

Thank you BARCr for being there to reach out to those who desperately need a helping hand. You have saved so many lives, and I am not just speaking of all the little furry and feathered ones either. I fell in love with my little one after seeing a photo of her little face when a volunteer was walking her. I just had to adopt her and give her the love she needed. And, who could have known that she would return that favor with interest just when I needed her most. -- Nikki
PS - to see more of Daisy and her adventures, visit: her Flickr page.

Just wanted to give an update on the love of our lives: Candy. My best friend and I adopted Candy from BARC in September of 2007. Since then, Candy has charmed the pants off our entire neighborhood, all of our friends, family members, strangers, construction workers – basically anyone who has a heart has fallen in love with this dog. She loves to snuggle and sleeps with either of her moms every night. She’s a big snoozer and a serious fan of air conditioning. When she has too much energy, she entertains us with her “zoomies” which is essentially her running 100 mph through the house, tearing through any obstacles in her sight. Her strong jaw makes it hard for her to maintain any toy for more than a day, but she has left her “baby” – a stuffed squirrel – unscathed. She gives her baby lots of kisses and likes to bring it into the bed with her when she sleeps. I can’t imagine our lives without Candy and we will be forever grateful to the folks at BARC for rescuing her and bringing her into our lives. I've attached a pic of Candy schnoozing on the couch. - Best, Stacey

Hi BARC--Just wanted to let you know that Shea (formerly known as Emily) is doing great! My boyfriend and I came to BARC a little over 2 months ago and Shea stole our hearts. She had been adopted by someone else who unfortunately couldn't keep her and the day that she was brought back we found her. It all worked out just fine. She took very little time realize that she had found her permanent home; we can't imagine life without her. Shea has made many friends at the dog park, loves to play tug-o-war and then sleeps like a baby when we get home.

We also just started to let her off leash while in Central Park. She has a "thing" for squirrels but is doing much better at not chasing them and listening when we call her name. Shea is also a big cuddle bug, she loves to be close to you (or on you). When we tell people that we rescued her they say that she is so lucky but I always remind them that we are the lucky ones!! Thank you so much for all that you do and we sing your praises when asked where we found her. -- Love, Pam and David

My love story is about a relationship I carried on for well over a year, with Valencia-known as the attack cat. I volunteered at BARC and fostered Valencia. He was beautiful, smart, curious and bold-I was afraid of him, but also intrigued; I fell in love with him. Through the gentle coaxing from one of BARC's wonderful volunteers, Lesly, who would softly say to me"just take him." The support of Mary, another loyal volunteer, who would point out how Valencia would sit in my purse and the reassurance from Jaesyn, the cat whisper, I finally relented and decided to take him.

I left that day with Mary and Lesly who accompanied us to Fifth Avenue Veterinary Care to check out his heart, turns out he was really o.k. just suffered a broken heart in need of love. I cannot stress this enough; the way a cat is when they are in a shelter, even a wonderful one like BARC, will surprise you once they are in a home.

We all knew of Valencia bad boy reputation, but what a love he is. The first day I let him have run of his new home, he ran through each room, returning to me as if in disbelief. I will never, ever regret taking him. I absolutely adore him. Everyone who meets him, and he is a people cat, laughs at the funny things he does. He loves to get his face washed and then sit in a sunny window. I could go on and on about his antics, but just want you to know that I now know what happiness is. Thanks BARC for saving him for me.-- Judy

Hi BARC!-- Mae (AKA Marsha) is doing great. Here she is (on the left) kicking back with a friend. Mae has proven to be a very resilient girl. Over the last two months, she has fattened up nicely, refined her housebreaking skills, and won heart of every human in her path.
Mae will happily accept a morning romp in the park or a good rawhide bone any day, but her favorite thing of all is to snuggle with her people. Lucky for Mae, her people are happy to oblige. I wanted to thank you for showing such patience and compassion throughout her slightly extended adoption process. The great care Mae got at BARC set her on the right path for a very happy tail.--Emily B.

Dear BARC--This happy tail has been a long time coming. Lola, formerly known as Praline, was a semi feral cat who had been in the shelter since August of 2007. I adopted her in late December of 2007, not long after I lost one of my two cats to FIV. She spent some time cowering in the bathroom and would come and lick wet food off of my hands, but was quite skittish, running away from me if I came anywhere near.

Over time, Lola calmed down and grew to particularly like to sleep on clothing I would leave on furniture. And she eventually stretched out more and became friendlier. I began to try to pet her when I gave the kitties wet food. Sometimes it worked. She grew less fearful and more photogenic as time went on.

And grew to love clothing even more. She is pictured here sitting on a sweatshirt I sleep in during the winter. If I leave this sweatshirt on the bed after I get up, she heads right to it. She grew to love catnip, here in banana form!

But the real breakthrough? Lola finally loves to be petted. She purrs and purrs, and particularly enjoys a nice, relaxing bellyrub. I think this one will eventually be a lap cat. Thank you so much for saving Lola so I could bring her into my life.--Best, Mary

Dear BARC: Just want to thank you for our two furry family members, Blondie and Jammie. We adopted them about two years ago.

They had been at BARC for TWO YEARS before we adopted them, but immediately fit into our household, fully housetrained, quiet, and well behaved. We are so grateful that you run a no-kill shelter or otherwise they would not have survived - from what we were told when we adopted, they were both in terrible shape when they were first placed at BARC, but you nursed them back to health.

Jammie has since gone blind, but still moves around the apartment well and looks forward to his walks - he has memorized the path around our neighborhood, and it is amazing to see how well he moves. Blondie is getting older, but still has the energy of a puppy and is extremely affectionate - she follows us from room to room, and is sweet and loving.

Thanks once again for bringing this pair into our lives. We would love for people to know that long-term placement at BARC does not mean that animals will not adapt well to home life!-- David G. & Andrew D.

We picked up Julius at BARC in May of 2007. He had been found on the street in Bushwick and BARC had dubbed him Bushbird as a result. My girlfriend and I had gone around looking at all the cats and trying to make a decision but it wasn't easy. Julius was so handsome that I asked for the attendant to open his cage. She did and he immediately came over and put his paws on my shoulder. My girlfriend looked over and we were both looking at her and she said "I think he wants you to pick him up." I did and he started drooling on me and the woman who was working there then said "It looks like you've found a match." and we had. Now, nearly two years on "Bushbird" became "Julius" who is forever called by his nickname "The Weens". We'll always be grateful to BARC for introducing us to The Weens. We love him. - Joshua R.

Hey BARC,... We adopted Maggie in December and boy have our lives changed! Maggie is our first dog and we are so lucky to have found her. We went to BARC that day to help my sister with her dog and said we would only look. When we walked Maggie, we knew she was going to be ours. (I had actually fell in love with her on your website.)Maggie is so sweet and loving. She has become great friends with a mini dachshund named Lulu. She is enjoying life by taking long walks at our local parks and beaches. She then comes home to a warm place to rest...I think that is her favorite part of the day. We wanted to say thank you for taking such good care of Maggie before she came into our lives, and she says thank you too!--Rob & Amy

Hi BARC, I am writing to share with you the wonderful update about Splash, whom I adopted in early January. I have re-named her Sweetie-Pie because that really describes her. I had volunteered at BARC several times and had always had a soft spot her. During my last volunteering project, decided to adopt her.

She is doing GREAT! She is the sweetest, most snuggly, lovable cat I have ever had. AND she is equally as friendly and lovable to anyone I bring
into my apartment. She just likes to chill out with us. She has become
very active and still amazes me with her increased strength and agility.
Not bad for an old gal. Her impaired vision does not stop her for jummping to high perches, sitting on the window sill to talk to the birds or playing and chasing her toys. She most enjoys snuggling on the couch and sleeping on the bed. We are both so happy. -- Sue

We came to BARC looking for an older, sweet, laid-back cat to be our fifth roomate. When we met Phoebe, she immediately jumped into our laps and drooled all over our arms and we just fell in love with her. She has been living with us since October 2008 and is doing great. For a senior cat, she is still very active - she loves to chase imaginary mice around the house and play with feathers. But she's also perfectly content to just hang out on the couch and watch TV with us. She loves people and is not the least bit shy around strangers. Thank you BARC for taking such good care of Phoebe, and letting us bring her into our home! -- Meg, Mae, Andrew and Andrea

I just wanted to let you know that Lana (now called Stella) made the trip to Cambridge without a hitch. She is doing very well, seems to have bonded with us and is adjusting to her new life really well. She is a very sweet dog and loves the yard. She and our cat have met and are slowly checking each other out. I think they will be fine.

She stays very close to me which is good and appears to thrive on the attention. What is interesting for us is that despite the fact that she barked a lot at the shelter, she hasn't barked once since I picked her up. Not even when the cat kind of snarled at her during the first meeting (I think the cat was letting her know that she was the boss...)

We started obedience classes a few weeks ago and she loves it and thrives. She has to be the most friendly dog we have ever had. Loves playing at the dog park and has no fear of any other dogs, no matter what size. She will run and try to herd them, no matter how much bigger they are. We couldn't be happier with her. Thanks again for your great work. -- Mel

I'm writing to tell you how good Badanooch (now called Precious) is doing. We love her with all our hearts. Look how big she got! Thanks – Sharon & James

Hi BARC-- I wanted to send a long overdue update on Fuzzy (aka Alec). It's been a wonderful nine years since he joined my family and I love him more than ever. He loves to boss us around and spends his days lolling in the sun and actively chasing straws and other toys around (in the middle of the night, of course). He's even proved to be a great mouser! Thank you again for helping us connect to our baby. I'll never forget how he reached his paws out to me and "chose" me when I first met him. -- Arlene

Hi Barc!--I just wanted to drop a quick note and thank you for giving me the opportunity to find my Honey (aka Mama). She is the best thing that has happened to me! Having walked dogs at BARC for a few months I knew the minute I saw Honey she had to come home with me. She is the best little cuddler and has staked a claim on my bed. Between sleeping and chewing her ball I would say she has a great life and has improved on mine. I couldn't imagine a life with out her. Thank you for being there for Honey and all the animals at BARC! -- Sam

Hello again fabulous Barc volunteers-- It has now been about 6 months since my girlfriend and I adopted Seymour and Simon (then Jason), and we absolutely adore them. It took Simon a little while to get used to us, but he's been a loving little man ever since he came out of his shell. He has taken to waking us up to feed him by sitting on our heads and kneading us with his paws. Seymour is the most loving boy in the world; he still takes such good care of his little brother. Although we've had them for less than a year, we certainly can't imagine life without them. We even put a picture of them on the front of our Christmas cards. They're furry members of our family, and we love them so much. Thank you for looking after them until we found each other. --Arielle, Anah, Seymour and Simon

I adopted Mathilda (aka Melanie) from BARC Shelter in April 2004. She started out very uncertain, shy and reserved and it took about 6 months to get her settled.
Now that she feels safe and secure in her home, she has turned into the most loving and well-behaved dogs I have ever met. She is my best friend and a wonderful companion and she gets spoiled rotten. Her favorite toy is an Eeyore doll which she sleeps with every night, in her decked out red velvet bed. I am so grateful to the BARC Shelter for bringing Mathilda and I together. Thank you so much! You've changed our lives for the better. -- Best, Howard & Mathilda

Dear BARC --You may remember LUCILLE , the tiny orange cat who lived with you for six years. She had a lot of intestinal problems and was considered to be anti-social with both humans and other animals. When we left Brooklyn and felt we had enough room for Lucille (and the rest of our cat brood) we brought her to live with us in the Hudson Valley. That was in May 2003. Lucille's belly problems cleared up pretty quickly, but she didn't let us touch her for the first six months she lived here. She almost always stayed under a chair with a blanket draped over it, and we wondered daily if we'd done the right thing. Though we never saw it, we'd sometimes hear her running around playing when we and the other cats were elsewhere in the house. After considering us for six full months, Lucille started rubbing on our legs, and quickly became the social gal she is today, doing wild stunts with her toys, "boxing" her siblings, birdwatching and sunbathing, and even cuddling us lowly humans. She's very chatty, and sings and howls, too. Thank goodness beautiful, charismatic Lucille is part of our lesbian family!-- Love & mutts, Korn & Kara

Dear Barc Staff-- Just wanted to send a little update on Mr. Serg. It has been about 3 months, and Sergio has adjusted wonderfully to his new home. He follows me wherever I go, and hunts for items of mine to sleep with while I'm gone. One day I came home to find a pair of my underwear in his bed with him, he had gone through my laundry and brought out the underwear to sleep on. We called him "panty raider" for a while after that. I ended up giving him an old shirt of mine to avoid further panty thefts. On his papers it said that he was geriatric, and it makes us laugh now because he has so much energy. His tail is always wagging and he is constantly giving out his stinky trash breath kisses, it's nice to see him so happy. I really appreciate that you held him for us until we could find this house, we are so happy to have him, and I know he is glad that he has us. Thanks Again! -- Jess and Carmen

Dear BARC - I adopted Jack in November 2008. I knew I had wanted to take in a special dog or cat, and when I saw Jack at BARC I knew he was that special pet. Jack is an eight year old Chihuahua-Corgi mix. On Jack's first day at home he fit right in. He slept well his first night and we have been best buddies ever since. He is my first dog and I have to say I do love it. This past weekend we went to a Chihuahua play group where he could meet other dogs. He's in good health and loves lounging around and playing with his toys. Jack has been such a pleasure and I look forward to many more special years with him. Thank you BARC! -- Sara & Jack