Category Archives: SOCIAL MEDIA

2026, Adoption, SOCIAL MEDIA

Pretty Boy Goes To Maine!

Posted on by Shana Ryberg
Gus enjoying his new life in Maine!
09
Jan

Pretty Boy came to the Aiken County Animal Shelter as a stray dog. He immediately won over the staff with his good looks and cuddly charm! He was calm, quiet and polite from the start.

Larger male dogs often get overlooked. Adopters worry about size, temperament and ‘marking furniture.’

This is really sad because if you ask any of the shelter staff and volunteers, the big boys are the biggest lovers! They want to please, most are housebroken and home ready!=

Pretty Boy came to us knowing commands and having the best manners. He sat for weeks with no lookers.

We posted a video of Pretty Boy on Facebook showing him sit when asked and just being his adorable self! Days later the sweetest young couple arrived from Maine! They had called the shelter asking questions about personality after being drawn to the dog in the video. They did what many won’t, they got in the car and came to save him!

Gus enjoying his bed by the wood stove.
Gus enjoying his bed by the wood stove.

Rebecca has since followed up with us to share how things are going:

“Some updates on “Pretty Boy” – Now Gus
He’s settling in very well – he and Tank (dog) are aquatinted and will be integrating this week.
He’s met most of the family here and loves everyone – and they love him.
He spends most days in with mom (Bex) on his bed in front of the stove.
He’s doing very well – we couldn’t be happier.”

Everyone wants to be a hero but only some truly make the cut! We are so grateful for those that travel for a homeless dog or cat. Those that can see the innocence by watching a video and stepping up to make the trip!

Aiken County has a major pet overpopulation crisis on our hands. Knowing that people across the country want our dogs gives us hope that we can continue to save every adoptable pet! Continue to share the posts on Facebook and Instagram, FOTAS Aiken. It’s working!

Their lives are in our hands.
By Kathy Cagle, FOTAS Programs Coordinator

2025, SOCIAL MEDIA, Volunteer

The Downside of Social Media

Posted on by Shana Ryberg
After being chained to a tree for years, this pup is enjoying their string cheese.
30
Oct

We are so grateful to all that share our posts on Facebook and Instagram.

The majority of our adoptions are thanks to social media. The downside, people can be really mean!

For example, we posted a video of a dog being given a squirt of canned spray cheese. Ok, so is it the healthiest – No. The angry comments were just ridiculous about how cruel we are, the sodium content, we are disgusting, “Plz stop poisoning him. Someone save him, plz!”.

After being chained to a tree for years, this pup is enjoying their string cheese.
After being chained to a tree for years, this pup is enjoying their string cheese.

We always try and take the high road and respond, ‘Thanks for caring!’ but what we really want to say is, ‘Hello? This dog was just saved after being chained to a tree for the past six years, skeletal and ravaged by fleas. Pretty sure the cheese spray isn’t going to hurt him.” Thankfully we don’t react to negativity. When you see what we see every day, you try and focus on the positive.

We posted a video of two dogs playing in separate play yards through a fence in the rain. Man, that one got a lot of hate! We had to take down the post! Not only were we accused of hating dogs, we were accused of leaving dogs in the mud and rain, no shelter and we didn’t let dogs play together. Ugh.

Here is the truth. Dogs have to do their business, rain or shine. Our dedicated volunteers and staff walk the dogs in all conditions. Some dogs won’t ‘go’ on leash so we put them in play yards. We do whatever we can to help them. We took a video on a rainy day of two dogs romping in the rain, happy to play next to each other. It was really cute! We would have really appreciated an appropriate comment of, “Awe, thanks for taking care of the homeless pets in the elements. They look happy and relaxed.”

Recently we were criticized by so many because we posted a video of puppies sleeping in the kennel in the sun. Wow, people went crazy! We had so many comments about how cruel we are for not providing beds for the puppies. What people don’t see is the inside of their kennels with beds, blankets and toys. We have kennels that provide indoor and outdoor exposure, some dogs really do like to lay in the sun on cool concrete.

All I am saying is PLEASE, before accusing us of being cruel, maybe look at the bigger picture.

The Aiken County Animal Shelter receives five thousand dogs and cats a year. These are pets that were discarded, dumped, abandoned in homes, left on highway exits, tied to trees, uncared for and unloved. Our shelter staff comes in seven days a week. They clean kennels all day long, they provide clean bedding, safe toys and giant bowls of food. The kennel technicians even take note on what dogs need wet food due to having filed down teeth. They feed the emaciated pets multiple feedings of high protein food.

Our FOTAS volunteers come to the shelter every day, rain or shine. They come on holidays too! Our volunteers not only walk dogs, cuddle cats, but they make dog toys, they donate pet food, they bring love and comfort to the discarded pets of Aiken County.

Next time you are quick to post a harshly written comment, maybe take a minute and think, how is this helping the pets? How about you come and volunteer with us? Maybe you could donate some beds, blankets or toys?

Their lives are in our hands.

by Kathy Cagle, FOTAS Programs Coordinator

2024, Dog Ears Reading Program, Doggie Day Out, Foster, SOCIAL MEDIA, Volunteer

A Little One-on-One Time Goes a Long Way

Posted on by Shana Ryberg
Sweet Retriever mix Marigold enjoys hearing a story read by a Gloverville Elementary student.
16
May

The shelter is as always, busy! So many dogs and puppies are coming in and it’s a constant battle to keep up.

The noise level is high from barking, kennel doors closing, metal food bowls clanging, and the constant cleaning.

Recently, at one of our Dog Ears sessions we had one of those “goosebump moments.” Dog Ears is a reading program that we offer once a month to young people who want to read to a shelter dog.

Our last session was with the Gloverville Elementary Beta Club. These students hold a donation drive every year for the shelter. We go to the school to meet the kids and thank them. This is always followed by the group visiting the shelter to read to the dogs.

This particular Saturday was extremely loud and the dogs were very excitable. In all honesty, I was really worried that it was going to be too overwhelming for the students.

Within minutes of the students sitting down and reading, the most amazing thing happened. The kennels went completely quiet. The dogs began laying down, looking at the children and by the time the session was over, almost all were fast asleep. I think all the leaders had tears in our eyes, it was the most special experience.

Watching the peace that came over these poor dogs trapped in kennels, homeless, tired and stressed, was really emotional. These kids gave the dogs a gift. The gift of love and attention.

The shelter has many programs that can give dogs this type of peace.

Each month, FOTAS hosts Dog Ears Reading events. Please email us if your child would like to read to the pets. It is a quick half-hour reading session followed by hands on time and a short lesson about the shelter. Our next session is Saturday, June 15. Space is limited, so please email to reserve your spot (info@fotasaiken.org).

We also offer Doggy Days Out. This can be as simple as calling the shelter and taking a dog to the park for an hour or downtown for an afternoon. Watching a shelter dog decompress in the backseat of your car is pretty rewarding. It’s like a vacation for them to go for a car ride and see/smell new things. When they return, they are happier, more relaxed and more adoptable.

If you would like to come and spend time with pets at the shelter, all you have to do is email us and we will set you up with a training session so you can come and go as you please.

It doesn’t take a lot of time to help a homeless pet. Even just an hour of one-on-one time can be life changing for a shelter dog or cat. If you have no free time and you want to help, please share our posts on Facebook and Instagram. The majority of our adoptions come from social media. All you have to do is share.

Their lives are in our hands.

By Kathy Cagle, FOTAS Programs Coordinator

2024, Adoption, SOCIAL MEDIA

Social media angel saves pets by telling their amazing stories

Posted on by Shana Ryberg
Martha Anne Tudor is a wordsmith with a strong Facebook following whose posts of pets in need usually result in adoptions.
20
Jan

Martha Anne Tudor’s name is mentioned at the Aiken County Animal Shelter each and every day by adopters and volunteers (her fan club).

A gifted writer and true professional, Martha Anne donates her time and talents to us whenever she can. Thanks to her effective social media posts and vast network of Facebook followers, she helps us save countless Aiken County Animal Shelter animals in need each year.

“If it’s true that your calling is where your deep gladness and the world’s deep need meet, then this is mine,” she said.

Martha Anne has a strong Facebook presence. Her page has a following that ranges over continents. She is respected and followed by a network of followers that includes medical professionals, news anchors, writers, rescues, animal advocates and thousands of animal lovers who share her posts. FOTAS checks in with her daily and we ask her to help with specific shelter animals that urgently need homes.

“My specialties are the ‘unadoptables’ — the old, blind, deaf, and amputated with the odds stacked against them,” she said. “But these posts upend those odds, and nearly every longshot I post gets a home. It’s the details of their stories that open hearts and homes.”

When we give Martha Anne homeless pets to promote, she asks me and the staff questions regarding their personality, their health, their ideal home, etc. — and then she eloquently tells their story in Facebook posts. These posts can sometimes receive hundreds upon hundreds of shares.

It is not unusual to get calls and emails from states all over the country from people who want to know more about these pets. Whether they remind them of their own or connect with the picture or the story, her posts usually get a big response.

“Without the soul-stirring photos taken by volunteers and staffers, my posts would never get read,” she said. “But what makes my words leap off the page are the poignant details of each animal’s story. Maybe a starving mama dog was found protecting her puppies in traffic during a storm; or a 10-year-old family pet is shaking and vomiting in his kennel from being disowned; or a kitten with a mangled leg is heard crying by her dead mother.”

Martha Anne’s friendship with FOTAS began in 2016, when she inquired about a County Shelter dog she wished to help: Wink, a one eyed, heartworm positive pooch. Her Facebook post reached a woman in Nantucket who flew to Aiken just to adopt Wink! This successful adoption started a cherished and successful partnership with Martha Anne that has saved many canine and feline lives.

Martha Anne works fulltime and is a devoted mother to two young women, also world changers. She answers Facebook messages day and night from people all over the world in regard to the County Shelter’s pets in need.

“In decades of rescue work, I’ve never known a team that compares to FOTAS,” she said. “There’s no time for conflict or arguments. Everyone focuses on common goals, with respect and regard for each other. The incredible results are testimonials to the teamwork, and I’m honored to be a part of it.”

Their lives are in our hands.

By Kathy Cagle, FOTAS Programs Coordinator

2023, Foster, SOCIAL MEDIA, Volunteers

Power of social media saves Jax and Crystal

Posted on by Shana Ryberg
Aiken stray Crystal (left) and her new sister, Remy, found each other through FOTAS’s social media platforms.
16
Sep

While young, pretty, fluffy dogs at the Aiken County Animal Shelter typically are adopted in short order, less stunning homeless canines with physical imperfections need time and help to get noticed.

Their positive qualities cannot be captured in a photo. Their stories need to be told and the right adopter has to be reached through social media and word of mouth. This requires close teamwork between FOTAS and the shelter, as well as lots of shares and likes on Facebook and Instagram.

Take Jax for example.

Nine-year-old, brown and white, mixed breed Jax arrived at the County Shelter in bad shape. He was starving and looked like a walking skeleton. He also had an old back leg injury, likely from being hit by a car, which caused him to limp. Fly bites had scarred his ears and he was full of fleas. The senior stray had the saddest eyes, but they brightened when people greeted him.

Jax found his forever home thanks to the power of social media and a network of fosters, volunteers and FOTAS friends.
Jax found his forever home thanks to the power of social media and a network of fosters,
volunteers and FOTAS friends.

Terrified at the shelter, Jax needed a calmer environment in which to decompress. Thankfully, FOTAS Volunteer Christine Harmel took Jax home to foster him and his sweet personality began to shine as he gained more confidence under her care.

Over the next month, we posted Jax all over our social media. Still, no one came to visit him. Then his luck changed. Debbie Roland, a local realtor, saw Jax online and shared his photo and story with her uncle Dennis in Pennsylvania. His dog had recently passed away and Jax was just the kind of dog he was looking for! FOTAS arranged Jax’s transport to Dennis and the sweet dog is now living his best life.

“This morning was the first day of school up here, so all the kids were at the bus stop during his morning walk,” Dennis said. “Of course, Jax had to greet every kid.”

Another homeless dog who benefited from social media is Crystal. This three-year-old, white 46-pound mixed breed needed a home with a fenced-in yard. A true gem, Crystal loves other dogs and playing in water. Crystal just has one so-called imperfection. She is deaf.

Even after weeks of posting a myriad of videos and photos of Crystal on social media, no one came to visit her. However, just as we were losing hope of adopting her out, the right person saw Crystal on Instagram. Faye Brothers, a woman with a deaf dog in need of a friend, saw a video of Crystal shared by her daughter. When Faye learned Crystal was deaf, she knew she was the dog for her family. FOTAS arranged Crystal’s travel to Faye’s home in upstate New York and now this amazing stray and her new canine sister, Remy, are besties!

There are other homeless pets at the shelter just like these two special dogs – animals that need extra support and promotion to ensure they get good homes. Please follow FOTAS on Facebook and Instagram and share our posts with your friends. With one click, you just might save a homeless pet’s life.

Their lives are in our hands.

By Bob Gordon, FOTAS Communications Director

2022, Adoption, SOCIAL MEDIA

Young people’s compassion portends positive future for FOTAS

Posted on by Shana Ryberg
14
Oct

What a FUN week! So many young people flooded the Aiken County Animal Shelter this past week to learn more about our adoptable animals.

On Thursday, we had the Senior English Class from Horse Creek Academy visit with their arms full of donations! They sat with our longest resident dogs and then wrote about each and why they think they should be adopted.

“Do you want a calm and loving dog?” wrote student Weslyn Bernard. “Boone just might be what you’re looking for. He is a beautiful black and white boy…Boone absolutely loves scratches and cuddles. Boone loves to give hugs. He’s been here over 3 months and would really love a home.”

On Friday, we had over thirty students from Tall Pines Stem Academy come to the shelter for community service hours. Each student was required to serve our community for two hours. Those who chose our shelter were in different groups reading to dogs, cleaning and organizing the shelter, making toys, dog walking and some even took dogs to the park. We had so much fun!

Each student spent an hour at the shelter and then had the opportunity to earn an extra hour by writing about a shelter dog they met that day. We paired each student with a dog needing some attention. This program is called, “Be Their Voice.” We ask students to spend a few minutes talking with a dog, petting the dog, looking into their eyes and then write a little about why someone should adopt them. We got some great responses!

Student Gabby Whisnant was partnered with Tink. She took a pic with her phone and wrote the following about this wonderful dog: “Hi, my name is Tink. I am 51 pounds and great with kids. I need lots of attention because I get lonely. I have soft fur and love hugs and kisses. Please adopt me!”

Check out what Jimmie Baynham wrote, combining a selfie with the followig text: “I got assigned to Scotch, a newer dog at the shelter found as a stray. People see him as a big, obnoxious dog but he really is just a calm little puppy and gets excited to see people like a normal puppy would. Even if you got a puppy from a breeder, they would act the same way. Scotch is a tannish color and a very calm dog. I know some people don’t like big dogs, but he would be a perfect bigger dog…he is very aware of his size and overall is a great puppy. I know he hasn’t been at the shelter the longest, but he deserves a good home. He really is a great puppy so please someone adopt my bud, Scotch.”

We are so grateful for our educators in Aiken County that encourage young people to make a difference in our community.

During a period when our adoptions are slower than ever, the time these teens spent with the pets showed love, compassion and encouraged all of us that things will get better.

Their lives are in our hands.

By Kathy Cagle, FOTAS Programs Coordinator

2022, Adoption, SOCIAL MEDIA, Volunteer

Share a Post, Save a Life!

Posted on by Bob Gordon
05
Aug

Every homeless pet has at least one person or family out there who is their perfect match. The person who will love and give that pet a wonderful life. The family that sees that homeless animal and instantly knows it is their pet of destiny.

The challenge for shelters, like ours, is finding and reaching those people, so we can effectively introduce them to their ideal pet. It is a difficult task. How can we get the faces and stories of these animals seen by the folks who want to adopt them? Well, luckily, we can achieve this goal through the power and tools of social media. But only with your help.

Every day we post photos and stories about the County Shelter’s adoptable dogs and cats on our FOTAS Facebook and Instagram pages, hoping to reach as many people as possible who are looking to add a furry friend to their home. But the number of people we reach with each post depends on how many people share it with their network of friends.

If everybody shared our Facebook and Instagram posts about adoptable pets, it would greatly expand our audience, helping us to reach more people who might be “the one” to adopt the pet being promoted.

Just one click can make all the difference — Share a Post, Save a Life

There is no better way than social media to promote the shelter’s adoptable pets to a vast yet targeted audience. Just one “like” or “share” can reach hundreds, if not thousands, of people in a way that grassroots promotion cannot. Last month on Facebook, our posts reached well over 300,000 people.

Thanks to our social media, people have come from all over the United States to adopt pets from the County Shelter. Folks have traveled from such regions as Texas, Chicago, Massachusetts and even Europe to pick up dogs and cats that they saw on our social media.

It helps us reach even more people when FOTAS volunteers, like Martha Anne Tudor, already have thousands of Facebook friends and she posts or shares a post about one of our adoptable pets. Her posts have helped the shelter adopt out more than a thousand dogs and cats. She usually promotes the pets that need extra tender loving care, like a sad and badly neglected dog named Kai, whose post was shared nearly 70,000 times around the world. Or Wink, a one-eyed dog, who desperately needed a home and was adopted by a woman in Nantucket. She flew to Aiken and took him home, where he’s enjoying the good life. Then there was Dante, a puppy with a life-threatening birth defect. Her post about the sick pup helped to get him adopted and he’s now cured and doing great with his family in Aiken.

We would love it if you’d join us

So, if you follow the FOTAS Facebook and our Instagram pages, be sure to “like” and “share” our posts. It just takes one click with your finger and could save a shelter animal’s life. If you don’t follow our social media, please do so. We’d love to have you join us in our mission to find loving homes for all of the County Shelter’s adoptable pets.

Their lives are in our hands.

By Bob Gordon, FOTAS Communications Director

2022, Adoption, SOCIAL MEDIA

Desperate dogs beat the odds to live happy life with loving Aiken family

Posted on by Bob Gordon
15
Feb

Choco is a 2-month-old, black & tan puppy who arrived at the Aiken County Animal Shelter on Sept. 3 with a life-threatening birth defect. His only chance for survival was expensive, experimental surgery that might not even work. This poor baby needed an adopter willing and able to get him the needed surgery and provide him with a loving home.

FOTAS immediately put the word out, shared Choco’s photo and story via social media, and got him into the arms of foster volunteer Vivian Kram. She took loving care of the pup and gave him the nurturing he needed while FOTAS and the shelter staff worked to find him a permanent home.

Enter Jenna Lubeck and her boyfriend Sam, who had just moved to Aiken from Chicago with four children and 21 horses. They were planning to buy a purebred dog but read a Facebook post about Choco written and shared by Martha Anne Tudor. The family was so moved by the pup’s dilemma, Jenna and her youngest child drove to the shelter to meet the pup.

“When we met Choco, my eight-year-old son looked up at me and said, ‘We have to adopt this puppy! I’ll pitch in my allowance for his surgery.’”

The family adopted the pup, renamed him Dante, and provided his expensive surgery. Before the operation, Jenna and Sam had to prepare the kids for the possibility their new dog might not survive. But Jenna said the children understood and vowed to make Dante’s two weeks before the surgery “the best two weeks possible.” They spent all their free time playing and cuddling with their new family member.

Thankfully, the surgery was a success and Dante made a full recovery.

Just five months later, Jenna saw another post on Facebook. This one featured a chocolate and white, 6-year-old stray dog who was found eating garbage at a trash dump. This skeletal 6-year-old Doberman mix with broken teeth and a sweet face reminded her so much of Dante, she drove to the County Shelter with him to meet her.

The meet and greet between Dante and the new dog, Maggie, did not go well. Maggie was stressed, scared, and mouthy. But since neither dog was being aggressive, the staff and Jenna thought Maggie would do better away from the shelter. Turns out, they were right. On the way home from the shelter, the two dogs cuddled together and slept in the back seat of Jenna’s car.

“Maggie just had to get out of that high stress environment,” Jenna said. “She and Dante became best friends. We can hardly separate these two now.”

Against all odds, Maggie and Dante have beautiful lives in a home where they are loved. “I’m so glad we adopted instead of buying,” Jenna said. “I think I’m going to only adopt from now on.”

Dante and his new family

“I don’t look at these dogs as having issues,” she added. “I think most of the time they’re just misunderstood. They were in the wrong place at the wrong time and didn’t get the love or care they needed because their owners didn’t know better or didn’t care enough. It kind of breaks your heart, you know?”

Their lives are in our hands.

— By Bob Gordon, FOTAS Communications Director

2022, Adoption, Dogs, FOTAS, kennel stress, News, Pibbles, Shelter staff, SOCIAL MEDIA, Volunteers

Longest shelter resident Christopher finds his dream home

Posted on by Bob Gordon
18
Jan

Christopher had us worried. The two-year-old, 66-pound, mixed breed known for his soulful eyes, mahogany brindle coat and sweet personality was showing signs of kennel stress. He was sleeping too much during the day, refusing to greet visitors and seemed to be sinking into depression.

Christopher: loved by everyone including volunteers.


You couldn’t blame him for losing hope. As a huge favorite of the staff and volunteers, we had promoted him endlessly on our Facebook and Instagram pages, illustrating his calm and loving disposition with videos and photos. There were videos of him chasing tennis balls, getting his chest and tummy rubbed as well as photos of him hugging volunteers and cuddling staff members.

Volunteers Jen Jotblad and Kathy Samaha each shot their own special videos, expressing why they thought he would make a wonderful pet. Samaha took Christopher home for a weekend to give him a break from the noisy shelter. So did Olga and Nicole Simons. Just about every FOTAS volunteer spent extra time walking him or giving him cuddles. Jotblad put extra time into teaching him commands and enrolled him in her dog training class for volunteers. We even had a “Christopher Day” on Nov. 13 to try to attract prospective adopters. No one on our team was going to give up on this special dog.

Still, more weeks passed and no one was calling about Christopher. By far the longest resident of the shelter, he was growing tired of waiting and hardly any prospects were coming to visit him.

Then, on Dec. 3, George Straub and his family walked into the shelter lobby and asked to see Christopher.

“We saw Christopher on the FOTAS page and fell in love,” said Elizabeth Farthing, George’s significant other. “When we met him, he walked directly to my 9-year-old daughter, Rae-Ann, and then George. We spent months trying to find the perfect addition to our family. We contacted so many people and other shelters about dogs and for one reason or another, none worked out. But with Christopher, we felt like it was just meant to be. He knew we couldn’t leave there without him.”

Christopher gets selected!

Now Christopher has a real home and loving family as well as a new name, Glock. He follows Elizabeth everywhere and she considers him a “Velcro dog who loves to cuddle.” Glock spends most of the day with Rae-Ann during her home schooling and sleeps on 17-year-old Chase’s bed most nights. When the family is at the dinner table talking or playing board games, Glock puts his head in George’s lap.

“I’m glad other people passed on him because I love him to death,” George said.

The shelter is full now and there are many hidden gems, like Christopher. So, please visit the Aiken County Animal Shelter, 333 Wire Road, and visit our homeless dogs and cats in need. To see all the pets available, go to FOTASAiken.org. Dogs are $35 and cats and kittens are only $10.

— By Bob Gordon, FOTAS Communications Director

Christopher is loved in his new home.
2021, Dogs, kittens, SOCIAL MEDIA

The incredible power of social media saves lives

Posted on by Bob Gordon
29
Dec

Our social media platforms are vital to finding good homes for the pets in need at the Aiken County Animal Shelter (ACAS). Through our Facebook, Instagram and other online marketing channels, we can reach thousands of people locally—and all around the country – who are looking to adopt homeless pets.

Ms. Gulsby with her new best friend.

This ability to post photos of pets with brief descriptions and get their furry faces exposed to thousands of potential adopters is especially critical now, when the shelter is at full capacity and visitor traffic is low. We need to find pets good homes quickly to make room for animals in intake who are waiting for their chance to be on the adoption floor.
Consistent posts of the shelter’s dogs and cats also helps us match pets with adopters who are seeking their particular characteristics. For example, recently the shelter had a gorgeous kitten, Anita, who kept getting passed over by potential adopters. Perhaps it was her timidity that prevented her from being adopted for over a month. Or maybe it was her crying. Or just bad luck. But whatever it was that was holding Anita back didn’t matter once Miranda Gulsby saw her on Facebook. She immediately called the shelter and made an appointment to adopt the kitten. Then she drove five hours roundtrip from her home in Georgia to get her. Anita’s cream coat, shy personality and cherubic face were exactly the traits Miranda was looking for in a kitten.

Social media helps FOTAS tell each homeless pet’s story, but the only way it can reach a vast audience is when people, like you, share the post with your friends. That’s how hound mix Huckleberry got adopted to a woman in Southern Pines, NC. Her friends shared FOTAS’s Facebook post of the handsome hound and one look at Huckleberry’s face convinced Camilla Marion to drive to Aiken with her Basset Hound and meet Huckleberry in person. It took them nearly four hours to get to the shelter, but the journey proved to be successful. Both Camilla and her dog loved Huckleberry, so she adopted him and he left the shelter with a big smile on his face.

Huckleberry (left) with his new sister.

These are great social media success stories but there’s so many more shelter pets that need good homes. Like Snyder, an awesome medium-sized dog who loves to fetch tennis balls; Toby, a one-eyed, gray and white kitten; and Blaze, a wonderful, goofy Retriever mix who keeps getting passed over. The list goes on and on. So, please share our social media posts when they show up on your news feed. Each share helps the post reach more people and gives the featured pet a better chance of finding a forever home.

Their lives are in our hands.

— By Bob Gordon, FOTAS Communications Director