Ilana Pinto grew up around dogs in Canada — running dog sleds and spending ample time at the nearby dog park — but she never had her own. When she and Eric Pinto got married, she knew it was time. “I’m old enough to be married; I’m old enough to have a dog,” she told herself. Her husband recalls her …

1. Keep Pet Food Bags Away From Dogs and Cats While your pet is probably excited to have what’s inside his bag of food, make sure you keep the opened bag in a place your pet can’t access, and dispose of it immediately once it’s empty. Doing so will help ensure your pet doesn’t venture inside for a crumb, or …

When Mathé and Jordan visited the PS9 Pet Store hosting cats from New York Animal Care and Control last December, they knew they wanted a cat, but two? They didn’t see that coming. To their own surprise, the couple left with two young kittens, and now they can’t imagine it any other way. Two pets may sound like double the …

Monique Borrero had Princess, a Pug mix, for nine years when she decided to adopt Charlie, a Chihuahua mix. Charlie’s mother had been surrendered when she was pregnant, so Charlie had only known life in the shelter before his adoption, and he was happy in his new home, but Princess didn’t really appreciate a new dog in her house, particularly …

When Emily Burke stepped into her room just before Christmas, she knew someone had been there, and it wasn’t Santa Claus. Cellophane wrappers from caramels littered the floor. The family dogs, Toto and Scrappy, looked innocent, except Scrappy was still chewing on one piece of candy, his tail wagging. Toto, looking as if he had nothing to do with it-he …

When 12-year-old Fonzie saunters into the room, you can be pretty sure that Hitchcock isn’t far behind. The two cats have bonded like brothers, and Hitch likes to keep up. Fonz had lost his best friend, 18-year-old Sneakers, several years ago. “Fonz seemed to really miss having the companionship of another cat these past few years, so earlier this past …

Lisa Zidek and her husband are sitting on the couch, watching television, when they feel someone behind them, breathing on their necks. They aren’t alarmed. It’s just their dog, Buddy. He was about 4 months old when they adopted him. Now, just over a year later, “He has grown to be quite large,” Lisa says. “When I take him to …

Trevor had been looking for a puppy to adopt for some time, so on his day off, as he browsed on Petfinder, he really didn’t have high expectations of finding one. And then he saw a photo of a brindle-faced American-Staffordshire-Terrier mix that gazed right into Trevor’s eyes and wound his way into his heart. The puppy’s description on Petfinder …

Mari Grigaliunas was worried. She and her fiancé, Jeff Stachura, were about to meet an 8-month-old Australian Shepherd mix they had spotted on Petfinder, listed by All Herding Dog Breed Rescue in Joliet, Illinois. She’d been looking for the perfect match for some time and, when she saw this pup’s “wild coloring, puppy dog eyes and floppy right ear,” she …

Kaitlin Wright was driving her boyfriend, Brent, crazy with all the Petfinder photos of adoptable dogs she was forwarding to him. “He was begging me to just pick one!” she says. It was hard. Her beloved dog, Riley, of 14 years had died, and he had been such a special dog to her that “the next dog had some really …