Michelle and her father Nick suffered a tremendous loss when her mother Sandy passed away suddenly. Their greatest comfort came in the smallest of packages – their dog Papi, adopted from HSSV in 2020. This is their story: “In the summer of 2020, we had to put my parents’ chihuahua Fancy to sleep. They lasted about a month before my Mom said, “We need another dog.” We adopted Papi in August 2020. At the time, my Mom was on year two of battling cancer. She was ill, but it was a sudden loss, the way things happened. When she went to the hospital, we thought she was coming back, but she didn’t. S ..read more

Recently, HSSV had two puppies, Frankie and Niner, participate in this year’s Puppy Bowl XX on Animal Planet. HSSV’s VP of Strategic Growth, Nancy Willis, chaperoned Frankie and Niner to the Puppy Bowl – so we caught up with her to get the ‘behind the scenes’ scoop! HSSV VP of Strategic Growth Nancy Willis with Frankie and Niner at the Puppy Bowl How did HSSV end up participating in Puppy Bowl XX? “When Animal Planet approached us about being a part of Puppy Bowl XX, we chose to participate because it was a chance to use a national platform to talk about why pet adoption is so important. It ..read more

Jewel as a puppy in foster care Jewel’s story is a bit of a Cinderella tale. She came from humble beginnings, surrendered in 2020 along with her mother and siblings to one of our partner shelters in the Central Valley. Fortunately, she and her family were brought to HSSV through the Sue and John Diekman Regional Rescue program, helping to ease the burden on the under-resourced shelter they came from, and giving them a second chance at a better life. Jewel was cared for in a volunteer foster home until she was old enough to be adopted. It was then that the adorable black and tan pup caught Vi ..read more

It’s the most wonderful time of the year and for many, the holiday season is about generosity – an annual reminder to spread joy by giving of ourselves to those most in need. It’s the perfect time to celebrate a program that gives all year round – HSSV’s Pet Pantry program. An estimated 25 million pets are living in poverty in the U.S. alone. When families experience hardship and cannot provide for their pet’s basic needs, they may choose to make the difficult choice to surrender their pets to shelters like ours. At HSSV, we believe that animals belong with the people who love them – which is ..read more

Photo Credit: Robert Most Echo is a white dog with pointed ears and very wolf-like features around his face. At first glance, he appears cross eyed or as if one eye is bigger than the other. A special boy, he was born with abnormally formed eyes and is mostly blind, with limited vision in one eye. Echo when he first arrived at HSSV Echo was transferred into HSSV from a local partner shelter to receive medical treatment for congenital hip issue. After surgery to repair his hip joint, he was made available for adoption. An energetic husky mix with special needs, Echo would need an understand ..read more

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  Bobby aka Reese when he first arrived at HSSV   When Reese first arrived at HSSV through one of our rescue partners, he was too fearful to be touched or even walk on a leash.   Reese arrived bonded with another dog, Betty, who was also shy but tolerated petting and leashing. Because of this she was adopted more quickly, leaving poor Reese alone and afraid. At the shelter Reese ran circles around the yard, showing signs of stress and looking for a way to escape. Without Betty he was too anxious to do normal dog things like explore or play with toys.     Reese was s ..read more

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