20 Dogs Before And After Being Rescued From Various Hardships

Dogs have lived with us for so long that humanity, it would seem, can no longer imagine its existence without them. And even if someone doesn’t think that owning a pet imposes a certain responsibility—often people with kind hearts come to help abandoned and neglected canines. People who are always ready to give unfortunate animals a drop of their warmth and help them with a new chance at life.

The very first shelter for abandoned animals—mostly horses, by the way—was opened on April 14, 1869 in the town of Bensalem, near Philadelphia. Its founder, Caroline Earle White, led a group of activists who decided to make every effort to help homeless animals—and dogs as well, and, if possible, find a new home and new owners for them.

Conversations about how great it would be to help homeless animals were conducted in society long before that, but it was Mrs. White and 30 of her friends and acquaintances who took the first step, showing a clear example—an example that soon began to be followed by all of America—showing that beautiful and noble words should always be backed up by corresponding actions.

“The whole notion of a shelter, or even a municipal pound, as a place where you could go and find a pet, really took hold in the latter part of the 19th century and then has grown steadily ever since,” TIME quotes historian Bernie Unti, a senior principal strategist at the Humane Society of the United States, as saying. And five years ago, everyone familiar with this story solemnly celebrated the 150th anniversary of the first animal shelter.

According to statistics provided by the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals®, 6.3 million companion animals enter U.S. animal shelters nationwide every year: 3.1 million dogs and 3.2 million cats. Of these, 4.1 million animals find their new home each year. The species statistics are approximately equal: 2.0 million dogs and 2.1 million cats.

The statistics are impressive on one hand—over 65% ​​of animals find new owners throughout their first year in the shelter. However, people rarely think about what shelter employees have to do simply to attract attention to their pets. After all, they actually have to compete for our attention with so many other "distractions."

For example, Bored Panda once reported how the employees of one of the shelters "advertised" their pet, a charming French bulldog named Ralphie. They advertised, as they say, "from the opposite"—a special copywriting technique. By the way, that story ended quite happily. The shelter received more than 700 emails from people wanting to adopt Ralphie and, after a lengthy casting, the “naughty” Frenchie found a new home.

Perhaps the stories that we’ll remind you of today (and you can read the post dedicated to each of the dogs mentioned here, simply by hitting their names in the descriptions) won’t leave you indifferent either. And in your schedule for the coming weeks there will be a plan to go to the nearest animal shelter and find yourself a true friend.

This is a friend who will never let you down and never deceive you. After all, as another wonderful writer, George Eliot, once wrote, “Animals are such agreeable friends. They ask no questions; they pass no criticism.” Just love and friendship—feelings that are sometimes lacking in this crazy, and always rushing somewhere, modern world.