Happy National Kids and Pets Day! From the owls of Harry Potter to the rascally Golden Retriever in Marley and Me, pets create lasting memories in the hearts of the children they touch. Here are three such stories from the 1FUR1 supporters:

“When I was seven, my mom took me to the shelter and let me choose a dog. While she was talking with volunteers, I climbed into the cage of the dog I liked. And that is the story of how I got my first dog.”-Nick

 

“I had a cat named Nellie, my mother a yellow canary. She’d let her bird out of the cage during the day, flying free, and Nellie and the bird would get tired and snuggle and then go to sleep. This went on for several years.” –Inge

 

“I used to have an Akita/Chow mix named Kia. She had a doghouse, and I taught her to ‘Snoopy,’ in which she would jump onto the house and lay on her back on top of the house. She couldn’t hold the pose for very long and would roll off the side of the house, but she was very happy to do that trick.”—Riakeem

1FUR1 Foundation helps connect people with animals who will touch their hearts. 1FUR1 rescues animal assisted programs at risk of extinction such as Treehouse Society’s Animal Therapy Program that rehabilitates cats, socializes them with residents at long-term care facilities and finally adopts these purring healers in loving forever homes.