This week’s featured pup is Anna, a one-two-year old, 35 pound, playful pit mix who was found as a stray in Philadelphia. Now she’s in foster care and looking for a forever home! Anna is sweet and smart and really eager to please. She loves her people, and is meeting new people to love all the time.

Anna can occasionally be uncertain with new people, but a few treats go a long way with this girl, and she will be your best pal in no time. And once she’s your pal, she’s really your pal – you can pick her up, cuddle her, kiss her, touch her paws: she has no body-handling issues at all! At night, she loves to sack out on the couch, sprawled across your lap while you read or watch a movie. And if you let her on the bed, she will burrow down in the blankets to cuddle up close to you. (Though she happily sleeps in her crate all night if you want her to).

Anna has also been making new dog friends in her foster home. She is great with lower energy dogs (she has been lovely and polite with two fragile 14 year-old dogs that she knows), but can get a little too excited with higher energy, pushy dogs. Her medium-energy foster brother is just right for her.

Anna has plenty of puppy energy, so she would do best in a home that can provide her with daily exercise. She loves to go running with her foster mom. She is super smart, and learns fast. Watch her video to see how much she has learned in just a few weeks in foster care! She can be a little jumpy and mouthy when she plays, so older children only would be best for Anna. Anna does have some allergies that seem to be controlled by diet, but don’t hold that against her! Anna is house-trained, crate-trained, microchipped, vaccinated, spayed, and ready to go home with you! To meet Anna, contact elizabeth.elzer [at] gmail.com.

This week’s featured dog is Mojo, a 10-month-old Labrador Retriever mix. Mojo is available for adoption through Operation Ava.

Mojo is a really sweet and fun pup who loves to play the day away! He is an extremely energetic dog who enjoys his favorite stick and loves to play fetch and tag (here‘s a video of Mojo playing). He is very smart and would do well with some obedience training but he is very sweet and great with children. He would be ideal in a home with space to play or at least a family that gives him lots of exercise.

If you would like to meet Mojo or have questions, please email Ray at: ray[at]operationava.org or visit www.OperationAva.org. Operation Ava is a no-kill animal rescue that recently reached 1,000 adoptions since their 2010 opening.

Honey is a sweet girl looking for nothing but love. She was surrendered by her owner because she wasn’t able to feed her large litter of puppies anymore, it looks like she has had many litters.

Honey was very depressed the first few days she was at the shelter but has really come out of her shell after spending time with her Pen Pals and other volunteers/staff. She really enjoys just being able to be a dog. Honey doesn’t seem to know how to play with toys but gets very excited and prances around when she is taken outside. Her Pen Pals are working on teaching her how to play and some basic commands. She likes to be in your lap and just be pet and hugged.

Honey’s perfect match would be someone who will spoil her rotten for the rest of her life, snuggle up on the couch with her and take her for leisurely walks. Come in and fall in love with all of Honey’s sweetness. Contact her Pen Pals kdingler[at]pspca.org or Alugo[at]pspca.org. Come to meet Honey today and see just how sweet this girl is!

This dog is located at 111 West Hunting Park Ave in Philadelphia. Adoption hours are 1 – 8 p.m. Monday through Friday and 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. on weekends.

If you are interested in fostering, please contact nsmith[at]pspca.org or jsweeney[at]pspca.org.

This week’s adoptable dog is Candy who badly needs a home for Christmas. She is just a pup around 45 lbs. and already spayed thanks to her former friends. She is a terrier/pit bull mix, but please don’t hold it against her if you were looking for something else. You will find her to be a very patient companion.

You can teach Candy anything you want with a treat in hand, but she sometimes gets distracted when other dogs are around. She’s still learning how to socialize and may be a little pushy when it comes to play. She also doesn’t like to play with cats, but she will get along with you and all of your friends.

Candy is part of the ACCT Pen Pal Program. She has a volunteer dedicated to helping her find her a home. The volunteer spends time with her on a regular basis, teaches her the basics of being a great dog and helps her stay happy while living at the shelter. She can also provide post-adoption support!

If you are interested in meeting Candy, please email her Pen Pal at: darcy.wilkins [at] gmail.com. For more information on how to adopt/foster Pen Pal dogs go here.

This week’s dog is Brandy – a beautiful, smart, and playful brunette pit bull mix.

Brandy has the kinds of things that you want in a dog, the complete package! She has a huge, beautiful smile that she’ll show you just about any time you pet her, and her pen pal at the shelter has been teaching her some commands.

She already knows “sit” and “down,” and she’s even learning “roll over.” Basically, she’ll learn pretty much anything if there are treats involved!

It doesn’t take much to keep this dog happy. She has a lot of energy since she’s still in her prime, so she loves to play and run, but once she’s worn out she is content to plop down next to you (or on your lap if you’re okay with that) and relax. Brandy also loves belly rubs.

Please come and meet this dog and take her home with you. She wants a new home with people who will love her as much as she’ll love them (a lot!). If you have any other dogs (or cats) in your home, bring them with you to meet Brandy to see if they’d get along.

Please email Brandy’s pen pal Sarah for more information or if you want to meet Brandy: cortes.sarah [at] gmail.com

This week’s dog is Shelly, a sweet adult pit bull/bulldog mix with some superpowers that have gotten her into a bit of a sticky situation at the shelter where’s she currently residing.

For example, Shelly can scale kennel walls in a single bound, which is fascinating to watch, but not so much if you’re looking for a nice, well behaved doggie to take home with you. Some of Shelly’s friends at the shelter have tried to explain to her that if an adopter wants a pet that can climb walls, they’d adopt a cat, not a dog – unfortunately, Shelly still thinks her kennel hijinks are entertaining. What this means for Shelly is that she needs to leave the shelter as soon as possible, so read on to find out more about what makes Shelly so special and worth saving today!

Shelly was found running loose in a junkyard, and the junkyard owner was nice enough to take care of her for a few days, in the hopes that her owners would come looking for her. Unfortunately, Shelly’s owners never came, and he was forced to bring Shelly to the shelter. At the shelter, Shelly is a staff and volunteer favorite because she is “near perfect”: friendly, gentle, and eager to please, knows “sit”, “down”, “paw” and “no”, walks GREAT on the leash, is crate trained and loves to just snuggle up next to you to escape the loud shelter for a bit. Being that she is very eager to please, it is very easy to train her and makes her simply a joy to be around.

She seems to like being around other dogs, and when she met another female dog that made it very clear she was not interested in playing with her, Shelly backed off appropriately and left the other dog alone. As far as our feline friends, Shelly did show some interest in cats during her cat test, so she would need to be retested with cats before she can go home with one.

Unfortunately, while Shelly’s an absolute doll once she’s outside, she does not like living in her kennel, and she’s becoming sad and stressed, and expresses her frustration in her kennel by jumping and barking. Shelly’s behavior in her kennel causes adopters to pass her by, and because she is less adoptable as a result of her kennel behavior, Shelly’s time is limited.

Now it is time for her to find her home for the holidays. Shelly’s adoption fee right now is only $20, and that includes her spay surgery, microchipping, and vaccinations – small price to pay for years of unconditional love! This is a wonderful opportunity to change an animal’s whole world for the better – please email Shelly’s pen pal at: lulu_todorov@hotmail.com to learn more about her, or stop by the shelter to meet Super Shelly today! The shelter is located at 111 W. Hunting Park Avenue. Phone: 267-385-3800.