A neighbor is looking for a permanent home for her foster dog:

“This is Champ, my foster dog. He is a one in a million kind of dog. I have tried to describe here how sweet and cute and goofy he is but you might just have to meet him to find out how special he is!

First off, he is very handsome. He has a giant smushy head and big mitten-paws and a fancy striped coat with a white ring around his neck. There is something about him that makes everyone want to meet him. It takes us forever to go on a walk because so many people want to stop and pet him. He loves the attention but he is polite and gentle. I think he has a lot of potential as a therapy dog. He walks very nicely on leash, right next to your side with a loose leash. Sometimes he wants to stop and look at things but he doesn’t yank the leash or pull ahead of you. Oh, and he is housetrained!

At home, Champ is super calm and mostly sleeps. He is an easy, low energy dog. He is a huge snuggle bug and wants to be in your lap, but he is also fine to chew on a bone or sleep in his crate. He goes into the crate for a treat and he is usually quiet even if there are people or dogs around while he’s in there. He sometimes cries for a minute but he doesn’t keep it up. He comes to work with me and is an angel there. He just plays with his toys, sleeps, or gives my co-workers a stress break. He is goofy and a little foolish and makes everyone laugh and smile when they are around him.

Champ is amazing with other big dogs. My own dog is really picky/bossy with other dogs and he does great around her. He respects corrections from other dogs and doesn’t invade their space, but he still likes to play! I have not had him around small dogs or cats so I am not sure how he feels about them!

Champ is such a pleasure to have as a foster dog. The only things that make him not completely perfect are that he is a chewer (but he responds well to a verbal correction and doesn’t guard anything that he chews, so it’s no big deal), and that he is a picky eater and sometimes needs some encouragement to eat his food. We’re still figuring out what foods he likes to eat. Those are seriously the only things I can find remotely “wrong” with him!

Champ is healthy aside from a mild case of kennel cough that he is recovering from. He is already neutered, microchipped, and fully vaccinated for the next year.

His stats:
Age: 4
Sex: Male/Neutered
Breed: To me he looks like a mix of Cane Corso, Pit Bull, and maybe American Bulldog. Who knows though!?
Weight: 74 pounds; he should gain 5-10 pounds though.
ACCT Number: A16225742
At the shelter because: He got lost and was rescued by the police and brought to ACCT!”

If you would like to meet Champ please email Natalie at davidna@vet.upenn.edu.

This week’s featured cats are Rocco and Red. They are available for adoption through City Kitties.

Rocco and Red lost their home in a foreclosure. Their mom was desperate to find them a place where they could stay together. She contacted City Kitties and these great guys moved into foster care.

Rocco is the adventurer of the pair. He likes to be the life of the party whenever you have guests and is a frequent couch companion. Rocco is not intimidated by dogs, cats or people.

Rocco’s sister Red is a bit more shy and reserved. She likes her people, but rarely comes out to play when there are guests around. She will happily sit with people and likes quiet time. Red loves catnip, but is much less competitive in her play than her brother Rocco.

Rocco and Red are a bit of an odd couple. They will curl up on the same person, but rarely curl up with each other when there isn’t a person involved. Rocco and Red do enjoy each other’s companionship and will wrestle together with a bit of sibling rivalry.

They have been in foster care for almost six months. They are looking for home either together or separately. Rocco and Red are spayed/neutered, FIV/FeLV negative, FVRCP and rabies vaccinated, use the litterbox, and were treated for fleas and parasites as needed.

To fill out an adoption application, go here. If you have questions, please visit this page or email: arockar@gmail.com.

This little tank is Zoey – she’s a phenomenal girl and ready to be in a home again. She was surrendered to the shelter because her human unexpectedly lost his job and the family couldn’t afford to take care of her any longer. Here are Zoey’s top ten attributes:

(1) she’s house-trained
(2) she’s lived with cats (and didn’t pay attention to them while at the groomer)
(3) she’s great in the car
(4) she lived with children and was a perfect lady when meeting a 5 year old girl
(5) she has excellent outdoor lunch manners – no begging from her at all
(6) she doesn’t mind walking through crowds of people
(7) she walks really well on a gentle leader
(8) she’s affectionate but not needy
(9) she does well with other dogs
(10) she’s overall a medium-energy girl, but every now and again likes to get her zoomies out.

She has no issues with body handling like having her mouth, paws or tail touched, and has no issues with food. Zoey was playful, friendly and wiggly when she met some of her doggie friends at the shelter but she does seem to prefer being the top dawg so please bring your resident dogs down to meet her and they will let you know if they’d like to live with one another! Families with children under 10 should also bring them along. Please consider adopting beautiful, loving Zoey!

Zoey is in the Pen Pal program at ACCT. She has two volunteers dedicated to finding her a great home or foster. Her Pen Pals also spend quality time with Zoey trying to keep her as stress free as possible while living in the shelter. If you have any questions about Zoey or about adopting from ACCT, contact either katherine.acct{at}gmail{dot}com or larakelly{at}comcast{dot}net.

This week’s featured dog is Precious, an (approximately) 18-month-old Terrier/Mix who was surrendered to ACCT by her former owner. Precious needs to find an adopter or foster as soon as possible (she only has 48 hours!).

This brindle beauty is mild-mannered and generally well-behaved but was never taught any commands in her previous home. Luckily, she now has a “Pen Pal” who is working to help Precious learn basic commands. It will be great if Precious can find an owner who will continue to work with her on obedience. However, Precious is already an expert at some important aspects of doggie behavior! Miss Precious is an excellent leash walker and is generally very polite when she is meeting new people – children included – even though she is clearly excited to see them! Additionally, Precious is very well-behaved in the car.

Precious weighs under 40 lbs and has adorable floppy ears and a cute little snout! She was recently “fixed” and is hoping to get into her forever home pronto!

The shelter vet staff found a mass under her chin which will require surgery to remove it. While the shelter can perform the surgery, she cannot recover in the stressful shelter and needs a home where she can relax. PLEASE consider bringing Precious home. Email her Pen Pal at marita.blackney@gmail.com or lifesaving@acctphilly.org for more information.

This dog is currently enrolled in the Pen Pal Program at the Animal Care & Control Team (ACCT) of Philadelphia. ACCT is located at 111 W. Hunting Park Ave. Philadelphia, PA 19140. Adoption Hours are Monday-Friday, 1pm-8pm and Saturday-Sunday, 10am-5pm. Foster Care Hours are 9am-6pm every day. Stop by and save a life!

Check Precious on Youtube: http://youtu.be/6NEsiy5CoGI

Reader Chelsea believes she was pressured into switching energy providers by door-to-door salesmen and wants other residents to be aware of this possible scam. Here’s what she wrote us in an email:

“I thought other West Philadelphians should be made aware of door-to-door salesmen who try to scam you into switching energy companies. Some people seem to know about this company already, but for people who are new to the area, like me, it seemed believable.

There were two well-dressed young men going door to door in my neighborhood (Spruce Hill area) from Direct Energy. They represented themselves as belonging to the parent agency of my electric provider and asked to look at my PECO bill to make sure that I was getting the newly-lowered rate customers in this area are supposed to be getting, since there was an “error” and “some customers were accidentally getting overcharged and hadn’t properly fixed it on their bills.” They claimed this “fixing” would be greatly expedited if they did it for me. They then called their managers to, in their words, make sure the new discount was applied to my bill, and then had me sign something and write down my account number. They quickly left before I could read the fine print of what I signed, but I looked it up afterwards and realized they completely misrepresented their affiliation: they are in no way affiliated with PECO, but are a competitor company.

What they do is take your information from PECO and use it to change over your energy provider to them. I don’t know if their company is any better or any worse, but people should be able to make their own decisions and not get pressured by this misinformation. If anyone else signed the form (as I did) they can call the company within three business days to cancel.”

Neighbor Neal is looking for a good home for one of his foster dogs, tentatively named Tyga (Neal and his partner have three other dogs that they have rescued).

Tyga was found by Neal’s neighbors belted to a fence at the rec center across from their house. Tyga is a wonderful dog. His size and big ol’ pittie head scare people, but there is no reason to be scared. He is sweet as pie. He’s been around cats, dogs, chickens, rabbits, and kids by the dozens and does great with all of them. He does get jumpy when excited, so a home with little kids may not be best.

He’s never shown any food aggression, though he is a little food obsessed. He surely went without at times. He really needs some basic obedience and attention. He is crate trained and house trained, though vigilance is necessary.

He is neutered and vaccinated and ready for a home he can call his own. Please consider this guy. He might not be the cutest, but he’s the sweetest. PAWS has been a godsend in Neal’s stray filled house and neighborhood, so he only asks for a donation to them.

Please email Neal at nealsantos1 [at] gmail.com and tell him about yourself.