As we head into Father’s Day weekend and our quest to celebrate Dads, dog dads and cat dads in particular, we wanted to share these heartwarming tales of pet dads doing amazing things pets. There are many Pet dads out there that are contributing to pet health and happiness in big ways and Father’s day is a great time to tell a few of their stories and to celebrate their contributions to pet kind.
Chick (Now Gabby) and New Pet Dad Alex
The story is about one of Best Friends Animal Society, recently adopted cats, Chick.
If you don’t know Best Friends Animal Society, the large pet saving organization, initially started as a group of friends with the faith to realize a vision that they had long shared — to create a sanctuary for abandoned and abused animals. This endeavor has catapulted them to the forefront of a fledgling movement to end the killing of 17 million dogs and cats who were dying in our nation’s shelters annually at that time.
Their Instagram is a wonderful place to learn about their mission and the many pets that are consistently in their care.
One of those pets was Chick, a cat formerly in the care of Best Friends who was having a difficult time finding her forever home.
Alex felt an instant connection with Chick and wanted to know more about her.
After Alex was told about Chick’s chronic kidney disease, he was asked if he was still interested in adopting Chick. His response?
“I know this might sound a little crazy, but I have chronic kidney disease.”
Chick was immediately obsessed with him. Alex decided he wanted to adopt Chick on the spot and the two have remained fast friends and are living full lives at this time.
Dog Dad, Podcaster and dedicated pet rescuer Philip Hatterman and his soul dog Rosalita
Phillip Hatterman, the Podcaster, and founder of the Rosie Fund always had a soft spot for dogs. I was lucky to meet Phil and learn the story of the Rosie Fund as a guest on his engaging and fun dog Podcast “Dog Words.” Phil’s journey into his work, which includes his Podcast and the creation of the Rosie Fund, was inspired by friends of Rosalita.
The Rosie Fund website tells the story of Rosalita, a pup who was found abandoned in a backyard in June of 2013, weighing 40 pounds, almost 20 pounds below her healthy weight. She was a 6-year-old, heartworm-positive, poorly socialized pit bull mix. Rosalita was great with people but aggressive with most dogs.
Unfortunately, at KC Pet Project, a Kansas City Dog Rescue, where Phil was also getting his “dog fix” by volunteering, Rosalita was surrounded by other shelter dogs which did not allow her to put her best foot forward. Rosie languished in a kennel for 8 months until Phil and his wife fostered her so she could get her heartworm treatment in the hope of being more adoptable.
Rosie used her 4-6 weeks of recovery time with her foster parents to build a home in their hearts. Phil and his wife adopted Rosie, gave her the official name of Rosalita Patience Hatterman, and lavished her with all the love she could possibly offer.
4-6 weeks became 88 weeks, the last of which was spent at BluePearl where Rosie received the finest of treatment but could not overcome kidney failure that caused her to pass.
When Rosie’s parents returned to the hospital the next day, to settle their bill, the Hattermans were told, “Rosie had many friends. Her bill has been paid.”
To this day, the Hattermans do not know who the anonymous donors were but inspired by their kindness and Rosie’s impact on their lives, they pledged to help other “unadoptable” dogs like Rosie find their forever families.
In short, the mission of Rosie Fund is to provide humans with the resources and education they need to give senior and harder-to-adopt dogs a better life.
Find the Rosie Fund on Instagram and learn about upcoming Dog Words Podcasts, dog adoptions, and their work for the betterment of dogs @rosiefund
Pilot, Pet Dad, and Pet Helper, Julian Javor and Shadow
By listening to the Dog Words Podcast I also learned about Julian Javor, dog father to Shadow and Chief Pilot at Pet Rescue Pilots®. If you check out episode 225 of Dog Words Podcast you can learn about how Julian’s and the rest of Pet Rescue Pilots is performing the life saving work of flying pets out of shelters and landing them safely in the loving arms of rescue groups, fosters and forever homes.
According to Pet Rescue Pilots, Julian Javor formed the organization out of the belief that every pet should have the chance to know a loving forever home.
Julian began flying rescue pets in 2017 and through today he regularly spends his weekends flying up and down the Western United States – from Southern California to Washington, and even into the Western provinces of Canada – proudly delivering pets into the arms of rescue groups, fosters, and forever families.
The two major constants in Julian’s life have been a love of flying, and an irresistible impulse to pet every dog he sees. For Julian, Pet Rescue Pilots® represents the epitome of marrying one’s passions with an aspiration to help others.
Follow along on Pet Rescue Pilots mission on Instagram here and Julian here.
This fathers day The Popular Pets is celebrating Pet dads like Alex, Phillip Hatterman, and Julian Javor that are making significant impacts to pets lives. Share their stories to celebrate them to inspire others for the betterment of pets!
Find more dog advice and fun stories in our popular book called Motherpuppin’ Adorable: What to do when your dog is better than everyone else’s the perfect companion for navigating the best life with your dog. Learn more about this loved book.
Pet Dad FAQs
The strict dictionary definition is a person who looks after a pet, however, we know pet dads to be kind loving animal lovers that shares their home and life with pets.
Dogs are wild animals born in a pack so they would grow up knowing their dads, in modern dog breeding many dogs are sired from dogs that the pups will later not know and in slang terms the male human owner of a dog is called a dog dad.
