We adopted this adorable little guy 4 weeks ago. His foster Mom described him as a great dog with a fantastic personality and she certainly was right. He is the best dog. He loves all people and gets along well with other dogs after he makes the statement “ I may be small but I am mighty”. Charlie sleeps in bed between my husband and I with his own pillow. We take a walk every morning and every evening. We can’t wait until the snow melts so he can tear around our back yard. My husband is looking forward to him keeping the critter population controlled so he can finally grow tomatoes again.

We lost our jack Russell terrier and rat terrier a couple of years ago to old age. It is great to have a dog again and Charlie seems to be a mix between the jack Russell and rat terrier. And our vet thinks he may have a little Chihuahua too (he has great ears) Thanks to the Lost Dog and Cat Foundation of Virginia for their devotion to such a great cause.

Kody has been a great addition to our home. Our friends have nicknamed him Fraggle and Muppet since his big feet and spiky hair make him look like a Jim Henson character. He likes to spend most of his time "flopping". He flops into his bed. He flops under his dad's chair. And now he flops down in the snow. Adopting a calm, already-trained, senior dog has really been a positive experience and we are looking forward to giving him a happy, comfortable home in his twilight years.

Thank you, Lost Dog, for taking the time and caring enough to see the potential in the dignified dog with the soulful eyes.

We adopted Bonzai, a hairless Chinese Crested, from LDCRF on December 13th. Though hesitant, my parents adopted him as a Christmas present for me. We weren't sure if he would get along with our two other dogs, but he fell in love with them instantly.

He is the reason for many laughs in our household now, as he is quite a character. He has officially claimed my bed as his throne, and a stuffed bear as his playmate. LCDRF provided us with an amazing little dog who has truly brightened up my home!

We adopted Selma (whose name was change to Allie, as is Selma, Alabama!) on December 26. She is doing great and has fit into our family from the minute she walked in the door. She and our cat Mick love to rumble throughout the house, and have become fast friends after taking about two weeks to establish their ground rules. Allie loves the snow and is lots of fun – also a great napping buddy.

Thanks so much for the wonderful work you do and for bringing Allie to our family!

Happy New Year. Jamie is doing fine, he even likes his prescription RoyalCanin food, so he does not scratch as much anymore and he is very affectionate, also likes to sleep a lot (after all, he is a cat).

I do hope that this is a good year for adoption and that a lot of animals find a home.

I just wanted to send you an update on Char-Precious (Now Thelma – Louise). They are the joys of our life now; it would be very dull without them. Of course we will always miss Leo, but the girls have so many traits of Leo it is not funny. They sleep in the bed with us at night and ready to eat as soon as they wake up in the morning.

We look forward to going to the rental house at night, and are excited to see them in the new home and how they will take control. Thanks again for suggesting that we stay and see them. It was a great decision. Please see pictures attached.

One final note—Thelma (Char) is the lover she loves to be held and plays all the time. Louise is coming around she will let you hold her for a few mintues, but loves to play and is very vocal.

JJ is a cute furry friend I just adopted from Lost Dogs and Cats. She has adapted to my room really well. She goes potty in her litter box, she enjoys her food, she likes to lay on the yellow blanket that her foster family gave us, and when it's time for bed she likes to sleep on or near my pillow!! I want to thank Miss Janet for showing me where to buy a laser light to play with her! I would like to thank her for giving up JJ without crying since she was the foster mother. I'd like to tell people to adopt Murphy, he is a great kitten too!

I have shared photos with you showing some recent shots of our mutual friends, Jack and Fred. Both have done wonderfully well integrating into our family. The long-haired diva seen with the boys is our older cat, 'Shadow'. Jack is almost 1.5 years old, and as you know is the most charismatic of all cats. He has made fast friends with everyone he meets, and is the lap cat of the group. Fred (two months younger) loves attention and is the best source of warm heat at night in the bed. He sleeps as close to us as we will allow and craves affection.

Shadow has adopted Fred, and acts as a parent. Fred is still shy and likes to see but not be seen by strangers. Jack knows everyone in town and if the life of every party. Shadow is the beauty-queen of the group, and is the first to let you know this.

Thanks again for allowing us to be a part of these wonderful cat's lives.

Attached is a recent photo of Bob and Pepe lounging in front of the fire place. I am so very glad these two came into our lives when they did. We can't begin to tell you how grateful we are.

My wife Liz and I adoped Hobbs from Lost Dog in February of 2009. When we met him he was underweight, aprehensive around new people, and had just been rescued from a kill shelter by the good people of LDCRF. Over the past year he has become an endearing part of our family, made dozens of friends around the neighborhood (both two- and four-legged!), and inspired other family members to visit Lost Dog for a puppy of their own. He is happy, healthy, and the fastest dog in the neighborhood! His personality is the perfect mix of his Great Dane and Pointer roots - content relaxing by our side or going for a run around the neighborhood. We couldn't be happier to have him in our home and our lives, and cannot thank Lost Dog enough for the wonderful work they do for their animals.

Just to give you an update… Annie now sleeps in my bed all night long! She comes to greet me when I get home from work. She is eating well and is using her litter box. She threw up a little the night before last but I think it is because she is adjusting to so many new things and new food perhaps. She seems to have a good appetite, she usually wants more wet but I let her eat the dry if she is still Hungry (which she does). She likes the scratch post I bought for her and last night she jumped up into the perch. I think she knows it belongs to her. My friend bought some toys for her and brought them over last night but I don’t think she is interested in them. I don’t know if she had toys as a kitten, maybe she did not learn how to play with them. We will never know some of those things about her I guess. She lets me pet her now and I can pick her up for about one minute then she wants to get down.

This morning Annie let me roll her on to her back so I could scratch her tummy! She actually stayed like that for over a minute! We are learning about each. I have not decided on whether to keep her name as Annie or change it. If I do I will let you know.

Poof and Wookie are doing great. They seem to love it here. They are eating well and seem to be adjusting great. I took them to the vet last week and the vet said that they were a healthy and they received the last of their shots.

They are such love bugs and we LOVE having them in the house (I attached a picture of Wookie aka Wicket, he likes to act all big a tough but he is a teddy bear). My two dogs love them too. The kittens even like playing with the dogs.

Thank you for being such a great place to adopt from. We LOVE both the dogs and the cats we got from you!

We adopted Dexter, the 16 month-old apricot std. poodle, in October. We adopted Dante, the 5 month-old cream std. poodle in January from Lost Dogs and Cats. See Dexter’s paws around Dante’s neck.

I adopted Bella from Lost Dog & Cat Rescue Foundation in November of 2009. She's a beautiful, petite 2-year old tux who is more black than white (down to her black whiskers - neat!). She was surrendered back to LDCRF by her previous family due to financial constraints and, needless to say, was quite shaken up by her change in circumstances.

I was originally her foster. When her previous family released her, I brought home a scared, shaking, hiding kitty who clearly needed a lot of special care. She had her own "room" - my office - when she first came to my house. I spent a lot of time with her in there and it quickly became evident that she was a very sweet and loving kitty who only needed someone with patience while Bella could learn to trust. She slowly came out of her shell, coming to me for petting and loving. She quickly got to the point where she would "bump" me, asking for some affection - she would then flop over onto her side (a very trusting thing for a kitty to do!) and start to purr and lean into some neck and chin scratching.

I knew by the end of the second week as her foster that she belonged with my family and that I couldn't let her go. She was officially adopted on November 15, 2009. For the next three weeks, I worked with her to introduce her to my other three cats - brother Rufus and Feats, 2 1/2 years old, and girl kitty Meatball, just over a year old. The other kitties are gems and have been simultaneously uncontainably curious about Bella but also very patient with her as she acclimated to a multi-cat household. By early December, everyone was fully integrated with run of the house.

In under two months, Bella has gone from hiding and running at the slightest noise to hanging out with the humans and cats in the household. She's still a little jumpy at loud noises, and still occasionally hisses at the other three to let them know that she's feeling a bit crowded or threatened - but she is avidly playing with the laser light, lounging in the cat tree, and generally fitting into the whole family. This morning she did a first - she was actually chasing/playing with one of my male kitties!

She's currently curled up right at my side with her head on my leg, purring and dozing away. I'm so glad to have found her - she belongs with our family, and she's fitting in more and more as each day goes by. She's really a joy!

I adopted Hersey (now Bailey) on October 17, 2009. She had just turned 8 weeks and was still recovering from her spade. She's now a little over 5 months and about 30 pounds. She's had all of her shots and check ups and is healthy and happy.

I spoiled her since the day I brought her home. She knows the word "Treat" and jumps up and goes to the pantry to wait for one. She also knows that "Nite Nite" means bed time and she comes to bed on command. She's a small dog in a large dogs body. She lays in your lap and loves to be held like a baby. Right now she's teething and loosing her baby teeth.

Bailey and Max (my sister's yorkie poo) play all the time. You can tell she gets lonely when he's not around. When it snowed she loved it!!! Below are lots of pictures ranging from when I brought her home to the other day. Thank you again for letting her be apart of my family. She's very loved!!!!

This is Stella. She's a baggy-bellied hound that I adopted, two years ago in January, from the Lost Dog and Cat Rescue Foundation. Stella is a dream of a dog. Now the 'baggy-belly' part greatly mattered because I had then, and still have, a six-pound poodle, too....also a rescue.

I had this theory, you see, that if I found a dog that had puppies in the past, then that dog might be more tolerant of our, ever so annoying, tiny poodle. (The poodle is my husband's dog. I'm not a tiny dog sort of person.....oh no, not at all!) I saw Stella's photo on the website, and spied that loose hanging belly, and knew that she was my dog, but, even without that needed baggy belly, just her face, alone, would have sold me in a heartbeat, and I would have taken the chance. I haven't a clue if my theory of "find a dog that had puppies in the past, and it will be safer to have along with a tiny dog" holds any water at all, but in this one case, Stella's case, it has proven to be true.

Though Stella was judged to be just two years old, by the Lost Dog and Cat Foundation, (an estimate agreed upon by my vet, possibly three) Stella, did, indeed, have puppies in the past, but, my vet thought that she had two litters, definitely, not just one. Stella IS 'other-dog-friendly', but she will not tolerate an attack from a normal-sized dog that's NOT 'other-dog-friendly', (and, oh, that did happen once, just one incident, and Stella did not put up with it, and it was awful, but no one was hurt) but again, and again, she has shown that she is as endlessly patient, careful, and tolerant of little dogs, (even an especially mean little dog that we meet on our walks), as much as she is with small children. Stella loves kids.

I do enjoy reading all of the other happy tails stories, and I can see that each of you brought home the best dog ever, and gee, but I thought I did, with my baggy-bellied hound, Stella! Ah, isn't it grand that we all found our perfect dogs and all of them were rescues! That's the part that matters most....baggy belly, or not.

Smokey (we dropped the Joe) and Sylvie are doing great. We couldn't be happier with them. They play together, sleep together, and sit in our laps. We took them in for their first vet visit last week and they are doing fine.

They each got two shots and aren't due back for a year. If you would, can you please forward the attached pics of the cats to the woman we got the cats from? Her name is Claire and unfortunately I can't find her e-mail address. She was really great coming out to meet me with the cats back on Friday December 18th as the big snowstorm was starting. I know she "raised" these two since they were two weeks old and I want her to know how well they are doing.

We adopted Popcorn (Poppy) in early December for a Christmas present for the family. She has been such a wonderful addition. She loves to play, run around in the backyard, and go for walks, but is also able to calm down and be a couch potato with us at the end of the day. She makes us laugh everyday with her silly personality, so she has been such a blessing in our household.

We took her to see the vet shortly after we adopted her, and the vet was so happy and surprised at how well she was taken care of by Lost Dog and Cat Rescue. So I thank you guys so much for caring for all the animals so well, especially our cute and loving Poppy.

I have been very negligent about sending photos for you all to post on the adoption success page. Maybe because there are too many to choose from? :-)

The kittens continue to thrive and entertain us, family and friends. They helped us immensely after the loss of our previous kitty to cancer, and provided several entertaining visits for Jeff's mother following her diagnosis with terminal cancer this fall. They can't help to bring smiles to the faces of all who meet and/or interact with them regularly.

Loki is definitely the boss, being the male cat. He is built for speed and tears through this 3 story town house several times daily, rugs and toys flying around him as he runs. But when Loki tires, he is the biggest lap cat of all! Minnie, who we also call "munchkin" and "bushy tail" since she's so compact and has frequent tail frizzes, is a sweet heart. She has the densest coat and one just wants to cuddle up with her but alas, she's not a true lap cat — yet. She still prefers to snuggle with Loki over us. But she is getting better :)

So here are just a few of my favorites, to hopefully bring smiles to you on this New Years' Eve...

Here is an update on Freckles. My daughter Maria and I are regular volunteers at the Leesburg adoption events. We were volunteering back in September when we found our new dog Freckles. Freckles came home with us on that Sunday, September, 5.

He has adjusted well to our home and cats. It took about a week for the cats to feel comfortable around him. They love to play. They(Tiger and Shadow)tease him, and loves being chased by him.They hide and then he whines for them to come out to play again. He loves to go for several daily walks and enjoys chasing squirrels. He has few great dog friends here in the neighborhood. Loves to play with children and fetch "sticks."

He's a talker too, often joining in conversations between Brian and I after we get home from work.

Here are some recent photos. We had a great Christmas, and we look forward to a Happy New year. And look forward to participating in many more adoption events in 2010

Dear Lost Dog and Cat,

I adopted Charlie (formerly Corky) in October 2006- or is it that he adopted me? When I went to find a cat, I was originally disappointed to learn that I wouldn't be able to get a kitten, as LDCR only adopts them in pairs, and my lease only allows one...but what I got was the single most loving and adorable cat I've ever met in my life. When I asked your volunteers to help me pick out the friendliest cat you had, his was the first name on the list and they couldn't have been more right! He started purring the moment I put my hand in his carrier, and hasn't stopped since. He may tip the scales at almost 15 pounds (big bones...he's on light food, I swear!), but he's definitely a kitten at heart. And whether he's chasing his laser toy up my walls, entertaining himself by flicking light switches on and off, sneaking carrots or popcorn from bowls I've put out during parties, 'helping' me type on my laptop, demanding to be snuggled the minute I get home from work, or keeping me warm by sleeping curled up beside me, he's been a constant source of joy in my life since the day I brought him home. I've attached a picture of him from his favorite adventure yet: at trip to my family's cabin in Maine, where he's sacked out on the rug after a long morning of smelling exciting smells and watching squirrels from the screen porch. To any of you reading this who are on the fence about adopting an adult cat, I cannot recommend it- or LDCR- more highly. Their kitties are well loved and cared for by volunteers who know their personalities well, and they have so much love to give. Thank you so much, and have a wonderful 2010!

Hi there,

We adopted our Henry from you about 4 years ago or so. We always knew he was part beagle, but really wanted to know what he was mixed with. So we sent his dna to Bio Pet and got quite a surprise. Henry is a beagle mixed with saluki. He may look like a beagle, but after doing some breed-related research, he acts like a saluki. He is amazing, and my best friend. He tolerates my husband and his sister, Chauncey, another beagle rescue. We are lifelong fans of LDCRF and will adopt from you in the future. Thanks again for all the amazing work you do!

We just wanted to let you both know and all the great folks at LDCRF, how great the former Pee-Bo is doing. We adopted him 3 weeks ago and he has made a fabulous tremendous transition into our home. We have 4 cats and he is doing fabulous with them all. His training is coming along just great, and he loves the snow, going for walks, and sleeping on the bed! He is getting a little more brave each day, and is enjoying meeting the neighborhood dogs. I sent a picture of C.K. enjoying the big snow storm, he loves jumping and frolicking in the snow.

We just love him and he is a great little guy! Thank you all for the work you do!!

Happy Holidays!!

We couldn't be happier to have Miracle (now known as Marty) as a member of our family. She is such a great dog, so smart, happy and eager to please. We have to thank her foster parents for the time they spent acclimating her to home life. Thought I would send a photo of Marty & me enjoying the snow day!