Are you looking for a very small senior with a very big personality? You can’t go wrong with Dolson, a dreamy and sweet little guy who’s had too much shuffling in his life. It’s high time for this handsome devil to find his forever family.

Would you just look at that sweet, happy smile!?

Dolson, a tiny, little Chihuahua mix, is 11 years old. He originally found himself at the Norfolk SPCA in Norfolk, VA, because his owners could o longer afford to care for him, but sadly, he has since been in and out of their care. The last time he returned to the shelter, in fact, he was severely emaciated! But thanks to a grant from the senior dog lovers at the Grey Muzzle Organization, the SPCA was able to get him all the TLC and medical care necessary to bring him back to great health.

Staffers here feel like Dolson is consistently overlooked by adopters because of his age, but they know he still has a lifetime of love to give.

Little big man Dolson, say his caretakers, has a huge heart. He loves to be the center of attention, but if you’re not around, he’s happy to do his own thing (much of which consists of napping in comfy beds!).

He is looking for an adults-only home in which to live out his days and dole out his love. Everyone, they believe, would be happier with a little sidekick like Dolson around to brighten their days!

The Norfolk SPCA is located at 917 Ballantine Blvd. in Norfolk, VA. Adoption hours are 1-6 p.m. every day but Tuesdays (on which they are closed). Want more info? Visit the Norfolk SPCA website!

ALL Norfolk SPCA adoptions include:

• The pet’s spay or neuter surgery
• Vaccinations appropriate to age & heartworm test
• Microchip and registration
• General health exam
• Behavior evaluation
• 1st month’s flea & heartworm preventative
• Free 30-day offer of pet health insurance
• Care-A-Lot adoption kit valued up to $200

What’s more, after adoption, all alumni receive lifetime perks!

• 10% off vaccine clinic services
• 10% off dental cleanings
• 10% off merchandise (including over-the counter veterinary products)

Prince, say volunteers and staffers at the Mohawk Hudson Humane Society in New York say that Prince, who has been with them for 5 five months, is doing wonderful with his obedience training. But come night time, he has THEM trained!

You see, since he arrived at the upstate New York animal shelter, getting tucked in is an important source of comfort. Some people may find it surprising, but pit bulls are a very emotional and sensitive breed.

“Every night at closing, if someone gets into his kennel and gives him a toy, he climbs right into bed and waits to be tucked in with a blanket,” Mohawk Hudson Humane Society spokeswoman Marguerite Pearson said in a statement to InsideEdition.com.

She explained Prince can get nervous at the shelter, but tucking him in every night helps keep the animal calm and situates him to his environment.

“When he first arrived, Prince was terrified,” she explained. “He stayed curled up in a ball, shaking in the back of his kennel. Staff and volunteers started working with him, and slowly but surely, he came out of his shell.”

Prince came to the shelter back in April. His owner, unable to care for him, gave Prince to his girlfriend, but Prince slipped his collar, ran away and ended up in lock-up, attempts by the staff to reach her went unanswered.

“We followed up, expecting that she would come to redeem him, but she never did,” Pearson said.

Pearson said they’re now looking to find Prince a new home, and spent the last several months training him to sit and drop a toy on command.

“[Staff has] been taking him on outings and showering him with affection, which he loves. And he gives it right back,” she said. “He’s very smart and people-oriented.”

Pearson explained the 2-year-old pit bull would do best in a home where he’s the only animal, and when he gets to know you, “his loving personality shines and he becomes a real love bug.”

To find out more about Prince, visit the shelter’s website.

Two weeks ago, staffers at Richmond Animal Care and Control (RACC) saw yet another heartbreaking case of the unthinkable; a little dog had been found in a trash bag, alone at the side of the road.

Generally, staffers told CBS 6, it’s usually too late for these animals – but little Annabelle was found alive.

And now, she’s got a forever family to give her all the love she was missing before.

(RACC) officials posted the good news on their Facebook page over the weekend.

“The day has come!” officials posted. “We are THRILLED to announce that Annabelle was just adopted. A thousand thanks to each of you for supporting her through this journey at RACC. We share our joy with YOU! Good luck, sweet little girl, and may your life be wonderful and filled with love and snuggles.”

Annabelle’s new mom was thrilled to have her home and later posted a photo of Annabelle,noting she was doing “awesome” in her new home.

“She and her big brother Jake are getting along great!” Magne wrote. “They’ve already eaten, and gone out, and had a visit and gotten presents! She’s sound asleep on my lap right now. Jake and I love her so much and can’t wait to give her the best life ever!!!”

Magne added that she was looking forward to seeing the dog “thrive and be happy.”

“I’ll try to start a FB and Instagram page for Annabelle and her brother Jake,” she shared.

The Shih Tzu mix was discovered in a garbage bag on the side of Midlothian Turnpike and was brought into the shelter late on Sept. 13, according to RACC Director Christie Peters.

“[The citizens] showed up here with a dog that had been found in a garbage bag that was still in the garbage bag in their car,” Peters explained.

Nearly 100 percent of the dog’s skin was infected including both of its eyes. The dog, that the shelter named Annabelle, is estimated to be five years old and also has poor teeth.

“She has been treated terribly in the past. Obviously, no one has cared for her in a very long time,” Peters stated. “This neglect has been months and months and months in the making.”

Annabelle is incredibly sweet and playful despite her appearance, Peters said.

Officials has asked anyone who recognized the dog or anyone who knows anything about the people connected to her to contact them, but at last check no one had come forward.

We are so thrilled for Annabelle and her new family; it’s a beautiful “happily ever after” story for this newly minted princess of a pup.

It’s news that warms the hearts of dog lovers everywhere! More than 100 dogs were rescued last week from commercial breeding facilities – a VERY polite term for what we generally call puppy mills – scattered throughout the Midwestern United States.

The National Mill Dog Rescue brought the dogs to a large rescue facility in Peyton, CO, on Friday, beginning the arduous (but wonderful!) process of naming, evaluating, vetting and treating them. Each will be tested for heartworm and other parasites and have all their medical needs addressed. It is the first step on the road to loving forever homes.

Theresa Strader, the founder of National Mill Dog Rescue, says the dogs came from several different breeders in five different states. Most of them have spent their entire lives in cages, their sole purpose in life: producing puppies for pet stores.

“A commercial breeding dog, once it’s not producing anymore, they just kill them,” Strader told KKTV. “The bottom line is they have no future beyond that life if we don’t step in.”

National Mill Dog Rescue takes the dogs in once breeders surrender them. Although commercial dog breeding is legal, Strader believes its standards need to be improved. She says the conditions these dogs live in range from good to horrific and everything in between.

“When you see that baby in the window, when you’re playing with it and petting it, you know that puppy is its parent’s worst enemy,” said Strader of the cute pups we see in pet stores across the country.

Strader says each of the rescued mill dogs will become adoptable and, with hope, new members of loving forever families.

“These guys have a lot of life left in them and the truth is, the way I see it, it’s our fellow man who put them in this position and we owe it to them as people who love dogs to give them a happy ending.”

The National Mill Dog Rescue has rescued more than 13,200 dogs since 2007. For more information, or to look into adopting, check out their website. See the entire video of the rescue’s Colorado “homecoming” here:

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Not long ago, we told you about River, the dog who last month was saved from certain death after he was left caged in rising water.

At the outset, his rescuer, Jennifer Vaz, planned to adopt him, but after her other dog, Molly, had difficulties adjusting to life with a new little brother, she decided to return him to the Monmouth County SPCA.

“After consulting with my family, the SPCA and my vet for the best interest of Molly’s health it would be better if River was fostered by someone else,” she wrote in a Facebook post. “As a (dog) mother, dropping River off was the hardest thing that I’ve ever had to do. Even though I’ve never been a parent it feels like I’m losing a child.”

Vaz discovered River while on a morning walk in the park with Molly; the dog alerted her to something odd in the water. There she found River, a pit bull pup believed to be about 7 months old, trapped inside a wire crate. The rising tide was encroaching.

She contacted animal control and River was rescued with little time to spare.

Vaz was fostering River as the investigation into who had left him to die was underway, and had intent to adopt him.

She dropped him off at the shelter this past weekend, with a bed, toys, food and treats that had been donated. Additionally, more than $1,000 raised in a GoFundMe campaign will be given to his new forever family to assist in his care.

“We’re looking for a foster to adopt, for someone who’s going to keep him forever,” Ross Licitra, the chief and executive director of the Monmouth County SPCA, told NJ.com.

River must be fostered first as he is the subject of an ongoing criminal case. Once that case is closed, the foster family could adopt him officially.

Licitra said he believes River’s boisterous, young-male personality (he is not yet neutered) may have been too aggressive for the setting, leading Molly to become withdrawn. The shelter plans the neuter him and conduct a behavior assessment to see what kind of home he might take to best.

In the meantime, the list of names interested in taking River home continues to grow, he said. Other interested adopters can apply with the shelter.

The man accused of dumping River, Aaron D. Davis, 36, of Long Branch, was arrested earlier this month.

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Though it has a happy ending, the story is sad on multiple levels.

Disabled Marine veteran Don Bordelon adopted a dog named Diesel from the Temple Animal Shelter in Temple, TX, back on July 3, bringing him home to his Moody ranch. He later learned that the dog actually belonged to a U.S. sailor on the East Coast. The adoption was a mistake.

Per the sailor, her brother had been watching the pup for a few months while she was amid medic training in North Carolina. He surrendered her dog without her knowledge or permission.

When she learned that Diesel had gone to a new family, she launched a Facebook plea that went viral and found its way to Bordelon in Texas. The shelter said the adoption was legit; Bordelon was not obligated to return Diesel, but although he had grown very attached to the 2-year-old yellow Lab, he decided he couldn’t keep the dog from its owner.

Last week, a friend of the sailor’s picked Diesel up. The dog will stay with his family in Houston until his owner’s September graduation.

It was heartbreaking, of course. Just last week he went to the shelter, but found the experience too painful. This past Monday, however, Bordelon decided to give adoption another shot!

Yesterday, he met Scooter – a 2-year-old retriever/Great Pyrenees mix – while visiting the Humane Society of Central Texas.

“(He) immediately walked over to me and laid his head in my lap,” Bordelon told KWTX.

Bordelon added that he’d received offers of puppies and adoptions from all over the country when the story broke, but decided to rescue another local shelter dog instead.

He saw Scooter lying up against a fence.

“I took him out into the walk area and he immediately stuck to me,” said Bordelon. “He’s a very gentle giant, when he trots he looks like he’s walking on air.”

Bordelon will pick up Scooter later this week.

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The science of DNA has worked wonders in the realm of justice, helping police solve crimes and even free the wrongfully convicted. But for folks fed up with dog owners who don’t clean up after their pets — the small Italian town of Malnate is using DNA to do something that was largely un-enforceable until now.

ABC News reports that earlier this year, Malnate’s environmental department asked the town’s dog owners (2,156 dogs are registered) to submit saliva samples. Owners who failed to do so within the allotted period were fined $58.

The reason? Dog poop!

It’s been a problem for Italian officials. Fines for not cleaning up after your dog are stiff, but of course, difficult to enforce.

Now, in Malnate, owners who fail to do so can be tracked down.

“The deterrent effect is considerable. Knowing that the local dogs are now recognizable has led many of their masters to behave civilly and the sidewalks are cleaner,” Giuseppe Riggi, Malnate’s environmental commissioner, recently told reporters. “At the same time, pet owners thank us because now the other citizens look at them with less distrust.”

(It’s catching on here in the States, too! See video!)

The dog population in Malnate rises each year, so city officials plan to work with local vets to collect DNA samples from new arrivals.

A total of 12 samples has been collected from sidewalk “evidence” thus far. Nine of them yielded usable DNA samples. After cross-referencing with the town’s database, seven matches were made — and seven owners fined.

Malnate has received requests from 83 other municipalities across Italy about the program.

“They are only waiting to see if the fines will pay for the costs,” said Riggi.

Ninei’s story started as a sad one, but the we here at LWD (along with her advocates at Saving Paws Rescue Arizona!) are determined to turn that around.

Ninei is a beautiful, sweet, loving, 9-year-old German shepherd dog who was dumped at a high-kill shelter because her family was moving. She had spent her whole life with that family and was understandably frightened and confused with this sudden change. As a new grantee from the Grey Muzzle Organization, the folks at Saving Paws just couldn’t let this beautiful girl get overlooked!

From the rescue:

Ninei is the most adorable, fluffiest girl you’ll ever meet. She loves everyone and appreciates hanging out with her people and resting in a comfy dog bed. Her foster parents say she does great with their male GSD. She’s a social and mellow girl, yet her inner-pup still shines through at playtime. She loves going for walks, starting out fast and energetic, then slowing up after about a mile.

She appears to be fine around older children and other dogs, although we’re not sure how she would react to cats

She knows some commands and is a very well-behaved girl. It helps that she is treat-driven, which makes training super easy. She has the face of an angel and the sweetest expressions.

Saving Paws only adopts within their home state of Arizona. If you live there and are interested in showing Ninei that senior girls deserve EXTRA love and attention, please complete their online application to get the process started. http://www.savingpawsrescueaz.org/dogs/

Let’s help find this gorgeous girl a forever family.

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Jennifer Vaz was walking her own dog, Molly, near a New Jersey beach, when she heard whimpering. Below her, near the rocks and partially submerged by the incoming tide, was a cage with a 10-month-old pit bull inside.

“When I looked down, I saw these eyes looking back at me — these cute little puppy eyes all shivered up and scared,” Vaz told WABC on Tuesday. “I couldn’t believe that this happened in our town and somebody could be this malicious and do that to that dog.”

She immediately hopped the barrier to rescue him, calling authorities once she was home safe with the dog. Now the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office is investigating.

“The tide was coming in and the water had reached the cage,” the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office said in a statement. “When animal control arrived on the scene the cage was almost covered by the rising tide. If not for the heroic rescue act of the good Samaritan, the dog could have potentially drowned.”

Vaz gave him the name “River” before she turned him in to authorities. She plans to adopt him.

Jennifer Vaz, right, saved River. Now she plans to adopt him.

Prosecutors believe the dog may have been left there between 4 a.m. and 6 a.m. and says he is now in good health.

“Although River is a bit shaken up, he is in good physical shape and seems to have been well cared for,” the SPCA said. “We are working with the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office to help bring justice to River.”

The center posted images on its Facebook page this week, showing him snuggled up with a uniformed police officer while sporting his new tags and collar.

It urged anyone with information about the dog or its owner to contact the Monmouth County Cruelty Hotline or the Highlands Police Department.

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When a veteran’s SUV was stolen in Indianapolis this week, there was far more at stake than a vehicle. The former Marine’s service dog, Wrigley, was inside.

Indianapolis police asked the public to help find the 2-year-old Rhodesian ridgeback mix, who is trained to sense oncoming migraines and seizures.

“He’s my lifeline right now,” Lana Whitner told WXIN.

Once found, Wrigley was frightened, but police said he warmed up quickly.

And of course, there was no stopping the joyful wiggles when he was reunited with this family.

“This happy ending is brought to you by the community working together,” said IMPD. “Thank you to all who helped.”