Why?

“You have to take care of your baby. He’s my baby. He’s a good baby,” Sievers told WYFF. (You can see the news story via this link.)

Sievers’ baby is his dog, Manse Jolly.

He told reporters he doesn’t mind sleeping outdoors, but worries about the upcoming winter.

“Cold don’t really bother me,” he said. “I don’t like to have to sit out in it without being able to move around.”

Siever’s neighbor, Christine Hiatt, has become so concerned about his well-being, she started a GoFundMe site entitled “Help Boe Rebuild His Home.”

“…he found this sweet dog as a puppy,” Hiatt wrote on the fundraising page, “starving, covered in fleas and terrified of people. He nursed him back to health and has gone without so much just to make sure his dog has what he needs. He has been trying to gather enough money to get a small camper for him to live in.”

Hiatt says she’d like to get her neighbor and his dog some shelter. “I would also like to make sure he has food on the table. I think as Americans, everyone has that right.”

Sievers, in the meantime, is looking for silver linings and keeping a positive attitude.

“[My dog] crawls up into my sleeping bag. I tell you what, he’s a little heater,” Sievers said.

The post House Fire Victim Sleeps Outside to Keep His Dog appeared first on ILoveDogsAndPuppies.

Dogs have a way of comforting us during our toughest times. It’s often difficult to understand the issues facing the homeless population, but, incredibly, it turns out dogs are some of the most empathetic, compassionate companions out there, and often help those struggling humans get by.

That’s what the story you’re about to hear is about – the love between a dog and his human, regardless of the circumstances that surround them.

The story emerged from Reddit, where lots of personal, touching stories do. A homeless man known only as Boxer spends a lot of time outside a California tattoo shop panhandling. He is known to the regulars, and manages to get a fair amount of money. One day, he shared his story. The story of Boxer, and his dog, Joe.

One day, an employee from the shop was outside chatting with Boxer and petting Joe. That’s when Boxer shared his story…

He had been homeless since he was 15 years-old. Without a high school diploma, finding sustainable work was nearly impossible, so Boxer committed to the unstable life of panhandling. His diet consisted mainly of fast food, and it was on a routine run to McDonald’s in 2006 that his life changed for the better.

While eating his sandwich, Boxer heard some whining and shuffling. Joe was the cause of all that noise. When Boxer found the pup (who was no more than a year and a half old), Joe had a collar on but was clearly lost. Boxer borrowed a phone and called the number on Joe’s collar, hopeful that his owners would be relieved to know he was okay.

“There’s a reason he’s out there. We don’t want him,” was all he heard.

From that moment on, Boxer and Joe were inseparable. There was a clear sense of closeness between the pair. Popular within their community, neighbors bought dog food for Joe and regularly gave Boxer food. For several years, these unlikely best friends were doing okay.

Until something awful happened…

One night, while the pair slept in an alley near the parlor, a group of violent men approached them demanding money, waving knives and making physical threats. Fiercely protective of his dear friend, Boxer says that Joe was growling in a way he had never witnessed before. The assailants were so aggressive that Joe eventually launched forward and bit one man’s arm, causing him to drop his weapon. Furious by this, the others attacked Boxer and, ultimately, Joe. They stabbed the brave dog and ran off, leaving him to die, whimpering, next to his beloved human.

Boxer says Joe’s tail wagged until his very last breath.

Not surprisingly, Boxer was stunned by this devastating night. After a while of trying to cope with the grief of losing his friend in such a tragic way, Boxer decided the best way to honor Joe was with a tattoo. The guys at his local tattoo shop volunteered to do the work for free.

After memorializing his best friend, Boxer’s life slowly started to turn around. He was given some janitorial work at the parlor and began getting back on his feet. He even managed to get his own place, just a couple blocks from the shop! As a gift, the guys from the tattoo parlor surprised Boxer with a puppy. They said they hadn’t seen Boxer smile so genuinely since getting the tattoo of Joe.

Such a beautiful story – it’s amazing what a loyal friendship can achieve.

The post This Homeless Man And His Best Friend Did Life Together Until That Day appeared first on ILoveDogsAndPuppies.

Pete Buchmann is homeless in Delaware, and knows that the best thing he can do for his senior dog is keep him in a shelter.  It is heartbreaking to be away from Buster, so every day – rain, snow, or shine – Pete walks five miles each day to see him so he knows he hasn’t been abandoned.

Pete and Buster were inseparable until this past July when Buchmann’s dwindling resources were drained and he became homeless.

“When I couldn’t pay my rent any more, I moved across the street into the backyard of an empty house,” he told Delaware Online. “I pitched a two-man tent, and it was kind of fun for about a week, but it wasn’t good for Buster.”

He asked police officers where he could take the nine-year-old dog until he was able to care for him again, and was told to contact Faithful Friends Animal Society in Wilmington.  He was unable to call at first, because his cell phone kept dying and no one would let him charge it.  When he finally got through, he told staff whereabouts the pair could be found.

“We drove out and found them,” said Lou Henderson, manager of the shelter’s dog department. “We also took Pete a goodie bag with some food and things in it to help him. We brought Buster back with us and gave him his own room.”

Executive Director Jane Pierantozzi wasn’t thrilled to come into work to see that the shelter’s meet-and-greet area had been turned into a makeshift apartment for Buster, but felt for the dog and his owner.

“Since the financial crisis, so many people have had to give up their pets, and we have been able to place them, but Buster isn’t adoptable,” she said. “He’s old, he has arthritis, and he’s protective of and attached to Pete. Dogs like that can go down fast in a shelter. We knew if he went to a kill shelter he wouldn’t survive.”

Of the 3.5 million homeless people in America, anywhere between 5 and 25 percent of them have pets.  This may be unfair to the animals, particularly when it is scorching hot, freezing cold, rainy, and buggy, but most homeless people will sacrifice their own meals and blankets to keep their pets comfortable.  Pets are all some of these people have, and turning them over to a kill shelter isn’t an option.

Pete never thought he’d be where he is now, but it can happen to anybody nowadays.  If you lose your job and can’t find another one, money runs out fast, and banks and landlords aren’t usually very forgiving of unfortunate circumstances.  Pete had been installing fiber optics and doing construction, but when the economy declined, so did the work.

“I’m not your stereotypical homeless person,” he said. “I don’t drink, and I don’t do drugs. There are a lot of very smart people living at the mission who are just down on their luck.”

The Long Island native moved to Delaware after his sister and mother, whom he was caring for, died within weeks of one another.  He went where the work was, but that quickly dried up.  He sold his car to keep his apartment, but when the money ran out, he was out on the streets.  He never married and has no children, so he has no one to turn to except Buster, who he visits every day.

“I am just amazed at his attitude,” Pierantozzi said. “He walks two-and-a-half miles each way every day to see Buster, and then he spends two or three hours helping us walk the dogs. Most people in his situation would be depressed and angry, but he isn’t.”

She is so inspired by his fortitude that she is reaching out to everyone she knows, looking for a full-time job for him.  Pete has been working at the shelter, but because it is a non-profit and relies on donations, there is no pay to give him.

“Pete has been so resilient through all his trials,” Pierantozzi noted.  “It’s bad enough to lose your home, but to not know what’s going to happen to your pet is horrible. I just hope there are people out there that can help.”

For now, Pete is just grateful to be able to sleep at the Sunday Breakfast Mission and that Buster is well-cared for.  He hopes they will be reunited permanently soon.

He’s my buddy; he’s been with me through everything.  He seems content here, and he knows now that I’m coming back, that he hasn’t been deserted,” Pete explained.  “Faithful Friends helped me save my faithful friend. I’ll be grateful forever. I have nothing to complain about.”

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