“I grew up with a lot of pets,” Steve told The Dodo.  “Both my parents were animal lovers and they pretty much always let me have whatever I wanted as long as I could take care of it.”

So he’s always had a handful of dogs, but the death of one in particular really struck him hard.

“I was just so distraught about [that death],” he said. “A month or two went by and I still felt so horrible about it. I decided that the only way I would feel better was if something good happened that probably wouldn’t have happened if he had not died.”

He decided to go to the shelter and adopt the dog that was the least likely to ever have anyone give it a home before it died.

“So [I adopted] a 12-year-old Chihuahua [named Eeyore] with a heart murmur and four bad knees and I brought him home and that was just the beginning of all the animals.”

Every day Steve gets up at 5 am to prepare breakfast for each animal. They all have unique diets and some take medication, so they require individual care. He goes to work, but returns at lunch to give them treats. On the weekends, they are busy with grooming and vet appointments.

Despite it being like a canine convalescent home, life is never boring in this house. In addition to the dogs, over the years he has had cats, ducks, pigeons, chickens, a rabbit, a pig, and a pond full of koi. The pig, Bikini, is best friends with Irish wolfhound, Enoch. And his chicken, Oprah, loves to ride the Roomba around the house.

“[The] rabbit, someone just left him in my front yard is how I came to get him. I assume someone knew I had lots of animals and thought ‘Yeah, he’ll give him a good home.’ So, I found him in my front yard one morning and I put him in the chicken coop because I wasn’t sure what to do with him.”

It was all just meant to be. Bikini was raised around dogs, and Stuart (the bunny) is fearless and gets along with everyone. Of course, it probably helps that all the dogs are old and spend most of their time snoozing.

“They’re just wiser animals,” he explained. “You kind of know what you want out of life once you become a certain age. These dogs know who they are and it’s easy to develop a relationship with a person or pet who knows who they are.”

Steve says he’d never be able to live this way with this many puppies. The seniors are all low-energy, and make like very chill and rewarding.

“Like right now, I’m outside on my patio and it’s a beautiful day. Bikini’s laying in the yard and the dogs are all laying around the yard. They just makes it feel like home. It’s just fulfilling knowing that these guys are happy and loved and well-taken care of. It makes my days worthwhile.”

This is just the tip of the iceberg! To see more insanely adorable photos of this awesome brood, follow Steve on Instagram.

The post Man Is Addicted to Adopting Senior Animals No One Else Wants appeared first on ILoveDogsAndPuppies.

This plea comes from a fan of Life With Dogs whose life would be unimaginable without her family’s beloved Barney.

Before i start anything, i have to mention I speak french and I’m from Quebec, so I’m already sorry for my english mistakes and my poor grammar.

Now lets start by the beginning : How I met Barney. About a year ago, i was a new single women and i met this wonderful boy name Dominic, quickly we fell in love and really quickly I move in with him. This is how i met two amazing beagles, Maya and Barney. I have to say my meeting with them was really rough, these two little dog had so MANY energy, impossible to contain and they loved food like i’ve never seen anyone or any dog love it. But anyway, even with their little behavior, I love them instatly, but who wouldn’t, you just have to look at their face, you will understand. (picture in the bottom) My first year with them have been up’s and down’s, but well this is how life is made of. 

Before I explain to you what happend to Barney and why he will maybe die in four days. I need to explain why this dog is so special, why that little cutie deserve to live and i’ll do it buy explain to you all the love between Barney and my boyfriend, Dominic. About4-5 years ago, he, my boyfriend, met Barney one of is friend was the actual owner of him. Dominic felt in love so much with him, that one day, when is friend told him he wanted to get rid of him, because let’s say that he wasn’t quite an angel, he beg him to adopt him and eventualy his friend decided to give barney to him. My boyfriend has take care of him for about 4 years, he is treating him like if it is his child. Honestly, I have never seen anyone in my entire life love a dog like he does, he never gave up on him, a lot of people would have get rid of Barney but he never did, he isn’t a easy dog, but you know every dog need someone to take care of him and love him. I have to say that the love Dominic have for Barney is one of the main reason why I fell in love with him. A person who can take care of an animal this well and love him this much is someone, in my opinion, someone who can love me the way I should be.

So now lets get to the point why we need money from you people on internet. About 1 week ago Barney was diagnose with an discal hernia [herniated disc]. Since then he’s not the Barney i’ve met anymore with so much energy that he was annoying me to death, now he can barely walk, he sleeps all the time and he is  shaking a lot, which breaks my heart so much The veterinary gave him medication and said it might work without any surgery but it didn’t… We went to the veterinary today because his condition has decrease and he didn’t tell us good news, he said that he needed the operation, which would save him or we wait couple of days and if nothing works we will have to take a decision, euthanasia. For my boyfriend this news i like telling a parent he will lose is child in four days, it’s totally heartbreaking for the two of us… The reason we need your money is because we don’t have it, my boyfriend is a student and I curently don’t have a job I’m going back to university in september. 

Please help us, Barney deserve to live he is only 5 years old and just a week ago he was full of life and he could go back to this with your help The 28 of april, if there is no amelioration and if we don’t have the money for the operation, we will have to euthanized him… So feel free to give any donation you want, everything will help us a lot.

The post Once Unwanted Dog Desperately Needs Surgery to Save His Life appeared first on ILoveDogsAndPuppies.