In honor of National Animal Shelter and Rescue Appreciation Week (which was technically last week — check out our post featuring local shelters and rescue groups), we thought it might be a good time to formally introduce you to our “office mates.” Please peruse their full bios below, and tell us all about your own furry friends.

Linus Der Blockhead

Age: 1 year and 8 months

Likes: Playing tug and keep away, wrestling with other dogs, trying to crawl into my humans’ laps, and visiting the pigs at the farm where my dad works.

Dislikes: Getting in the car, swimming (I’m more of a wader), and when strangers are walking behind me and my family. (Who does that? Murderers, that’s who.)

My Story: I was born a poor country boy somewhere in North Carolina. I don’t remember much from those days, but I’m told I was found on the side of the road in a rural area. I’m a walking country ballad. Some kind people brought me to a shelter where I got to hang out with lots of nice people and other dogs, including the foster sister I eventually came to Connecticut with. My foster sister got adopted quickly — and though I was jealous that she found her furever home so quickly, it meant I got my foster parents all to myself and could work my magic on them. So the joke is on her, I guess. After months of meeting and greeting potential adopters (I swear, I wasn’t peeing in their houses on purpose to scare them off), my foster family finally decided to keep me furever!  

Claude Depussy

Age: 5

Likes: Sleeping, biting recklessly exposed ankles, talking back to my parents, McDonald’s Chicken Nuggets, sitting in the post-shower puddles, and of course, staring ominously at empty walls. 

Dislike: Manicures, the days I don’t get wet food, cat leashes, and energetic children. 

My Story: I was conceived by a wanton house cat and a rambling stray, born behind a dumpster in East Hartford, Connecticut. These beginnings might have been humble, but my aspirations were not. I manifested a life above my station and achieved it the rainy night my parents answered an ad for free kittens. As they plucked the fleas from my coat and fed me the finest pates, I knew I would rule over this dominion – benevolently, but with a firm, retractable grip. I now enjoy a life of complete leisure. When my parents displease me, I scream until they acquiesce, then later reward this compliance with affection. I know I make them very happy because I am exceedingly cute and just withholding enough to keep them wanting more. 

Willow Von Wolfiesnoot

Age: I beg your pardon! You never ask a lady her age!

Likes: Swimming, running through the woods like a Dire Wolf, training (I get lots of treats), and playing fetch.

Dislikes: When my brother Linus tries to steal my toys, anytime he’s getting attention and I’m not, and when my humans call me back when I’m obviously busy chasing a rabbit.

My Story: There I was, just trying to show up for my temp job in HR at an office park in Irving, Texas when Animal Control pulled up. Apparently, the fools in the office thought I was some kind of common stray and not a nice, middle-aged woman just trying to get to work. Luckily, I ended up in a nice foster home before moving north to Connecticut. Now, instead of working a crappy office job, I get to live my best life in the woods, swimming all summer and taking weekend walks to Willow Creek (yes, it was named after me) in the woods behind our house.