My BFF Chris & Jimmy 2 Shoes

Many of you know that my BFF is Chris Hoar. Chris is an amazing animal advocate & my fellow co-founder of the facebook app, Pet Pardons. Working with Chris on Pet Pardons has truly been the most rewarding experience of my life. However, the greatest honor for me is having Christopher Christina Hoar as my friend.

I’m sure many of you have witnessed the ridiculous banter between Chris & I on facebook:

I call him a Hoar… He calls me Barbie…

I call him useless… He calls me worthless…

I call him a drug addict…

He says, “Yeah? What’s your point, Lady?”

I’m amazed that anyone other than Chris & I would find this crap to be entertaining. I’m even more amazed at the number of people who actually love watching this useless behavior go down. I get so many private messages from people saying how much they enjoy our sarcastic slander of one another. It’s so fun that we can make people laugh by launching massive verbal attacks on each other’s reputations. Wow… we are both completely useless.

However, for once, I am not writing to bash Christina Hoar. I’m actually gonna do quite the opposite tonight. While I give Chris a hard time, he is one of the most amazing people I know. And this week, he did something INCREDIBLE—he adopted a dog from death row. Yesterday, my friend, walked into the pound, and saved a life. Yesterday, my friend, reminded me exactly why he’s my very best friend in the world.

Let me tell you a little more about Chris’ new friend. Chris adopted a very scared, injured little boy, and we named him Jimmy 2 Shoes. Why the name Jimmy 2 Shoes? Well, Chris calls me One Shoe, because I can only ever find one of my shoes. I, in turn, call Chris, Two Shoes, because he manages to find both of his. Therefore, when it came time for the name, we went with Jimmy 2 Shoes… to make him part of our "Shoe" family. I’m going to let Chris tell you about Jimmy 2 Shoes in his own words. Chris, you’re welcome. That will be $50. (PS-So freakin proud of you.)

Chris’ Story

Dogs are a big part of my life. I run a facebook application called Pet Pardons with an amazing woman, Ashley Owen Hill. Pet Pardons is dedicated to saving the lives of dogs on death row in shelters across America by finding them adopters. But until yesterday, I had never personally adopted a dog.

As you all know, Ashley has spent her life rescuing dogs, and since getting to know her, she has become a huge inspiration to me. Last Friday night, we were chatting when we saw a picture of a little 2 year old Chihuahua Mix on facebook. He had no name, just a number, and he had deformed legs, apparently caused by breaks that were never set correctly. He had less than 24 hours to live, and I knew what I had to do. The next morning I got up early, picked up my weekend helper Angie, and we set off from San Diego for Orange County to rescue this little guy.

When we arrived at the shelter it was cold, there were hundreds of cages, and they were all outside. The nonstop barking was made worse by the fact that all the dogs were shivering. I have been to shelters many times over the last few years, but it never gets easier. As I walked down the path looking for cage number 300, the sad faces would look at me as if to say "Please mister, choose me, I will be good I promise". It was heartbreaking, I knew that many of these guys were not going to make it. 5 out of 10 dogs that come into a kill shelter are euthanized, which equals one every 10 seconds in America, or about 10 million a year.

And then I saw him, he was so tiny and cute, he jumped up and was craving attention as I stroked him through the bars. The name we had picked out for him fit so perfectly, "Hello Jimmy 2 Shoes" I said. We got to spend 5 minutes with him in a run to get introduced. He took to me immediately, and I of course fell in love with him. I had to wait 4 days for him to be neutered, and get his shots. Then yesterday, I finally got to go pick him up.

It took just a few minutes and about $100 and then they brought him out. When the girl handed him to me, it was such an amazing feeling, it’s hard to describe. I had saved his life, and now I got to take him out of that awful place. He clung to me so tight & pushed his head next to mine. I'm pretty sure he knew he was being freed.

When he got into the car, he was clearly scared, cowering with his head down. But he was also very curious. It was like he had never seen anything before, he couldn't stop staring out the window. He was looking up all the time as if to say "Wow, that building is ridiculously tall". The ride back home took about an hour, and by the end, he was actually sleeping on my lap. I don't think he slept much at the shelter.

Within just a few hours of arriving at the office, he had already started to change. It was dramatic. He was running after balls, jumping on to the couch and his ears were up. His tail was now wagging constantly, it was clear that he understood things were going to be very different for him. 

When I took him home he was no longer afraid, just curious. He met Mitsy & Piglet, my other 2 pups, and within minutes was running around the garden with them, before trying to mount Mitsy. Needless to say she was not impressed with any of that.

Last night he slept in my bed, under the covers and pressed up against me, and he slept like a rock. Today, he woke up for the first full day of his new life, and he is a different dog from the one I picked up not 24 hours ago. Now I can't even leave the room without him following me, and he's gaining confidence by the hour. He is filled with love and seems to have been waiting his whole life to show it.

What I have learned is this: I may have saved his life, but Jimmy 2 Shoes and all the others I have helped, are the ones who are saving mine. If you have never adopted a dog, then I suggest you do. There is nothing like it, and you will never regret it.