Humane Society – Silicon Valley located in Santa Clara, Ca

www.hssv.org  is the Humane Society – Silicon Valley located in Santa Clara, Ca. near San Jose. I have visited there twice and adopted a very unique black lab/Sharpei mix and flew her back to Pa. where she loves life, the snow and being happy. This shelter has an enthusiastic staff, many volunteers and wonderful adoption counselors. They have a wide variety of dogs, sizes and breeds. You can absolutely get any kind of dog here. Chihuahuas, Pointers, Shepards, Labs, Chows, Greyhounds, St. Bernards and the cutest cross breds imaginable. As true in most Shelters, they stress that they do NOT receive government funding or United Way help, they solely rely on donations from good hearted people who care about animals.

In 2003 they housed nearly 29,000 animals. Cats comprise about 2/3 of the animals brought in.Sadly most of the ferals cannot be placed and are euthanized. Rabbits have been abundant this year and they can have a litter every 28 days!! It is tragic that some owners view rabbits and other animals as throw away, disposable pets. Rabbits are a poor choice for children around Easter time and so are baby chicks. Safer to buy toys, chocolate or make a Donation to a rabbit rescue group like the Rabbit Haven in the Bay area.

Sadly, they intake more than they can adopt out. They have a high number of intakes. Texas, California, Nevada, New Mexico and Florida have some specific issues regarding owners who do not value their pets and consider them disposable as well as having a lack of resources. All U.S. states have these problems, but the more heavily populated states and the border states are tragically burdened with unwanted cats and dogs due in particular to ignorance and refusal to spay and neuter.

They have excellent tips on introducing animals into your household and even an “Ask the Behaviorist” forum.  Another GREAT feature is their specific pet advice categories. This is well organized and comprehensive. I learned so much here. Click on ‘Behavior’ at the top of the home page, then click on a rabbit, dog or cat circle and all sorts of categories pop up such as Kids & Dogs, Housetraining, Indoor Cats/live twice as long as outdoor ones, Personality and Dominance issues and answers questions that you may have before making the lifetime committment to adopt an animal into your life.

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