Woman tearfully adopts dog as shelter desperately seeks foster homes

Las Vegas (KSNV) — Pennie Simms knew the tiny Maltese mix wouldn’t be available for long.

“I came down here for this certain little dog,” she says. “I'm a stay-at-home person, my husband works all the time and I've been looking for a companion.”

On Friday morning, she was one of the first in line at The Animal Foundation. She adopted the dog she named, Coco.

“They brought her to me, and tears just rolled down my eyes,” says Simms.

While Simms is making a lifetime commitment, shelter staff is also hoping to find foster families for at least 50 dogs.

Including Huckleberry, greeting customers in the lobby.

“Hey guys while you’re waiting, I wanted to introduce you to Huck,” says the dog’s handler. “He’s very gentle.”

“Over the last week we've had more than 600 animals come into the shelter,” explains Animal Foundation CEO Hilarie Grey. “We do a lot of fosters and adoptions daily but we're doing an urgent ask to the community please come in.”

Grey says larger dogs tend to stay in the shelter longer.

To speed up the fostering process a walk-up window is now open just inside the facility’s front doors.

“It's free, we will give you food or supplies or whatever you need,” says Grey. “And we are asking for fosters that can take a dog for a week, two weeks but any time is appreciated.”

Fostering also gives the shelter valuable information about a dog’s personality away from the kennels.

Details that can then be shared with potential adoptive families.

“I've been here since 8:30 trying to adopt a cute little puppy,” says Grace Albano. “They're doing her rabies shot and getting her microchip and we get to take her home tonight.”

Albano calls it love at first site.

Just like Simms and Coco.

“We're going to find out her birthday and were going to have some fun today,” says Simms.

Helping bring down the Foundation’s total population, one dog at a time.

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The Animal Foundation at 655 N. Mojave Road in Las Vegas is conveniently located off US-95 and Eastern. The Animal Foundation is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization. All donations are tax deductible in full or in part. Tax ID: 88-0144253. Contact us by phone or email using the contact information found here.

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