I've got the fever...

...and no I (thankfully) do not mean Bieber fever.

I have MAJOR puppy fever.
It's bad people- very bad.

(Specifically I want a lab puppy- or a puppy that is part lab!)

Growing up I always had several pets at a time (at one point we had 4 dogs and 3 cats)- and although having everything I own covered in hair got a little old from time to time, I loved having them around. When I left my parents house it was weird at first to not have any pets around, but I quickly got used to it.

However, lately, every time I see a dog my heart just melts. I want one sooo bad.

I spent 30 mins this morning looking at dogs to be adopted through the local animal shelter. I fell in love with pretty much everyone I saw, and It breaks my heart to know I can't take any of them home with me :( I live in a place that doesn't allow dogs, and sadly I know that I am just too busy to give a dog the time and attention that they would need right now.

BUT! I found out something really cool that I can do instead of bringing a dog home right now, that is still (hopefully) going to help get them out of a shelter and into a loving home. Perhaps this is only news to me, but in some cases shelters will allow you to sponsor shelter animals! You can help find a home for an animal by paying part of the adoption fee - therefore making it cheaper for someone who wants to take that animal home! So cool! Also, fostering animals is another possibility! So if you can't commit long-term to having a pet you can temporarily give an animal a break from the shelter life, and maybe help train that animal for their future family! Some animals might have some bad habits that will prevent them from going to a good home. By fostering one of these animals, and working with them, and training them, hopefully they will be more likely to be adopted! Plus, while you are fostering an animal the shelter will have space for another animal, so in the end you might help two animals find loving families, even if you aren't able to adopt one yourself!

So that's it folks, if you are passionate about helping shelter animals find homes but just aren't able to adopt one yourself, there are still a whole bunch of ways that you can help out!

Has anyone of you adopted a fur-friend from an animal shelter? How did you find the whole experience?

I might not be able to bring a friend home just yet- but I will be, and I wanna know as much as possible about the process!

xo April