August is not just the month I irrationally believe the universe has it in for me. It is also the month of the nationwide Clear the Shelters event. Shelter pets are very near and dear to my heart – and I’ll tell you why: they saved my life! Since becoming ill, and retiring to the desert, I have had four dogs, all from the Palm Springs Animal Shelter. When I lived on my own in my house, they were Dennis (20 lb. Corgi mix), Wil (90 lb. Chocolate Labrador), and Mandy (45 lb. Vizsla). All three of them were “rescues.”
When I moved to assisted living in 2013, I faced a gut-wrenching decision. Wil and Mandy were too big to move in with me, but after five years of a loving home, I couldn’t send them back to the shelter. Fate stepped in, and a gay couple I knew up in Desert Hot Springs were looking to get a Labrador. They really only wanted Wil, but I would not agree to the adoption unless they took his step-sister Mandy also.
In the end, Wil and Mandy were re-homed together to Desert Hot Springs where they enjoyed a long and happy life, and Dennis and I moved to assisted living.
For the next nine years, Dennis was at my side, literally, every waking and sleeping minute of the day. At 47, I now lived in a place where the average age was in the 80s. It was not easy. Death was a constant, not only because my fellow residents died with alarming regularity (because of their age), but given that I had an incurable, untreatable disease (PML) I found myself wondering why I was putting myself through it all – particularly when my doctors told me, “you won’t get better and you might get worse.” Some mornings I woke up and felt like I was prolonging the inevitable. Life for me had become less like swimming and more like treading water – both keep you from drowning, but treading water tires you out quicker and you make no progress.
There came a time when I asked myself, “what’s the point?”
Then I looked at Dennis and he looked back at me, and I realized he was the point. This animal that no one had wanted and had been left to languish unloved in a kennel with a cold, hard cement floor needed me. Let’s be real. I have no children, the accounting and scheduling software I wrote in the 90s is obsolete and no longer in use, my company moved out of the building I built the last three years of my career.
So what was to be my legacy? Here was a living breathing creature that without me faced an uncertain future and probably death. His only hope was me.
It is said you do not rescue a shelter pet, they rescue you. I’m here today to tell you that is true. Dennis saved me from despair. And when he died (blind and deaf from old age) I was at a crossroads. My reason to get up every morning was gone. I fell into a deep depression that felt as though I had been swallowed by a dark hole.
Honestly, things could have gone either way at that point. Then I went to the shelter and met Gordon (above), my little 10 lb. Chihuahua. I knew I had to give him a chance. To know love. To know safety. To know security. To be spoiled rotten. When I brought him home, yes, technically, you would say I “rescued” him, but in turning my attention from Dennis to Gordon, by committing to making every day the best day of his life: he gave, and gives me purpose – and purpose is what I need to rescue me from despair.
Which is why I am so committed to shelter pet adoption. And The Clear the Shelters event, which is an annual pet adoption campaign organized by NBCUniversal Local in partnership with animal shelters and rescue organizations across the United States, is held throughout the month of August. It encourages people to adopt dogs (and cats, and…) in need of loving homes while also raising awareness and donations.
The 2026 campaign runs from August 1st through 31st and includes more than 1,700 participating shelters and rescue groups across 49 states, Washington DC, Puerto Rico, and Guam. Many participating organizations offer reduced or waived adoption fees, making it easier for people to welcome a new animal into their home. Specific adoption policies and promotions will vary by shelter and municipality, so prospective adopters should check with their local participating organization for details.
Since its launch in 2015, Clear the Shelters has helped more than 1.3 million animals find forever homes and has raised millions of dollars to support animal welfare organizations. The campaign not only increases adoptions but also creates much-needed space in shelters so they can continue caring for other homeless animals.
People who aren’t ready to adopt can still support the effort by:
- Donating to participating shelters and rescues (see below)
- Fostering animals in need
- Volunteering at local shelters
- Sharing adoptable animals and event information on social media to help them reach potential adopters
For anyone considering adding a pet to their family, Clear the Shelters is one of the best times of the year to visit a local shelter, meet adoptable animals, and give one of them a forever home.
But even if you’re not looking to adopt, you can still help. It’s easy, you can do it online! Maybe after you finish reading this post thoughtful reader. You can provide treats, enrichment toys, leashes, collars, and other essentials that keep the shelter dogs at the Palm Springs Animal Shelter healthy, comfortable, and happy while they wait for their loving forever homes. Click here to view the shelter’s doggy wish list on Amazon, select an item, check out and pay as you would if you were buying a new toaster, and it will ship to the Palm Springs Animal Shelter. It was shelter dogs that saved me…
and now we have a chance to save them and make their wait for love more bearable.
