Happy Tails
2006 & Before

Heartland Animal Shelter
2975 Milwaukee Ave.
Northbrook, IL. 60062
Phone: 847-296-6400
Fax: 847-296-4198
Email: heartlandanimals@yahoo.com

All images, documents, and text on this web site are copyrighted and
may not be used or reproduced without written permission.
The minute we saw Cooper (Cutie-Pie) we knew he was the pup for us!  How could you resist those flopped over ears and big brown eyes!?  From day one, Cooper had made himself apart of the family in a HUGE way!  Being that we live only a couple blocks away from the beach, are surrounded by parks, bike trails and the Metra- we have plenty of activities that have come to be some of Coopers most favorite past times!  Whether its going down to the beach and playing catch in the sand and chasing the waves, jogging along the bike path stopping from time to time to watch the Metra train pass by or simply taking a stroll throughout the neighborhood ALWAYS with a stick in his mouth- Cooper is one of the happiest and most spoiled puppies we know!  Not to mention the impact he has had on our life- always putting a smile on our face with some of the silly things he does, the warmth put in our heart knowing that we have provided him with a loving family and home, a companion for our cat as well as a great companion for us!  Adopting a dog from Heartland Animal Shelter is by far one of the most rewarding experiences we have ever had and it?s such a great feeling knowing there are so many wonderful volunteers are there taking the time to get to know each and every animal!  Thank you Heartland Animal Shelter for providing us a wonderful addition to our family! 

Dawn & Jase
We adopted Boomer (Brudo) in the spring of 2005.  When he first came home, he was somewhat quite and reserved, as if he was checking out the situation.  Then, his personality exploded with a loud boom and he opened up.  Boomer is an enthusiastic participant in life, always looking for something to do, whether it is going for long walks patrolling the neighborhood, greeting any other dogs or people he sees along the way, to retrieving tennis balls, or trying to find the source of that squeak in any toy he owns.  Boomer enjoys visiting his ?doggie cousins? Candy, Corky & Dali.  They hang together along with their buddies, Sherlock, Bishop, and Pockets. This  ?network? exchanges ?doggy life skills" such as retrieving, chasing each other, a little agility, and how to dig.  Boomer is a great motivator, always inviting other dogs to play.  One of his motivation ?talks? is to grab one of the toys that squeaks and run through the yard with it.  Boom brings the joy of life and living in the moment to everyone (and every dog) he meets.

Anne & Hank
Hey from Rogers Park.  Just wanted to give you follow-up on the boys I adopted at Christmastime.  The boys are doing well, and I'll attach a few pics of them with this message. 

Bonzo has been renamed Fafner (pronounced foff-ner),  which is a German name from Richard Wagner's opera Die Walküre.  Fafner was a "gentle giant" in that opera, and Steve and I felt that it fit Bonzo's personality.  Interestingly, it was Cyrus that drew me to Heartland in the first place, but Fafner has become the favorite child, if you will, of both of us.   He is such a goofball!  Utterly cute and loveable, and we swear that inside he's a little dog.  Most everyone has adapted to each other, though Schubert (the giant orange tabby) has become somewhat of a loner since Cyrus and Fafner's arrival.  I think he's slowly coming around, though.
Thanks for enhancing our little "family" here with the addition of the two buddies from Heartland!

Dear Heartland,

Just a note to let you know our "Mr. Kringer" is the joy of our house.  He has thrived over the past months.  He is our only pet with loving "Mom" & "Dad" to answer his every whim.  He's spoiled rotten!  He sleeps plastered to me all night and follows his "dad" to fish "mousies" out from under the couch.

A recent trip to the vet showed he weighs 13.5 pounds.  He was 9.5 when we got him.

A big lovable baby, with great litter habits who is a real talker.  I couldn't be happier nor could my husband.  I think Kringer would tell you he is very, very happy if he could talk in our language.

Thank you for providing rescue - we love our baby!

Karen
Hi Jenny,

I can't begin to tell you how excited we are with our adoption of Rocco.  As you know, your Dad has frequently seen the animals at the shelter, but when he saw Rocco (previously called Spearmint), there was something that clicked.  Considering we already have an adopted 100-lb baby at home (Reilly), I never thought your Dad would consider adopting another dog.  How many times has he said "no more pets".  Yet, he couldn't stop talking about this adorable puppy he saw.  And, you know that it was "love at first sight" when I came to see him.  But, Reilly has been the jealous type and I was a tad concerned about how Reilly would accept a "little brother".

Ohmigosh!  For Reilly it was "love at first sight", too!  Rocco and Reilly are inseparable!  Rocco has a big brother that teaches him things and watches out for him like a surrogate mother.  Within hours, Reilly had taught Rocco to go up and down the stairs.  They play like there is no tomorrow and with all the growling and showing of teeth, there is never a yelp or hurt sound!  Reilly shares just about everything with his little brother Rocco.

Rocco is just adorable and we love him like crazy.  He sleeps with us, something Reilly has never done; and is such a cuddler!  He is as smart as a whip and is learning very quickly.  And, I can't believe how much of a watch dog he is already becoming!  Yet, Rocco senses, like Reilly, when one of you girls are coming over.  He does his greeting howl and loves to give kisses!

While I never thought we would have a second dog, there is no way I could even consider not having Rocco now!  He was already worked his way into our hearts and is part of the family.  I'm so happy that we adopted him and Reilly is thrilled to have a "little brother" to watch over and to play with all the time!

Thank you for introducing Rocco to your Dad.  This little guy is such a welcome addition to our lives!  We love him dearly!

Kathi
Thanks for asking about Chaos - And he still is "Chaos"!  He is an excellent pet for our family.  A very loving and affectionate cat, he loves to be where the action is.  He even lets my daughter, Lauren, push him around the house in her doll carriage!  Our other cat, Cookie, is a great playmate for him.
Most of our "Happy Tails" stories are sent to us by the humans involved.  In this one, Olly decided to send the letter, rather than wait for humans!

"Dear Heartland Volunteers and Staff,
   I wanted to thank everyone for taking such good care of me during my stay at Heartland.  Everybody treated me very well at your shelter.  I am happy to report that I am adjusting to my new home very well.  I love all of my new brothers and sisters.  I still love to ride around perched on everybody's shoulders.  My two favorite spots to sleep are on the bedroom window perch in the sun and on all of the big fluffy white pillows.  Take care.

Love,
Olly Nogle"
We love Raven sooooo much.  She is such a great addition to our family here are a few pictures of her playing with some toys.  Isn't she cute?
When we started volunteering at the shelter in January (2006), we had two dogs and two small parrots and thought we had all the pets we could handle on a permanent basis. But we agreed that we could foster cats and took a liking to a senior "couple" named Beau and Trick, who had been at Heartland for more than a year. So, in early February when the catroom renovation called for some of the cats to be fostered, we readily agreed to take Beau and Trick. Well, we quickly fell in love with them and couldn't imagine returning them to the shelter once they had acclimated to their new catroom (our basement party with all its sofas, chairs and ottomans), so we adopted them. Trick's name is now Hannah, courtesy of Bob, who didn't think a name reminiscent of a streetwalker seemed appropriate for such a beautiful, sweet girl. We love them both dearly and they seem happy in their new home.

Then we started walking dogs in the forest preserve across Milwaukee Avenue from Heartland and, looking for dogs we could walk together, started taking an adorable pup named Fernando, who seemed to get along with all the other dogs and loved to romp and play ball. He must have had a sixth sense about how to endear himself to humans (especially Bob) because he was soon crawling into our laps in the car on the way to and from his walks in the woods. He's about seven months old and had been at the shelter half his life with no one seeming to want him. So...we brought him home in mid-May, renamed him Cocoa and gave our other two dogs a pal. Cocoa is a little diplomat, knowing just how to get along with the other dogs. Gypsy (our German Shepherd Dog, who thinks she's the queen and hates most other dogs) tolerates him, and Arthur (our Pembroke Welsh Corgi, who loves to play with other dogs but is a little skittish of larger dogs) romps with him and shares food and toys with him. They are fast becoming a twosome, and Arthur loves having a partner for forest preserve walks and living room play sessions. Cocoa is an absolute delight and we love him dearly.

We highly recommend adopting animals from Heartland. The staff are great. The dogs and cats (and other critters) are super. And there always seems to be room for one more pet. ;-)

Bob and Candy Gabriel
Hello, my name is Ann Rossi and in August of 2005 I adopted a German Shephgerd/Corgie mix named Bogart (you may know him as Bubba.) He was a shy little 9 week old puppy and stayed in the corner of his cage all day. But now, one year later, he is a beautiful, slender, fast, shiny dog that has grown up very nicely. He is still shy around strangers but is a sweet baby and I love him to death. Bogart is the best thing that has ever happened in the eleven years I have been living and I enjoy being with him every day. Thank you so much for giving me this opportunity to raise this gorgeous dog.
-Annie Rossi
Maddie (a little short-haired fox terrier mix) arrived at my home only 4 days ago, and not only is she the new light of my life but today has been a Red Letter Day!  She finally ate all of her breakfast for the first time this morning, finally decided to piddle and poo on our 2-mile walk this morning, finally decided to happily walk into her crate (and didn't cry when I had to leave the house this afternoon, and finally seems to be learning not to jump up on me - most of the time.)

My sweet old Rottie/Cocker Spaniel mix (!) died 3 months ago at 13 and I swore I would never get another dog - but somehow I ended up at Heartland the other day, and there was Maddie.  What more can I say?  Heartland cares, and Maddie AND I are the grateful recipients of that care.  We both adore each other, and I honestly feel it was "meant to be".  (She agrees - check out her pictures!)

Carol Leigh
Sylvester (a.k.a. Sly) and Kon are best buddies.  We are so blessed to have them in our home.  Right now we are working on adding on to their cat room.  We've dedicated the office space in our apartment just for them.

Sylvester loves running up and down the hallway and his favorite toy is a feather on string/stick.  We have to be careful though; otherwise, he'll steal it away and hide it in the cat room.  Sly also loves cuddling up and being held.  He purrs so loudly. What a sweetheart!

Kon is becoming a momma's boy.  He loves cuddles and follows me everywhere.  Every morning he meets me in the hallway and 'chats' at me in little meows for 5 minutes or so.  He loves playing under the blankets in the spare bedroom and is always finding new hiding places
to sneak off to.  He also enjoys playing hide and seek and games of tag with Sly.

We are so happy to have brought them into their forever home in our
home!

Adam and Kadie King
Dear Hearltand Staff

Back in April of this year 2006 me and my fiance walked into Heartland hoping to find a suitable match for our 12 year old lab/sheperd mix.  See two months before we lost our dearly beloved Labrador Retriever to cancer and it was a long battle until all of us who dearly loved him knew it was time to let him go to heaven.  I personally thought that bringing a new dog into the family was wrong and a betrayal to my dear friend but at the same time I saw the happiness that my lab/shepherd mix had slowly dissapear, he was no longer playing or hardly eating just laying on his pillow probably wondering where his brother of 10 years dissapeared too.
So one early morning me, my fiance and my friend (Annette Borowiec-Vet tech at preiser) went to your shelter to see if we could find Shiloh (shepherd/lab mix) a new friend.  When we walked in we saw so many puppies but only one with bright yellow eyes caught our attention her name was AMELIA a five month old what we think Veezla mix.  She was just sitting in her cage not one word from her even though the other dogs were barking like crazy, she just followed your movements.
Make a long story shorter we love her so much and could not picture our lives without her, she has melted Shiloh's heart and so many others. She came in first place at Schaumburg on-leash agility contest and third place in Schaumburg beginner dog obedience.
Amelia, now known as Gracie Fay, is super spoiled and look at these pictures.  We could not resist bringing her and her buddy to take professional photos.  Enjoy and thanks for everything.  She is the BEST GIRL we could of thought of!

-Carla & Jaime Cardona
and Gracie Fay, Shiloh Ray
Dear Heartland,

                     Our family wanted to say many thanks to your staff on our adoption of Taylor. She is a female beagle, and is a happy edition to our family. She was rescued from another shelter by heartland, because they were going to put her down due to over population. I am shocked that they would of lost the chance to get to adopt out such a sweet and loving dog. Thanks to you, we were lucky to get her. She is so lovable. She loves kids and loves being held. I have a 10 year old son, Anthony, and Taylor loves to play with him, and be near him as soon as he walks in the door.
I am sending a picture of Taylor along with this email. We will send more as soon as we get them. Thank you again!

                            - Melinda and Richard
----------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Heartland,

We wanted to update you on Taylor. She was adopted by our family from your shelter on 08/29/2006. We had told you on a previous Happy Tails that is posted on your site that we would send more pictures. Here they are! We are pleased to say that Taylor is now also certified with the United All Breed Registry! She is still always following our 10 year old son around, and is such a happy dog. I tell everyone that she's our little princess. She is our little daughter. For a dog that was rescued from another shelter by Heartlad, I must say that our little princess has come a long way! We're so greatful still that your staff gave us such a wonderful addition to our family. Many thanks!

   * Richard, Melinda, and Anthony.
After a rocky start with Harry Potter (a.k.a. Peter Pan), all is now  going well.  They all play together, sleep together and overall have  taken over the house!  They sleep with me every night and make me  laugh all the time. This was one of my better decisions. The top  photo is Garcia and the female is Rosie (a.k.a. Rossa).

Thanks!

Howard Rubin
Heartland Staff,

I am happy to update you on Bailey (known as Brandy at Heartland).  She did great in obedience training and now is a happy, wonderful dog. Her "sister" Tillie has learned how much fun she is to have around (most of the time) and as you can see they can take up quite a bit of the sofa.

Thank you for the opportunity to have such a great dog in my home.

Christine
Hello Everyone at Heartland,

We arrived at Heartland a couple years ago as a very sick mama and her two infants. We spent only a short time at the shelter before going into a foster home. We charmed our foster mom so much that she adopted us all! We don't remember much about our time at Heartland, but our mom tells us that we were on death row at a Chicago shelter along with 40 other kittens and moms that were also resuced by Heartland. Thanks to Heartland, we are happy, healthy and living together as a family.

Love,

(Mama) Marge, Itchy (white/buff) and Scratchy (tom cat)
Hi!

We just wanted to let you know that Leo loves his new home! He is such a little doll ? almost completely housebroken, docile, sweet, and soft as cashmere! He loves his ?brother? and ?sister?, although he can?t run nearly as fast as they can.  Here are some pictures!

Thanks for the best Xmas present ever!

Julie
Hi Heartland!

   This is my kitty from the shelter to the first day at home.  Minka was brought in as a stray to the police station I work at. I couldn't wait to adopt her!

Thank you Heartland!
Natalia Andrushko
Happy Tails 2012

Happy Tails 2011

Happy Tails 2010

Happy Tails 2009

Happy Tails 2008

Happy Tails 2007