This is Sunday. Sunday is Natalie Portman’s new fur-baby and she is very eager to show you what a good girl she is. Because she is the best. My fur baby girl is the best too. As is Brittany Snow’s baby girl, Billie. They are just all the best, okay? Boy fur-babies, too. Natalie adopted Sunday from the rescue group Paws for Life K9 Rescue, which I knew little about prior to this. Natalie explained about the organization in her caption to the post above:
So grateful to all the people @pawsforlifek9 who trained Sunday, the newest addition to our family! Paws for Life is a prison dog training program for PTSD service dogs and CGC certified adoptable dogs. I saw first-hand how their program is healing for both the trainer and dog. Visit their page to learn more: @pawsforlifek9.
As I said, I think I’d heard their name before but didn’t know anything about them. From their website: “Paws for Life K9 Rescue pulls its dogs from local shelters. Often, we choose dogs in need of socialization and training which we place with our incarcerated trainers throughout California State Prisons.” The incarcerated trainers can devote 24/7 to working the pups, most of whom are trained as service dogs. Then the dogs are adopted to folks like Natalie, with many going to those who suffer from PTSD, particularly veterans. So, this program benefits the dogs, because dogs who lack socialization rarely get adopted. This benefits those incarcerated with a meaningful job and a loving companion. And it benefits those who adopt the pups in so many wonderful ways.
Sunday joins Natalie, her husband Benjamin Millepied and her three other kids, Aleph, Amalia and Penny, Penny being of the fur variety like Sunday, and also the best. I’m thrilled Natalie and Co. have this new, gorgeous addition to their family. I’m thrilled Sunday has a loving family and permanent home to go to. I’m thrilled with all the lives Sunday has touched already. But I am also grateful to Natalie for promoting this rescue organization in her Instagram so that many of us who didn’t know about it can now support it. There are many, many rescue/animal groups out there but they are all doing wonderful things and the more visibility we can give to them, the better.
Paws for Life is in Santa Monica, which is near Los Angeles here in California. Unfortunately, this particular organization does not do out-of-state adoptions at this time. If you know of any rescue groups in your area such as this (or any doing good work, really) please let others know in the comments. If you want to support Paws for Life, you can donate, adopt or foster with them.
Paws for life also posted the happy news about Sunday’s adoption:
Photo credit: WENN Photos and Instagram
Aw, what a lovely pupper 🐶
What a beauty!
Sunday is the goodest girl!!
How funny – that’s what I always say to my two boys while scrunching their cheeks, “Who’s the goodest boy? Who’s the goodest?” (Imagine in a very squealy baby-voice)
Beautiful dog! May they all be happy together for a long, long time.
Many state prison systems have similar programs. They train shelter rescues and purebred pups to be working dogs. Those who don’t meet the working dog standards are put up for regular adoption. The program serves four communities: the dogs who are rescued, the disabled who need a working dog to help them with life activities, families who need a furry member, and the inmates who develop life skills by caring for and training the dogs.
In New England states, the program is called NEADS.
This is a great idea – the inmates can also use the dog training skills to start new careers outside of prison. Some of the photo’s with the dogs and inmates were darling.
This kind of shit warms my cold, dark little heart. I love programs like this – it gives everyone involved such a great experience.
There’s a rescue that I made the mistake of following on instagram (@flywithme.animalrescue). They bring dogs from kill shelters in the US to Nova Scotia. We don’t have kill shelters here, which I’m so thankful for.
But the amount of gorgeous sweet angel babies that I see getting flown up here just tugs at my heart strings. In the (far) future when we get another dog, I think that’s where I’m going to be headed.
My cousin got her Daschund mix from a program in the Colorado prison system. Diesel is a very good boy, and extremely well trained. These programs are so important, and there are many prisons that have kitty-based programs too!
I’m so glad to see this program being highlighted. My mother teaches life skills to men and women at our local jail/ prison and several of the inmates she works with also participate in the dog training program so they’ll have their dogs with them in class. The dogs (and their trainers) get to have a graduation ceremony when they complete the training. It’s a beautiful program.
I saw one of those Sunday programs on TV about this program or another state’s program. It was a truly touching thing to see, with benefits for all concerned.
A friend got a wonderful dog through this program. She’s not a service dog, which means she “washed out” of the training program, which can happen for all sorts of reasons, including being too friendly. We do kind of joke about it.
I had a job where you weren’t allowed to bring dogs to work. One of the senior execs got around the rule by training seeing eye puppies. These dogs are supposed to come into offices and such to get used to all sorts of environments, so the have to be given the same access and accommodations service dogs are. He’d leave her with various folks when he had to go to meetings and such. Best way to stick it to HR ever!
What a gorgeous doggo and a great cause. I’ve always had the biggest girl crush on Natalie.
Awww! This made me all misty eyed. Sunday is so beautiful. She has a polar bear face!
A New Leash on Life in N.C. The program matches prisons and rescue leagues/shelters across the state. Depending on the rescue/shelter, out of state adoption is possible. My sweet Lulu went through this program and is the best (ofc). I will never meet her trainer but want to put out in the universe a big Thank You. You saved her life and turned her into a very social pup and a very good girl.
Celebrity pet rescue stories are my absolute favorite stories. In GA (Atlanta) we have Canine Cellmates; they pull a lot of pitbulls/larger dogs from kill shelters to get trained. We have a big problem with high volume in shelters in this state (I think it’s a problem in a lot of the Southeast), and there are so many amazing rescue groups trying to help dogs get adopted.
Sunday is beautiful and a good girl and thanks to Ms. Portman for adopting her and spotlighting @pawsforlifek9.
You invited us to spotlight other rescues, so I will. Charleston, Arkansas is a small town of fewer than 3000 people, located near Ft. Smith. About twenty years ago, a small group of volunteers opened a dog shelter in town. It is absolutely, strictly NO KILL and volunteer staffed, no one is paid. They do good work. They exist on donations. If you’d like to check them out they have a FB page, but make sure you search Charleston, Arkansas, NOT South Carolina or any other Charleston.
PS, All my rescues are the best and I know all of y’alls are, too.
I run High Plains PAW rescue and we are out of Nebraska. We adopt out of state. We pull dogs from all over and bring them up to Nebraska to find homes. We have a litter of Golden Retriever/Border Collies who will likely look similar to this girl.
I get so excited when any responsible celebrity highlights rescue! Literally ANY breed you want is in a rescue! Please adopt don’t shop!
Aww. She is the best girl. I have the best boy.
What a great program for everyone involved.
This dog looks so elegant, she wouldn’t even allow me to sit at her table.
Oh, she totally would. Elegant puppers > elegant people.
❤️❤️❤️
Lovely story!
(But Sunday might be a boy fur baby? In the last Instagram slide it says that shelter staff gave the name Yuri.) Gorgeous fur baby either way!
Which could also be a female name, there’s a famous Mexican female singer named Yuri. In any case, what a beautiful fur-baby!!
Each of the Washington State prisons have their own dog training program, too. Some just train service dogs and others non-service. The prison closest to Seattle also offers dog grooming services to the public as part of a job skills program for the inmates. I taught at one of the facilities, and the women often talked about how much they benefited from working with the dogs.
The podcast Criminal had an excellent episode about a woman who ran a canine jail program if anyone loves true crime, rescue doggos and a good story! Gives a bit more insight into how these types of programs work
Episode 121: Off Leash
This post reminded me of that episode on Criminal as well!
“I’m Phoebe Judge and THIS…is Criminal.”
Beautiful dog. Looks part great pyrenees as well.
My rescue story: My rescue is part pyrenees & anatolian, maybe a little aussie as her mother had blue spotted coat. Mine was Born on a goat ranch to the livestock guard dogs and not cared for. The landlord saw the unwanted litter and she took all the puppies from the rancher (who didnt want them and wasnt caring for them). My pup was vacinnated by the landlord, fed string cheese and bowls of milk. The pup was then brought into the local barbershop by the landlord at approx 3 -4 weeks old. The puppy was huge so we all thought she was older than she was. She was delivered to the local barber (my mother) because the landlord knew my mother wouldnt say no to a puppy needing a home. She brought the giant puppy home and – I claimed her, “she’s mine!” And now 125lbs bigger- she is my dog daughter!
EVERYTHING about this story has me teared up ❤️
The slides of the dog in the cage, all matted and wet make me tear up.
My beloved doggo is a rescue, and she was with an abusive homeless man for the first year of her life. It breaks my heart that people can be so cruel to these animals, who just want to be a good companion to a human. It is so wonderful that Natalie adopted a rescue dog, and that she is spreading awareness of these kinds of programs.
If I could stop working, I’d totally rescue a dozen dogs…especially the elderly, or those with medical issues. They just need love, and they appreciate goodness so much. I gotta stop now or I am going to cry. Wish I was at home with my girl right now.
What a beautiful dog! Bless anyone working with rescue animals. Wagging Dog Rescue does great work in Southern California. They typically go into shelters and rescue animals. Ours were rescued when their mother was dumped in a kill shelter just before giving birth to puppies. The puppies would have otherwise been put down. Wagging Dog rescued the mom and all the puppies, let the mom wean them for several months, then everyone got adopted out. We took two sisters and could not be more grateful to this organization for their compassion.
What a great story and fabulous promotion of the work done by rescue groups and prisoner rehab groups <3
In Australia (NSW) we have similar programmes like "Dogs for Diggers" (diggers is slang for soldiers) But we also have so many groups who do good work to rehome dogs….
Pound Patrol, generally posts about the most 'urgent' dogs/pups (ie: about to be euthanised, those on death row and those who've been impounded the longest): https://www.facebook.com/poundpatrol/
And the group my AmStaff rescue came from: https://www.facebook.com/RescueHub/ – all beautiful people who work so hard to find safe homes for dogs at risk of being euthanised.
Lot of respect for Natalie doing such a good thing.I don’t buy dogs,never,I only rescue them and take from shelter.I almost cry everytime I think about them,not knowing what love and bound can be,feeling safe at home,in a family.The prison program is amazing both for dogs and people,it should be done everywhere.