If I were a human, I’d be a juggler.  Or a softball player.  Or a tennis player.  Wait, no, I’d be a collector!  A collector of balls, that is!

I’m Annaball Annabelle and I love me some (Chuck-it) balls.  I’m not sure you understand the level of my love.  I L-O-V-E playing with my balls.  Let me count the ways…

1. If I could run faster, I could chase down even more balls, even more fasterer!

1. I wish I had a bigger mouth to hold more of my favorite loved ones in.

1. I lose my mind a little, I’ll admit, when someone throws one of My Precious’ for me…I love to run up all stealthy like and then POUNCE on it at the end!

1. When I feel like one’s getting away from me, nuh uh, I take charge! I love ‘em too much to let even one escape my charms!

1. You can watch me in action below, aren’t I great at this?  I’m a professional!   



I’m just a super fun and mellow girl and only playful for short spurts—I’ve been on my Pit Stop for a while now and my foster mom and I can’t figure out why no one has wanted to make me their ball girl yet.  Clearly I’m quite dedicated!  I work really, really hard at my job.

Foster mom says I’m really easy-going and would fit in in just about any cat-free home…here’s me asking you with my eyes…adopt me and make me your forever girl?



To learn more about Annabelle and fill out an adoption application, click here.

I’m Katie and I take my running career pretty seriously.  I’m very happy I live in Portland though, because this city is chock full of fellow runners!  I feel pure joy when my foster dad lets me run full speed ahead in MY running field the park!

Do you appreciate great running form?  Check out my stride!

I feel like I could run marathons, but my foster dad says I’d tire out well before the finish.  I say…try me!

I’ve really been working on my speed lately…I think that’s called “speed work”, but why would anyone call it “work” when it’s just plain ol’ fun?!

If you run, then you know it’s also really important to stretch so you don’t pull a hammy or anything else.  Here is a photo of me stretching out my neck muscles to make sure I’m fully limber.

I may have actually been born part-Kenyan, but I live right here in Portland and while my foster dad adores me (and I adore him and my foster brother to pieces), he hopes the perfect running partner person will be utterly impressed by my athleticism and take me to their home to love me forever (and take me running).

You know you wanna!

Here’s a little more of ME, with my foster friend, George (who is also looking for his own family to run with) – check us out! 

Now that you know one of Katie’s favorite passions, click  here  to learn more about her other interests and see if you’re her future running companion.

We recently held an informal adoption event that packed in possibly more cuteness than is legally allowed!  We referred to it as “Puppypalooza” because frankly, we rarely find ourselves with eight puppies from four different litters in our BAPBR program at one time—we just had to coin a cutesy name to match.

The plan was simple.  Have all foster parents bring their adorable Pit Stop pups to one home—check.  Invite all potential adopters who’d expressed interest in one of these little nuggets to said home—check. Bring one photographer in to document the outrageousness of the day—check.  Let the heart-melting begin!

We just had to share these with you.  Seriously—all puppies are adorable, but these babies are off the charts, don’t you think?

In the end, the puppies were reportedly zonked out for hours after all the fun they had playing together. Four babes were adopted that day, too!  Tulip, Posey, Ryan and Tyke, we are excited to report, are about to start their new lives!

Having so many puppies in our program at once has been expensive due to having to spay/neuter and vaccinate so many little ones essentially at one time.  We are holding a Chipin fundraiser to help defray the costs—after all, we don’t want future homeless pets made by these little guys when they’re bigger.  Will you help BAPBR by making a contribution and telling your friends, too?  http://bapbr.chipin.com/bapbr-fundraiser-2012.

Thinking about adopting one of these cutie patooties?  Here’s who is still looking for their own mom and/or dad:

Ryder:  http://www.petfinder.com/petdetail/21971203

Maddie: http://www.petfinder.com/petdetail/22221125

Ellie: http://www.petfinder.com/petdetail/22219231

Wally: http://www.petfinder.com/petdetail/22221148

We have a sad tale to tell.

In November 2011, we were approached by a non-profit group based in southern California named “S.T.A.R.T.” that works tirelessly to network with animal shelters and rescues in Oregon, Washington and Canada.  They seek out groups willing to take dogs that are scheduled for euthanasia in LA-area shelters so that they can rescue them from death and bring them up on transport busses to the northwest, where they have a chance to find a loving home.  The primary reason they are compelled to do this is because we’re told that LA-area shelters are collectively euthanizing about 700 – 1,000 dogs per week.  The number one reason?  Pet overpopulation.  The clear lack of spaying and neutering that is going on is contributing to an overwhelming number of homeless pets—they’re brought into the shelters there in numbers that just can’t balance out based on the number of adoptions they do each week and the amount of space available at each shelter.  Some dogs have just a few days on the adoption floor before they’re taken away, never to be seen again.

We typically work primarily with local shelters here in our state, and will continue to do so as our main focus, but let’s face it – we don’t say we love dogs only if they’re born in Oregon.  We love dogs.  Period.  And these dogs didn’t have a choice of which state they were born in…so when we were asked, and we had foster homes available at that time, we stepped up to save some California lives.

Abigail (or “Mama” as we were all calling her at the time), we were told, had been locked in an abandoned apartment in LA.  Mama was found barking, hungry and dehydrated after a number of days—and she was not alone.  There, too, was “Daddy Duke”, a male.  In their time locked in that apartment, they made the best of their time alone—they made some babies.  Mama and soon-to-be Daddy Duke were brought to California City Pound for a little while.  Mama gave birth to two adorable little girls—Tulip and Posey and about a week and a half later, the entire family was scheduled for euthanasia due to space.

When BAPBR was approached, the timing was right—we just had to help this family!  As a new mother, Abigail, plus Duke, Posey and Tulip came up to Portland on a 24 hour bus ride through S.T.A.R.T.  Because Abby was still nursing two very young pups, we placed her in a temporary foster home until the puppies were to be weaned about a month later.  Duke went to a different foster home.  After the puppies were eating soft food, we transferred mom and pups to another foster home that ended up not being the best fit – so just two weeks later, Abby was transferred again to a third foster home.  This story takes a turn here—shortly after arriving at her new Pit Stop, her foster mom was injured in an accident and has not been in healthy state to be able to walk her or play and romp with her the way she would like—she is still an adolescent with energy to burn off each day.

Meanwhile, Duke also was just recently adopted to a loving family!   The puppies went back to their original foster home and thankfully, we are pleased to say that Tulip and Posey have found their forever homes!

But, there’s still Abby…her whole family have found their homes.  They have new last names and their own dog beds and places in their people’s hearts.

Abby came to the BAPBR program as a very mellow, dog-friendly, all-around easy girl who was a wonderful mother to her puppies.  Due to a lot of instability in her life in the past few, well heck, her whole life, it would seem, she is starting to feel a bit stressed out.  We’d love to find a new and hopefully final Pit Stop where she can remain until her perfect family comes along and swoops her up into their household.  Ideally, this foster home would be fairly quiet and low-key—she does great with kids but she is feeling overwhelmed right now so perhaps no more than one child in the family.  She does like other dogs, but again, we want her to de-stress—she’d do well with just one other mellow dog in the home.  She will really benefit from someone who has some ability to do basic training with her to teach her a good foundation—some nice leash walking, lay down, stay.

Do you fit the job description?  Know someone who does?  We really adore this girl—she just needs a quiet place to decompress.  If you’re interested in fostering Abby, please fill out the application here:  http://www.bapbr.org/foster-application/

To bypass the whole foster care process and take this girl to your forever home, you can learn more about her and submit your application here:  http://www.petfinder.com/petdetail/21619940

View Abby’s adoption video here!