Pet adoption: Advice from Animal Friends and info on their big adoption fair April 13

Thinking about adding a new furry friend to your home? On Sunday, April 13, Animal Friends is partnering with the North Shore Animal League of America to host a Tour for Life adoption event at their campus on Camp Horne Road.

From 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., you’ll find so many beautiful pets seeking their forever homes.

“Families that come here are going to be excited, because they will get to see many of our dogs that will be available. It will be some of our longer-term residents and we’ll have all of our new animals available,” including cats, kittens, dogs and bunnies, says Animal Friends’ spokesperson Katie Gaus.

“We’re even going to have some baby bunnies that are going to be making their debut,” Gaus says. “And we’ll have a food truck that will be serving coffee and treats and beverages. Weather permitting, all this will be happening outside. People will be able to walk through our shelter. They won’t be able to see all of our dogs in the back, but we’ll have screens showcasing all of our animals.”

There will also be plenty of information available, Gaus says: “Our adoption team will be here on site and be available to answer questions and talk to people about what they’re looking for. What is their family like? What kind of activities do they do? What are their needs and what is the perfect fit for them in terms of a pet?”

Welcoming a pet into your family can be a wonderful experience for kids and adults. It’s a great way to teach kids responsibility and compassion, but it’s important to make the right choice.

“In our humane education department, we really try to focus our programs on teaching youth to have empathy for animals,” says Penny Paich-Caraway, community programs manager at Animal Friends. “The number one thing about welcoming an animal into your home is that you are teaching a child, no matter how young or old, the sense of empathy toward another living being.”

Kids can “participate in training and age-appropriate care, so that you can really strengthen that bond between the child and the animal,” Paich-Caraway says.

Another big benefit: Animals are often great reading supporters for kids.

“We have a program here at Animal Friends, known as PALS, which is Pet-Assisted Literacy, where children can have one-on-one time with one of our specially trained Therapets and PAL teams, where they can just sit and read to a dog in a very non-judgmental type of environment,” she says. “That’s definitely another benefit.”

If you’re thinking about pet adoption, Sunday’s event might be the perfect time to begin exploring the possibilities and talking with experts.

“If a family is looking for support on how to introduce their new family member to their children, our humane education team is definitely here to support in any way that we possibly can,” Paich-Caraway says, “whether it’s through our scheduled programs or just discussions between families and our educators.”