This year with all of us stuck at home, with nothing to do, there has been a sharp increase in pet adoption. As you can see from this infographic (look at me getting fancy here), the word “dog” is more searched this month than it has been in five years. Both peaks look oddly similar to the spikes on the COVID-19 map, but I digress. It feels like everywhere you look, people are adopting pets. Unfortunately, there is also a large increase in pets being returned to the pound. The responsibility of taking care of all these pets is always underestimated by people and it can be pretty overwhelming. But all the pets featured here receive the love and respect they deserve.

Now you’re probably thinking, Carlos, is this just an excuse to talk about your new puppies? Yes, yes it is but shhhhh. We’ll get to them in due time, but for now, we are gonna take a look at some of the new pets people here on campus have received since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. School has been an emotional roller coaster for most of us, so today we are just gonna chill and talk about puppies and kittens.

“My dog’s name is Diego, he is a pure Shih Tzu, and I have him for about six months! He is very energetic and loves to play a lot,” Theodore Vella, 12 said. “He loves to run around in the rain, jump in the mud, lie down on the floor, and he is a hoarder.”

“Her name is Sadie, and she is pretty similar to a German shepherd. I’ve had her for almost two months now. She likes to howl but she absolutely hates when you exaggeratively yell her name in a funny voice. She also loves to pee in my room and nowhere else,” Sebastian Garza, 12, said. “When she is trying to bite us (play-bite, she is still a puppy, she stays still as her eyes widen, to try to ‘catch’ our hands.”

“This is Ghost. I’ve had him since late August. He and my other cat, Duncan Donuts, like to play together even though Duncan is way stronger,” Sean Benard, 12, said. “He likes digging and will try to dig next to his food bowl, I guess since he was born feral. He’ll play with anything small, especially leaves. If you start running near him, he’ll take off running somewhere. He’ll try to play with our other cats, and doesn’t care if they hiss at him.”

“These are our two new pup pups, Mabel and Penelope,” introduced Carlos I Sanchez (freshman, yes I’m using him for a quote an excuse to talk about my puppies). “Mabel is a Jack Russel Terrier and Penny is a Shih Tzu. We’ve had Mabel since May and Penny since June. They love to run and play together, if you find one the other is not too far behind. They’re both really loving but Penelope is very intense while Mabel is very timid.”

And these are just a few of the new pets around here. Right now is a perfect time to adopt, since we can spend almost all our time with them. But if you don’t want to, that’s okay too, at least we can all enjoy a few pictures together. Thank you for reading and have a nice break.