06/15/2026
The story of a shelter dog and his favorite volunteer.
Barney is available for adoption at Pet Friends in Irwin, PA.
Adoption applications can be completed at www.petfriendsinc.com
In case you didn’t know, today is a kind of holiday – June 15, 2026 marks the fourth year that my Walkin’ Buddy Barney has been living at the Pet Friends, Inc. shelter. I remember the day he arrived – Pet Friends president Betsy and I went to Hoffman Kennels in Greensburg to find a pup to fill an empty kennel run in our shelter. Barney had just come into Hoffman’s – picked up as a stray - so we knew nothing about his background, and he didn’t even have a name yet. We loaded him up in my van and headed to Irwin. On the way back from Greensburg, Betsy said “Why don’t you pick a name for him?” The first name that came to my mind was “Barney” because he was kind of a generic dog – a medium sized tan colored canine with no strong resemblance to any particular breed. After we arrived at the Pet Friends kennels, we let him run around for a little while in the training room and he seemed like any new shelter resident – a bit aloof and looking for a way to escape. A couple weeks later, after he had all his shots, I took him for a walk at a nearby park. He was a little wild and seemed like anything unfamiliar spooked him – he even tried backing out of his harness a few times to get away. It was as if whoever owned him in the past never exposed him to the world. Still, he was mostly a happy, friendly hound who had a nice doggy smile and seemed to enjoy getting out and playing. There was something about him that caused me to think he was special (in a good way).
Fast forward four years later – Barney is still at the shelter and I’ve become very fond of him (if it isn’t obvious). He had one adoption that lasted less than a week. I’ve walked him well over 1,000 times, taken him to several advanced obedience classes, brought him to my back yard dozens of times, taken him to the Greenhouse Winery on a regular basis for various events, transported him to the vet numerous times, taken over 4,500 photos of him, and even had him join me on an overnight trip to Deep Creek with two of my brothers-in-law. So, I ‘ve gotten to know him pretty darn well! Barney can be stubborn and he has a hard time controlling his enthusiasm, but he is also a very happy dog who loves to do anything you want to do with him. I tell people all the time that this is not a dog you would see in an ASPCA commercial – huddled in the corner, head down with Sarah McLachlan music playing in the background. While we don’t know how he lived before Animal Control picked him up, he knows no other life than what he experiences at Pet Friends, where he is well fed, exercised regularly, and loved by all the volunteers. It’s not a terrible life, but not one that he deserves. Does it make me mad? Nah – it just makes me sad. This dog should be living in a home with big yard for playing fetch, where he gets to go on adventures on a regular basis and where he can chill on the sofa at the end of the day with his human pack members, who will smile because they think he’s the best dog ever! I know there are hundreds or maybe thousands of dogs just like Barney in shelters all over the country, but Barney is the one I know the best and I will never give up hope that there is a home for him out there. Thanks for listening.
These two pictures were the first two photos I took of Barney on the day he arrived at the Pet Friends shelter.
