Snuggly pit bull Patton

“Must like cats” was a necessity for any dog that Vanessa and J.R. Van Noy of Highland, N.Y. adopted.  Vanessa had never had a dog before–so this was a must because the couple did have an older cat.  They also now had a large house and yard, and J.R. was eager to add a dog to the family mix.

“We narrowed our search down to Pit Bulls,” Vanessa says.  “We knew that the breed was in so much need for families.” They began searching on Petfinder.com.   They came across Animal Farm Foundation, located in Bangall, N.Y., and “set up a meet and greet with some potential housemates.”

The first dog they met was Patton.  “He barreled in the room like a tornado on fire,” Vanessa recalls, “leaped right on top of us both and immediately started licking our faces and climbing on our laps.” Vanessa was a bit worried about this big strong boy, but though they looked at others, J.R. really loved Patton.  Their adoption application was approved–and now he had to meet their cat, Sage.  Would they get along?

The big meeting came.  “Sage scared the pants off of him,” says Vanessa. “Pretty amusing actually to see a big strong dog tuck his tail and run from a little cat.”  Being a new dog parent, Vanessa established house rules: no lying on the couch, no sleeping on the bed.  Patton settled in and got over his fear of the cat.  The Van Noys have since adopted two more dogs, Ruud and Maggie, and another cat, Dan, and have added two abandoned kittens they found to the family.  “The kittens actually sleep with Ruud and Maggie,” she says.

And where is Patton in all of this?  Why, where else but sleeping in the bed with Vanessa and J.R.?  So much for those house rules.