“It’s not that Chris isn’t an animal person. He just had no idea...

“It’s not that Chris isn’t an animal person. He just had no idea what was coming. We met in college. Both of us were working at the student newspaper. And at the time I was focused on journalism, so I don’t think he fully processed my love for animals. I did volunteer at the local shelter while we were dating. And I was working at a barn, so I rode horses quite a bit. But there was a ‘no pet’ policy in our dorm, so I only had a hermit crab named Holden. It was a little bit deceiving. It wasn’t until we moved into our own apartment that we got our first dog together. His name was Snoopy, and Chris got pretty attached to him. So that’s when I suggested we register for a foster program. Chris seemed a little hesitant at first, but I told him: ‘Let’s just get approved, and we’ll take it from there.’ The next day we were fostering a puppy. And that was that. We’ve been married for eight years, and over four hundred animals have come through our home. There have been a lot of cats. And a ton of dogs. Terminally ill dogs. And nervous dogs. And rowdy, jumpy, bitey dogs. We’ve had several litters of puppies that needed to be tube fed. And three pot bellied pigs. And six rats. Chris did try to stop the rats. He said: ‘We’re not doing rats.’ But then we got the rats. And now they have a whole big condo in our bathroom. One of them has breathing problems so Chris has to help her with a nebulizer.  He’s very, very tolerant. He works from home, so he’s always with the animals. There’s always barking in the background of his podcast.  Or when he’s trying to do video interviews.  And he’s had a few ‘I can’t take it anymore’ moments. We’ve had shut down the fostering for a few weeks at a time. But then I’ll always find an animal that really needs a place to go. And Chris will look at the picture, and ask the same thing: ‘Is there nowhere else they can go? Is it life or death?’ And I’ll exaggerate a little bit, and say: ‘We’re their only hope.’ And then he’ll grudgingly allow it,  just one more time.”