I just discovered that March 23 has been set aside as National Puppy Day—founded in 2006 by author Colleen Paige, and adopted by other groups and organizations since. The idea is to focus attention on puppies in need of adoption, and on the abuses found in puppy mills, but also to celebrate these furry little companions. In the spirit of the day, I feel obligated to share some of these adorable images of pups around the world, and through the years.
Today Is National Puppy Day
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A seven-week-old Border Collie puppy rests after frolicking with its siblings in their garden as temperatures dropped below minus ten degrees Celsius in the village of Bodice, Slovakia, on December 16, 2010. #
Joe Klamar / AFP / Getty -
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Two dogs await ultraviolet treatment at a dog clinic in London in 1949. Pip, the German shepherd puppy at left, is being treated for rickets, and Jicky is being treated for a leg injury. #
Corbis via Getty -
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Sára Varsa, Director of Cruelty and Response with The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), comforts two rescued puppies. 46 dogs and 11 other animals were rescued from a suspected puppy mill in Warm Springs, Arkansas. The HSUS and other area organizations assisted the Randolph County Sheriff’s office in the rescue of mostly Great Pyrenees dogs. Many of the dogs were found outdoors, without any protection from the freezing cold, while others were living on piles of feces and urine inside the home. Some were suffering so severely they needed immediate medical care. Others were emaciated and so matted they couldn’t move. All of the dogs were removed from the property and thoroughly examined by a team of veterinarians. They received any needed immediate medical treatment at the Humane Society of Saline County. #
Lance Murphey / AP Images for The Humane Society of the United States -
Marco Ezzi is towed on his sled by a husky puppy as preparations are made for the 29th annual Aviemore Husky Sled Dog Rally beside Loch Morlich, Aviemore, Scotland, on January 19, 2012. #
Russell Cheyne / Reuters -
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Claudia Galvez, director of the Friends of the Peruvian Hairless Dog plays with a four-month old puppy that goes by the name "Ears" in Lima, Peru, on November 10, 2008. #
Mariana Bazo / Reuters -
Firefighters hold three puppies that were found alive in the rubble of the avalanche-hit Hotel Rigopiano, near Farindola, central Italy, on January 22, 2017. Emergency crews digging into the hotel were cheered by the discovery of three puppies who had survived for days under tons of snow. #
Italian Firefighters via AP -
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A stray dog and a puppy peer from behind a fence in Bucharest, Romania, on October 20, 2016. The stray dog population of the Romanian capital is above 60 thousand, according to city hall sources. #
Andreea Alexandru / AP -
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A puppy tries to avoid being bathed at the Tierra de Animales (Land of Animals) sanctuary for dogs in Cancun on October 20, 2012. Tierra de Animales was founded in March 2011 as a refuge for abandoned or abused dogs, and since its founding it has taken in more than 700 dogs. #
Victor Ruiz Garcia / Reuters -
A Labrador Retriever puppy is held in the Pat-A-Pooch zone of the Dog Lovers Show at the Royal Hall of Industries, Moore Park on November 7, 2014, in Sydney, Australia. #
Mark Kolbe / Getty -
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A chihuahua puppy, born with a perfect heart-shaped marking on his back, in Pucchin Dog's shop in Akita prefecture, Japan, on July 11, 2007. Shop owner Emiko Sakurada had no plans to sell the puppy, which has been named "Heart-kun." #
Koichi Kamoshida / Getty
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