Man’s Best Friends Make New Ones

They came looking for the perfect match. Some suitors were attracted to outgoing redheads. Others preferred quiet types with long, dark hair.

First, though, they had to win over chaperons watching warily as potential partners went for walks through Westchester Park or cuddled inside a tent. Anyone hoping to take a new love home was drilled about where they lived, exercise habits and past relationships.

By 2 p.m., Marnie, an auburn-haired female with hazel eyes, already had five offers. “She’s cute, she has long hair and she’s small,” said Rande Levine, Marnie’s guardian. “Puppies always get a lot of applications.”

The pet adoption festival -- believed by its sponsors to be the largest in California -- attracted thousands of people and some 1,500 dogs, cats, bunnies and parrots vying for each other’s affection.

Under tents on a breezy, hot day not far from Los Angeles International Airport, more than 60 city and county shelters and private rescue groups were on hand. There were stalls for gourmet biscuits, animal chiropractors and artists who could put a pet’s likeness on a T-shirt.

“A lot of people are uncomfortable going to shelters,” said Francis Batista, director of animal care for Best Friends Animal Society, which started the event in 1999. “It can be depressing, and they can feel bad about the ones they don’t take.”

At the park, he said, the animals can play on the grass and the handlers have time to talk to each person about an animal’s history and character.

“We want the best possible environment for the animals to be shown and seen,” Batista said. “At the end of the day, we hope to get 400 to 500 adoptions.”

The Tisher family of Lake Balboa arrived at the fair at 10:30 a.m., determined to find the perfect dog. Crystal Tisher, 14, and her sister, Samantha, 9, saw 1-year old Marnie at the back of the Karma Rescue tent and fell in love.

They went toward the cage to pet the mutt -- believed to be a mixture of Nova Scotia duck tolling retriever, pit bull and Irish setter -- but one of the handlers said that it was still too early. The family would have to come back at 11 a.m., the official start time.

So the Tishers -- mother Sarah, father Clint and the two girls -- went up and down the rows peering into other cages, but by 11 a.m. they were back to get to know Marnie.

“She’s adorable,” Crystal said as she took Marnie for a walk. “Look at that face!”

When two other young women started petting Marnie and turned their camcorder to capture her playing, Sarah Tisher, 46, called over: “Crystal, good, hold onto that leash! We’re not letting anyone else get that dog!”

As Marnie went for a walk with the competition, the Tishers sat down to fill out a seven-page application. At the end of the application, they realized that Karma Rescue’s policy meant that they were not going to be able to take Marnie home that day.

“They have to inspect the home first,” Sarah Tisher said.

The girls’ faces fell.

“We should look at other dogs,” said Clint Tisher, 47. “I guess it’s like buying a house. We have to put in a couple of bids.”

Renee Sauvaget of Santa Monica didn’t have any such obstacles to picking up a calico cat. She only had to fill out paperwork at a Los Angeles Animal Services tent and then she could take No. 731656 home.

“I lost my cat yesterday,” Sauvaget said as she reached into a cage to stroke the cat. “She went suddenly because of a blood clot. I thought the best way to love her and honor her was to go and get a cat today.”

After looking at a lot of other cats, Sauvaget said she was drawn to the black, tan and white 3-year-old because of the cat was so sweet and calm.

“She likes my touch,” Sauvaget said. “She’s raising her butt and she winks.”

Sauvaget said she intended to start looking into names for the cat when she got home, perhaps looking at her phone to see if the cat’s numerical ID spelled anything. “Or maybe something out of ‘Phantom of the Opera,’ ” she said. “She’s got a mask.”

Volunteer Cindy Paul said she was glad that Sauvaget found a pet at her booth, where about 50 cats mewed, pawed each other or slept.

Because the city has to euthanize animals if a shelter gets too crowded, Paul said city policy is to speak to prospective adopters, have them fill out paperwork and then let the animals go home with their new owners.

“We’re more willing to try to find them a home immediately because the animals are at risk,” she said. “We’re so full.”

Paul said she wasn’t worried about the animals at Westchester Park on Sunday, though. “It’s been crazy today,” she said about three hours into the five-hour festival. “People were coming before we even set up. I’m still putting cards on the cages.”

Plus, she said, many of the private rescue groups at the event have been willing in the past to take in city animals unclaimed by the end of the day.

Cynthia Milstein, 34, didn’t expect to fall in love with any animals Sunday. She came because her 20-month-old daughter, Melina, liked looking at them. Her family, she said, didn’t really have room for a pet. “She’s too small and we’re having another baby,” Milstein said, pointing to her rounded belly.

But her heart broke when a woman approached them with a dark gray rabbit with a white nose. “She works in a vet clinic and she said someone dropped it off and didn’t come back to get it,” Milstein said. “I wanted to keep the bunny.”

She looked wistfully at her husband. “Can we keep the bunny?”

Mark Milstein, 34, looked uncertain, but not against the idea.

“We might have to come back,” his wife said.

But they left with only a tip sheet on caring for bunnies. Having never considered a rabbit as a pet before Sunday, Cynthia Milstein said they are now seriously considering an adoption.

By day’s end, organizers said hundreds of other people made successful proposals -- giving about 450 animals new homes.