How Buying Toy Look-a-Likes of Your Dog Can Help Dogs in Shelters

What do you get when you cross a massive animal lover with an über creative, talented mind? You get Stacey Hsu, creator of Original Sock Dogs and pet aficionado extraordinaire!

With two dogs, two cats, two lizards, three fish, two human children and a husband, it’s pretty safe to say that Hsu knows a thing or two about appreciating companion animals. So in 2005 when a fundraiser for the Humane Society of Greater Kansas City rolled around, she decided to make some crafts centering around the animals she’d encountered volunteering in the shelter to help raise money.

“Those first dogs I made were so pitiful!” Hsu told Arin Greenwood of the Huffington Post. “But, they sold at auction for over $100 each.”

Using some new socks, buttons, faux fur and sundry other materials, Hsu takes an image of an animal and creates a mini replica with uncanny results.  She has since made over 2000 of her creations, selling them on her website, with $10 of every order going to animal rescues. Not limited to just dogs and cats, she’s also made goats, bunnies and most recently a wombat to benefit the Cedar Creek Wombat Rescue in New South Wales, Australia.

While some of the precious plush pups have been inspired by the foster animals she encounters, pet owners everywhere can send in photos of their own beloved buddy to get a custom keepsake made to treasure forever. If the 285 glowing reviews in her Etsy store are any indication, the chance to have a stuffed toy made to look like Fido ,while helping animals in need with your purchase, is truly a gift that will keep on giving.

According to the Humane Society of the United States, between 6 and 8 million dogs and cats enter the nation’s 3500 shelters each year.

The mission of Original Sock Dogs is “To raise funds and awareness for shelter dogs, while creating a very special keepsake for those who love their pets.”

Only 2 to 5 percent of cats taken to a shelter are ever reclaimed by their owners, posing another critical reason to rescue a pet – which keeps them off of the euthanasia list – instead of buying one from a pet store. 

Local shelters are always looking for kind hearted Green Monsters to help out, which means there is most likely a volunteer opportunity out there with your name on it! The animals will thank you!

Hsu’s super cuddly creations can be enjoyed by human, animal devotees, but they’re not intended to be used as pet toys. “[Sock Dogs] are for people only and are collectible art.”

Pit Bulls are a particular source of inspiration for Hsu. “I think it’s something to do with those huge, expressive blockheads of theirs,” she said of her muses. “I find them kinda irresistible.”

One of the dogs Hsu has gotten so much inspiration from is Dory, a fostered pit bull that she volunteers with. Though she’d like to, she’s unable to adopt Dory herself due to breed specific legislation that prohibits pit bull ownership in her county.

Roughly 8 out of 10 cats who enter a shelter, most of them perfectly healthy and suitable for adoption, will face euthanasia instead of finding a forever home.

Pit Bulls have a disproportionately high euthanasia rate in shelters at 93 percent, largely due to public misinformation and misplaced fear.

Another great way to volunteer for animals is to become a foster parent. By fostering animals in your home, you can help an animal that may be too young for immediate adoption, have some medical issues that need to be cleared up or just need a little more time to find that forever home.

While special creations have been made to benefit a variety of rescues, the percentage donated from a custom purchase through Hsu’s website benefits Unleashed Pet Rescue and Adoption in Merriam, Kansas.

Image Credits: Stacey Hsu/Facebook