First there was Mork, Minnie and Pickles.
Then there was Woofy, Toni and Noodle, who taught us the concept of “bones days” and “no bones days.”
These are just some of the many dogs I’ve fallen in love with through my phone screen.
As my pupils become heart-shaped in my phone’s glow, I try not to hear my husband’s warnings about getting too attached. He reminds me that these love stories only ever end one way: with them crossing the Rainbow Bridge.
But isn’t that always the deal with pets, whether they’re “IRL” or have elaborate Instagram and TikTok accounts? We willingly break our own hearts for the privilege of loving them a short while.
Isabel Klee, a 30-year-old content creator based in Brooklyn, knows this well. I have recently fallen in love with Klee’s TikTok account, @simonsits, where she documents her experiences fostering dogs.
Simon, her own dog and the account’s namesake, is integral to the process. Simon helps fosters come out of their shell and, in some cases, learn how be a dog after a life of abuse and neglect. There are some things dogs just need to learn from a fellow canine.
@simonsits To loving and losing ❤️
Recently, Klee posted a video looking back on a scruffy little terrier, Lucchese, who was particularly difficult to say goodbye to when he got adopted. In animal fostering, a “foster fail” is when the foster parent adopts the animal. Many organizations won’t allow families to continue to foster once they’ve “foster failed.”
Klee so badly wanted to adopt Luc, and many commenters vilified her for not doing so. Instead, she let him find another “forever home” so she could continue accepting fosters.
Since Luc was adopted, Klee has saved 10 other dogs.
And I’ve been emotionally invested in all of them.
There was Aruba, the pit bull who was brought to a shelter in a plastic bag, her organs prolapsed and covered in maggots. Her former owner, a breeder, deemed her “no longer profitable.” After all this, she still had it within her to love and trust humans.
I was also partial to Twinkle, a dainty papillon mix with an underbite who growled in fear from his crate. Klee slowly earned his trust with pieces of cheese carefully fed through the wire bars. By the time he was adopted, Twinkle was a certified lap dog.
And Klee’s most recent foster found a forever home with a celebrity. Klee posted on Oct. 31 that Kristin Davis (Charlotte of “Sex and the City”) adopted Chewy, a friendly little mixed breed.
@simonsits SO excited for Chewy and his incredibly sweet, kind and loving new mama @Kristin Davis ❤️ thank you @Muddy Paws Rescue ♬ som original – Renata Carvalho
In a far more removed way, there’s a bittersweet feeling for followers when a dog gets adopted, too, as there are no longer video updates. But I’d need another couple hundred words to dissect everything wrong with people putting parasocial relationships with dogs online before the animals’ well-being.
And fostering animals is important work. I’ve seen the beauty of it in my own life. My brother and sister-in-law fostered dogs for years, from little peanut pups to George the 170-pound mastiff.
Rescue dogs are truly amazing, and loving them is a family trait. My parents have had rescue dogs in pairs my entire life, but as I got older, I became more invested in helping them heal.
As a teenager, I lay on the floor with Lenny, a Maltese mix who was rescued from a chicken coop in 19-degree weather. Having lived outside his whole life, he didn’t know if he was allowed on our area rug, let alone furniture. So, he lay on the hardwood floor, and I sat beside him while watching TV to let him know he was safe. Just a few years later, he softened so much that he’d empty his bladder from excitement whenever I came home from college. If I didn’t cuddle with him on the couch before bed, he’d cry. I loved that dog. His tags are still on my keys.
Jenelle Janci holds her parents’ rescue dog, Grady, shortly after they adopted him in 2017 at age 10.
There was also Rosie, the thin pug mix who eventually came to resemble a loaf of bread from enjoying the comforts of a loving home. And now, one of their dogs is Grady, a bichon-poodle mix who was 10 years old and on the kill list at one shelter before being transferred to another, where my parents adopted him for a mere $45. He’s still kicking today at age 17.
When I watch dogs on Klee’s page, I see little glimmers of our own beloved doggies past.
Hopefully one day soon I’ll get a dog of my own, when my wallet and social life have evolved enough that it’s responsible to do so. And I’m honest enough with myself to know I’d be destined for foster failure if I ever attempted. But, for now, I get my fix through my phone screen — and it’s still so worth the heartbreak.
Jenelle Janci is LNP | LancasterOnline’s Life & Culture team leader. “Unscripted” is a weekly entertainment column produced by a rotating team of writers.
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