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FARMINGTON — Ryan and Alison Poffenberger brought their three young children Saturday to the first-ever Best Friends Super Adoption event outside of Salt Lake City just to look at the shelter and rescue animals hoping to find a home.
"Look what happened," Alison Poffenberger said as the family's new dog, an 8-year-old black Daschund mix named Tuon, tugged at her leash. "We want to give her a chance. Look how good this dog is. I'm so glad we could take her."
The Layton family had spent time petting and playing with Tuon in one of the fenced-off "meet and greet" areas set up at the Legacy Events Center in Farmington after picking her out from the rows of cages both inside and outside.
The Poffenbergers' oldest child, Weston, said the white-pawed dog was an obvious choice "because she's calm and she's good and she's small." He also said he liked that both he and Tuon are both 8 years old.
Another family left with an 8-week-old German Shepherd mix puppy, one of a squirming litter that attracted big crowds. The yet-to-be named female is 1-year-old Evie's first dog.
"We want her to grow up with our daughter so they can be friends," Zane Argyle of Layton said as Evie, snuggled in her mother Brittany's arms, looked wide-eyed at the furry puppy scampering in the grass.
The Kanab-based Best Friends has been holding adoption events for nearly 20 years, starting in a pet store parking lot and eventually moving to the Utah State Fair Park as part of its No-Kill Utah initiative to end animals being put to death in shelters.
The dogs, cats and even rabbits available for adoption at the two-day event that ended Saturday came from throughout the state from some 22 shelters and rescue groups that are part of the initiative also known as NKUT.
"Where else can you go to find almost 800 animals," asked Sandy Nelson, manager of the initiative program for Best Friends Utah. She said 207 animals were adopted Friday despite the cold, wet weather.
On Saturday, more than 400 pets were adopted, including about 300 dogs and more than 90 cats.
Crews were cleaning up Saturday from tents that had blown down overnight but no one seemed to be paying much attention to anything other than the dogs waiting in their cages for an opportunity to nuzzle an outstretched hand.
That's how Raffle, a mixed-breed dog, got the attention of Hillary Hess of Taylorsville, who'd come with her boyfriend, Adam Busch, to find a companion for their dog, Sakira.
"I just walked by his cage and fell in love with him. It was his smile and his ears," Hess said as Raffle and Sakira romped together, tangling their leashes. "He was just licking my hand."
Seeing so many dogs that need a home made her "a little sad," Hess said. "I want to take them all home."
While there was plenty of barking and other noises coming from the dogs, a hall filled with cages of cats and some rabbits was surprisingly quiet as the animals largely ignored passers-by.
That was just fine with Chad Randolph of Farmington and his daughter, Stella, 3. Randolph said he came to the event to get an idea about what type of pet she might want.
Stella quickly answered that cats were her preference. And why did she like cats better than dogs? The answer was in the curled-up cats snuggled inside their cages. "Sleeping," she said with a big smile.
Weber County Animal Shelter volunteer Jenna Sanford, of Ogden, was a little worried the sleeping cats weren't doing enough to connect with the people wandering among the cages.
"I think they're definitely looking for personality," Sanford said "Cats don't necessarily show it here."
