![\"Shelter](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/xmgph339rav3ez11.jpg\")
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PHOENIX<\/strong> – A Marine Corps veteran who fell on hard times says he thought he had no choice but to give up his three senior dogs. But what started as a heartbreaking surrender turned into a second chance, thanks to a Maricopa County shelter diversion navigator.<\/p>\n What they’re saying:<\/p>\n Ricky Dennis says his three senior dogs have been family for more than a decade. When he brought them to the shelter to surrender them, a shelter diversion navigator stepped in, helping keep them together and connecting them with a place to call home.<\/p>\n “The VA was going to put me in a transitional living house \u2013 but I couldn\u2019t take my dogs \u2013 so I slept in my car for a week,” Dennis said.<\/p>\n Dennis was living out of his car when he felt he had no choice but to surrender his three dogs.<\/p>\n “The lady at the dog pound, she helped me out a lot. I will never forget her,” Dennis said.<\/p>\n Dig deeper:<\/p>\n That is when Nora Holguin stepped in.<\/p>\n “It is so important to have your family when you depend on them,” said Holguin, shelter diversion coordinator for Maricopa County Animal Care and Control<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n Her job is to help keep pets with the people who love them. Within hours, Holguin reached out to her network, finding a place where Dennis and his three dogs could stay together.<\/p>\n “That night I was in the apartment. They helped me get off the streets, and they said all that I had to do was bring a paper saying these were my dogs,” Dennis said.<\/p>\n Big picture view:<\/p>\n During the summer months, Maricopa County typically sees more pet surrenders and fewer adoptions, making Holguin’s work even more important. She says partnerships with local organizations can make all the difference, helping keep pets with their families while giving people a path forward.<\/p>\n “To see this gentleman \u2013 a veteran \u2013 that was sleeping in his car with the three dogs willing to give them up so they would be happy, and he didn\u2019t have to do any of that,” Holguin said.<\/p>\n Holguin says anyone who feels they have no choice but to surrender a pet should reach out first, so her team can connect them with resources<\/strong><\/a> that may help keep their family together.<\/p>\n What you can do:<\/p>\n Click here<\/strong><\/a> to contact Maricopa County Animal Care and Control.<\/p>\n Click here<\/strong><\/a> for resources from Maricopa County Animal Care and Control.<\/p>\n Pets and Animals<\/a>Maricopa County<\/a>News<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PHOENIX – A Marine Corps veteran who fell on hard times says he thought he had no choice…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":987969,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5131],"tags":[5229,5643,1587,1588,50,8047,1589,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":["post-987968","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-phoenix","tag-america","tag-arizona","tag-az","tag-maricopa-county","tag-news","tag-pets-animals","tag-phoenix","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/117057373364241957","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/987968","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=987968"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/987968\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/987969"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=987968"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=987968"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=987968"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}