Our pets become a part of our most beloved family

and companions. When asked what they specifically

get from their relationship with pets, many members

the Club Auto Sport community typically mention

companionship, a play partner and the need to care

and love for another creature.

In ancient times and in cul-

tures worldwide animals have

been respected as essential

partners in human survival,

health and healing. Many

spiritual traditions have hon-

ored the relationships of peo-

ple to animal forms of life as part of the interconnect-

edness of the natural world and a link to the spirit

world.

Over recent decades, companion animals have be-

come increasingly important in the lives of Americans.

More than 63% of U.S. households and over 75% with

children currently have at least one pet.

Pets have also been valued companions to our nation’s

leaders and first families in the White House.

Over the past 30 years, an abundance of studies in a

wide range of journals offer mounting evidence that

interaction with companion animals contribute to good

health, psychosocial well-being and recovery from

serious conditions. One of the strongest positive evi-

dences from studies correlates to lower blood pressure

and alleviating the cardiovascular effects of stress. Simply

stroking a dog significantly reduces blood pressure in

both the person and the animal.

But you don’t need a scientific study to tell you that

scratching a dog’s belly or a cat’s ear is a great stress re-

liever! As one those individuals of the Club Auto Sport

business community who have shared workspace with a

shaggy friend will

attest, animals have

powerful ability to

change the vibe of an

office and the work-

day as well as provid-

ing the unconditional

welcome home with a

wagging tail or a

whiskery purr from a

best friend in the evening.

On occasion you will see “Katie” and Chris Sigler trotting

down the drive aisle to their weekly staff meeting.

Or you may see “Dakota” quietly taking herself for a visit

to her neighbors Mike Drysdale and Carrie Weimer of

Millers Vinyl Graphics.

Here are a few stories of the of the four-legged BFF’s of the

friends the of Club Auto Sport.

“I don’t know if you’ve met my little Katie, but she is the most beautiful, loving little treat in all of the

WORLD! When the world is messin’ with me, I look at her and melt. Then……Everything’s OK. Chris Sigler

Wags, Whiskers & Tail-Pipes

Don’t miss the next Cars & Caffeine Event “Jags & Wags!” on Saturday May 10th from 8:30 am to 1 pm. Bring your best four-legged friend and show off your tail-pipes for a fun-filled day!

By Debbie Simoni, General Manager

“Katie” & Chris Sigler

Debbie: “How did Katie make her home with you?”

Chris: “Katie found her way to the Sigler home about 6

months ago. We had a little dog named “Mona” and

she died last year. One day, my wife Anne texted me a

picture of this pretty little dog and I said “Oh how cute,

who’s is it?” and she replied “Ours!”. Anne had visited

the Humane Society in Milpitas and saw her and knew

she was “our girl”. She is the best thing that has hap-

pened to me in a long time. I was close to our other dog

but this one is just a little love bug. I try to bring her to

work as much as possible.”

Debbie: “What makes her special to you?” (there was a

long pause as the emotion hit Chris’s eyes)

Chris: “They way she looks at me. She looks at me with

such love! She looks at everyone with love. Our busi-

ness is a bit stressful and some times it’s just madden-

ing. Then I look over and she is there and I go over to

the loveseat in my office and she jumps up and buries

her little head in my arm and everything is

ok..everything is ok. No matter what’s happening.

Whatever drama is spinning around me she brings me

comfort. Then she walks out of my office and goes to

visit the staff and has the same effect on them. She’s

endeared herself to every-

one and makes everyone’s

day a little better.

She was timid when I first

got her. Within one of the

first few days she bolted

out the front door and I ran

after her and was terrified

she would get hit by traffic.

I yelled for her and she fi-

nally stopped. She doesn’t

do that anymore, She trusts

me and knows I love her.”

Debbie: “Would you adopt

again?”

Chris: “YES! You don’t

know what you are getting

because you don’t know

their story and it makes me

feel super bad to know that someone could have treated

her badly. Sometimes I will act so out of character with

her. I will lay on the floor and kiss her and talk to her and

people think I’m crazy. But I don’t care. She makes me

“She looks at me with such love.

She looks at everyone with love.”

“Dakota” & Jay

Jay recued Dakota from a breeder who used her to breed puppies and didn’t care at all for her. Jay had another dog

for 14 years and when he lost her, he knew he would have another. “She keeps me sane!” says Jay.

Jay affectionately calls Dakota his “little monster” but she

is the most mellow German Shepherd you will ever met.

She can more frequently be seen curled up on her pet

bed inside Jay’s Club Auto Sport business suite of Auto

Emporium. More often than not however, she prefers the

comfort of his sofa.

Jay says “she keeps me calm and gives me that sense of

parental responsibility. In a way I feel safe with her when

I walk with her because she is a German Shepherd but

she is really laid back. I take her to the park every day so

she can play. She goes everywhere with me.”

Dakota is nine years old and is a part of the Club Auto

Sport community. Every once in a while she will go two

doors down the hall to pay a visit to her neighbor Carrie

Weimer of Millers Vinyl Graphic. Carrie told me she just gives her a greeting and a little rub and then she quietly

goes back to her dad Jay.

"I wanted to share my story about finding this

little angel.”

I was devastated after losing my forever Shel-

tie dog Beau and my heart was so broken. I

had a dream the night before fathers day. I

was holding a puppy and was with my Dad

and Beau, who are both deceased. I woke up

and was crying because I missed them both so

much.

That afternoon, I went to the store to pick up

food for our other dog Jenny, who was also

missing her best friend. I went to the local pet

store and they were holding rescue adoptions.

When I walked in, I saw all of the dogs for

adoption. I was looking at all of the babies

and got so emotional. I turned and then I saw

these big brown eyes and happy smile! He

was warm and furry and some thing just

grabbed my heart.

I was sitting on the floor and scooted over to

him and was so drawn to his kind eyes. I

stood up and that was when I read his name

tag - 'My name is Butch.' Oh my goodness! I

could barely stop myself from crying. You

see, that was my Dad's nickname as a young

boy. I knew from that moment on he was

“The girls” -Shyla, Leila and Sydney with Sherry & Joey

2013 was a tough year for my boyfriend Joey and I, losing

both my cats of 15 years. Sadie passed suddenly to cancer

and Smokie had a growing tumor that doctors were un-

able to remove without amputation. After sending Smokie

to heaven, the house seemed so empty and I was heart-

broken.

A few days before I had to say goodbye to my dear friend,

I stopped by a pet store adoption. Just to look, like I al-

ways do when I see an adoption fair. As I made my way

along the cages saying hello to each kitty there I saw two

calico kittens, both of which were missing their right eye.

They were found as feral kittens and had a severe respira-

tory infection that af-

fected their eyes and

the doctor was unable

to save them. Ironi-

cally, my dad also had

one of his eyes re-

moved as a baby due

to cancer so I felt an

instant connection to

these two girls. I spent

some time with the

girls and exchanged

information with their

foster mother. A few days had passed and Smokie had as

well. I thought about the girls a lot over those days but felt

it was too soon to adopt. Then I get a phone call from their

foster mom. She said she normally doesn’t call people but

she thought we were a perfect home for the girls. I told

her I wasn’t sure if I was ready to adopt but I’d think about

it overnight and let her know. She offered to send a photo

of the kitties. The photo showed them hugging each other

while sleeping right after they both had surgery to re-

move their right eyes. It was absolutely adorable, so that

sealed the deal. I picked them up the next day! Over the

next few months Sydney and Leila helped heal my heart.

We needed to take the cats to go get micro chipped and

had to return to the shelter that they had been cared for

when they had the surgery. When we arrived at 9 Lives

Foundation in Redwood City we were overwhelmed. It is a

no kill cat shelter with over

200 cats living at the facility.

The in house veterinarian

Monica Rudiger is amazing!

She seek out cats from shel-

ters that are on death row or

special need cats and gives

them homes at their facility

even knowing they may

never be adopted. She per-

sonally cares for all of the cats and performs needed surger-

ies, diagnosis for medical needs and seeks out feral colonies

to spay and neuter cats so the colony does not continue to

grow.

So of course we wanted to say hi to all the wonderful animals

they have. As we were about to leave we found a tiny fluffy

black Persian kitty that seem to hide behind the other cats in

her cage. Her name was Shyla, very suiting for her person-

ality. We left the facility without Shyla that afternoon. We

got back home and Joey keep persisting he wanted her. We

decided to flip a coin.

Heads we get her, tails we

don’t. We got tails. His re-

sponse….”I don’t care,

we’re getting her” so back

to Redwood City we went.

We are now we’re a happy

family of 5 and life couldn’t

get any better! They bring

so much joy, laughter and

love to our lives!

“Over the next few months Sydney and Leila helped heal my

heart.”

Wags, Whiskers & Tail-Pipes

By Sherry Stephens

“Little Bear, Jenny” & Debbie By Debbie Simoni

meant to be mine. I brought him home that very next day! He gives us such love.

He is just like a little teddy bear and cuddles with us every chance he gets! He

kisses our other dog Jenny endlessly. I can't begin to tell you how lucky I am to

have him. I can't imagine anyone giving him up, but I guess it was meant to be so

he would find his way to us!

Jenny, our Lab, has been with us since she was 6 weeks old. My husband visited a

neighbor across the street from us one morning and learned that our neighbors

wife had just come home with two puppies the day before. Our neighbor insisted

they could only keep one and my husband couldn’t resist taking her. I saw my

husband from our front window walking back from across the street cradling

something in his arms. I thought he had a package of something. As he came up

the sidewalk, I ran to the front door and said what is that? “MY puppy”...he said.

Well, that was 12 years ago. Jenny is the most comical and entertaining dog. She

smiles with full-toothed grins and even though she is older now, she still makes us

laugh. She’s not the brightest of labs (they are know for their intelligence and I’ve

only been able to teach her “sit” after all these years) but what she lacks in smarts

she makes up for in sweetness and personality!

Dog adoption has always been very important to the

Arndt Family. Just after Christmas, 1998 our family at-

tended a pet adoption at Town and Country, now know

as Santana Row. While others were cooing and awing

over the pen of

puppies, my chil-

dren Courtney and

Kevin went to the

back of the room

where the older

dogs in cages

were. There was a

medium sized

brown dog sleep-

ing in the corner of her cage, knowing it was a long day

and not expecting anyone to take her home.

The Foster parent informed us that Gracie was found in

a field with 3 puppies. While her 3 puppies were

adopted quickly, Gracie was not. The Foster parent

warned us that Gracie was very skittish, afraid of men

and may not be a great dog for kids…. Courtney would

not give up…She wanted to pet and walk Gracie.

Gracie seemed surprised that her cage was being

opened and as walked her around the mall, she lit up

and actually smiled. The foster parent was shocked at

her positive reaction to Courtney and Kevin. We all fell

in love with her and brought her home that night.

“Gracie” blessed our house with joy for 8 years! She

was a complete joy and the best dog we ever had!

A few month after Gracie Passed away, we decided to

adopt another dog, this time April came into our home.

April was found on the side of the freeway on a rainy day in

Monterey with a broken leg. The Foster Family paid for her

leg to be reset and casted. The Arndt family drove to Mon-

terey and met April. Her cast

has just been removed and

one would ever know she

had a broken leg. She was

running around the house

with three other dogs.

April has been my driving

force in getting up in the

early mornings for a walk or

a jog. While she is only 25 pounds, the terrier in her needs to

be exercised EVERY DAY. If not, she can be found down the

street on a walk of her own..unfortunately she has not learned

to stay away from cars.

She is a dog who loves Life. She loves to go for a walk; play

searching games and being the center of attention. She is the

first to the door as you

come in. She tells you

when she wants to play,

wants to go for a walk or

just wants you to pay at-

tention to her! She is a

great dog and full of life…

she adds great energy to

our home.

Gracie, April and The Arndt Family

“I knew from that moment on he was meant to be mine.”

By Darla Arndt