Sangera Subaru Holds “Mutts & Munchies” Pet Adoption with Pet MatchMaker

Davis%2C+a+Great+Pyrenees+puppy+who+is+ready+to+be+adopted%2C+relaxing+after+running+around+in+the+pen+with+the+other+dogs+at+the+Pet+MatchMaker%E2%80%99s+Mutts+%26+Munchies+event+on+Oct.+26.+

Bianca Cacciola

Davis, a Great Pyrenees puppy who is ready to be adopted, relaxing after running around in the pen with the other dogs at the Pet MatchMaker’s Mutts & Munchies event on Oct. 26.

Bianca Cacciola, Reporter

Sangera Subaru of Bakersfield hosted Mutts & Munchies with pets ready to be adopted from the company Pet MatchMaker on Oct. 26. This event had a wish list of items that could be donated, and food and drinks were provided for the people in attendance.

Pet MatchMaker is a non-profit companion animal rescue organization that began in 2004 on the east coast. The company’s first goal was to rescue dogs and cats from the south-eastern states and transport them to New England where there was a high demand for dogs, and the need for help in the southern states.

Bianca Cacciola
Uno, a terrier-dachshund ready to be adopted from the company Pet MatchMaker, staring at the people surrounding the fenced-in area where the dogs roamed waiting to be pet at the Mutts & Munchies event hosted by Sangera Subaru on Oct. 26.
Bianca Cacciola
The dogs ready to be adopted welcoming currently fostered miniature pinschers Tilly and Tally into the pen at the Mutts & Munchies event put on by Sangera Subaru and Pet MatchMaker on Oct. 26.
Bianca Cacciola
A group of dogs laying down together in a shaded, gated-in pen at the Pet MatchMaker’s Mutts & Munchies event hosted by Sangera Subaru on Oct. 26.

“I moved out to California in 2007, to Bakersfield, when my husband transferred jobs and basically transferred Pet MatchMaker,” said Morgan Sokolow, Director and founder of Pet MatchMaker. “We expanded. We kept the east coast branch, started the west coast branch, and had a facility on M Street from 2007 to 2010. Then we bought our facility property in 2010 and have built from there.”

The aim is to raise the numbers of spayed and neutered animals to prevent the number of strays that go into shelters. Sangera Subaru is animal-friendly and has helped promote rescues, such as Pet MatchMaker, which allows companies to showcase the animals that need their forever home.

“Our dogs need to get out and be socialized out in public with the other dogs. We’ve got two sets of dogs that were breeders and that’s all they ever did, was just breed,” said Monique Nunlist, a foster for Pet MatchMaker. “[Events such as this] are to make people aware of pure-bred dogs, but they are rescues. You don’t have to go and buy a dog, you can rescue a dog and get something just as good, if not better.”

Roughly more than 6 million animals enter a shelter each year according to the No Kill Advocacy Center website. “There are roughly two million dogs and cats killed in U.S. shelters annually because they lack a home, but as many as 30 million Americans add a new animal to their households every year. We do not have a “pet overpopulation” problem, we have a market share challenge,” the No Kill Advocacy Center website read.

“These dogs, they have been through some of the worst of the worst but, all they know is love. They forgive so quickly and all they want to do is love and be loved. I am not saying they are more lovable than something else, but just knowing that you’ve rescued and you have saved this dog and given it a second life, they are so grateful,” Nunlist said.