🐾 Sugar Face Pups 🍪

My Service Learning Experience For my project, I chose to become an advocate for senior shelter animals, also known as sugar faces. Through the creation of this blog, I learned more about the adoption rates of these senior pets, the difficulties they face when being adopted, and the harmful stereotypes of senior animals. Nevertheless, I continued to spread awareness for these pets and created multiple infographics depicting these issues to encourage the community to think more about how senior pets fit into their lifestyle. One challenge for this project was figuring out how I could turn this passion into an academic project with a busy schedule. A success has been this blog, as I am extremely passionate about graphic design and senior pets. Overall, this blog has been a perfect way to encapsulate and reflect on service learning. As Gerstenblatt notes, “the reflexive aspect of blogging fits well with the service learning principle of reflection” (2014, p. 1). Since our class had chosen to work on mostly individual projects, I decided that I would continue my individual advocacy work. Throughout this project, I have asked for feedback. I initially reached out to shelters and rescues via Instagram to ask them a few questions about their experience. However, from the few responses I did receive, they informed me that there has been an increase in the intake of senior animals. Due to this increase, they are not available to respond to any questions or participate in any interviews. I completely understood each shelter and rescue while thanking them for providing me with a response. I also attached a detailed response from one shelter and another shelter that I have collaborated with to create a flyer for an upcoming event in April.

Since they are extremely busy, I decided to focus on feedback from classmates to ensure my work continuously pushes my message that senior pets are just as great as adolescent pets. Source: Gerstenblatt, P. (2014). Blogs as a representation of student experiences in a service learning course. https://eric.ed.gov/?q=Blogging&pg=10&id=EJ10

I would also greatly appreciate any support for Picolins Animal Rescue's upcoming event. This is the flyer I created in hopes of drawing more traction.

Old friends make the best friends: A counter-narrative of aging for people and pets

Author’s Name: Jill Yamasaki

Article Summary:

In this study, animal rescue organizations use the slogan "Old Friends Make the Best Friends” to promote the adoption of senior pets. Throughout the study, researchers found that all of the animal rescue organizations followed the same three strategies: educating the masses, offering support services via a hotline, and appealing to people’s selflessness to challenge negative senior animal stereotypes. 

Rhetorical Analysis:

Ethos: The article is a peer-reviewed academic article, and the author is a university researcher from the University of Houston. She has also been a senior editor at Health Communication since 2018 (https://www.uh.edu/class/communication/our-team/faculty/yamasaki-jill/index.php). This makes the article highly credible.

Pathos: The article itself is based on statistics and data, but it analyzes the appeal of the slogan “Old Friends Make the Best Friends.” The slogan promotes empathy towards senior pets and tugs at people’s heartstrings.

Logos: The study is clearly based on the data collected from multiple animal rescue organizations. This also builds an argument for how tailoring a message can change the behavior and response of the public.

Target Audience: The audience for this article would be other researchers or those who work in animal shelters.

Language: The rhetoric used in this article, like “textual analysis” and “counter-narrative,” is academic, given the nature of the article.

My reaction:

This article demonstrates what I have come to understand about the dynamics these senior pets have in the shelter. Campaigns and advertisements are extremely important when it comes to combating the negative stereotypes of these pets. The article’s message point of disrupting what many people think about senior animals by providing positive stories about the impact these same animals can bring is powerful. It makes me feel that I am not alone in my movement to help bring the stories of these older pets back to the front page. These sugar faces are not used goods, they are resilient beings! 

It is sad to see the lack of information available for tips when adopting senior pets in comparison to adopting adolescent animals. Due to this, I decided to create a quick guide to help those who are looking to adopt a senior pet and require guidance. Every sugar face deserves a smooth transition into their fur-ever home 🏡 🍪🐾. Below are a few sources that I used to compose this infographic: Banfield Pet Hospital. (2025, June 19). Senior-proof your home for your older pet. (https://www.banfield.com/Senior-hub/care-for-older-pets/senior-proof-your-home)

American Animal Hospital Association. (2024, October 1). Supporting your senior pet: Veterinary care recommendations. (https://www.aaha.org/resources/supporting-your-senior-pet-veterinary-care-recommendations/)

 Yamasaki, J. (2020). Old friends make the best friends: A counter-narrative of aging for people and pets. Journal of Aging Studies, 54, 100873. (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0890406520300438?via%3Dihub)

According to the ASPCA, senior dogs are the last to be adopted with senior dogs being adopted at half the rate of younger dogs! I decided to speak out about this issue because animals with sugar faces cannot continue to be ignored! They can be the perfect fit for your family with their graceful and loving personalities. 🐾🤍