In April, Little Rock Family readers sent us photos of their most huggable, lovable family pets—we received so many adorable entries, but we had to narrow them down to just 25 finalists. Then, our readers voted on their favorites. Congratulations to the first place winner Lottie Dottie Long, and all of the precious top 10 finalists!

The Winner!

Shawna tells us Lottie Dottie’s story:

“On May 16, 2013 my husband Chris had a heart attack at age 39. You may wonder how that figures in to us adopting Lottie…let me tell you. After Chris came home from the hospital, I was only able to stay home with him a couple days before returning to work. Although he was doing well, I did not want him to be alone.

My friend Donna Easley was always in need of fosters for dogs through Help 4 Paws. So we took in our first foster dog: Drake was a huge Labrador retriever and such a good boy. He kept Chris very good company and helped take his mind off his own recovery. Drake left for transport to his forever home a week later. We had a couple more fosters, but decided to take a break…until Donna mentioned a puppy that needed fostering.

I remembering telling her—without seeing a picture of her—I guess we can foster the puppy. I picked up Lottie from Donna the next day and she never left. I brought her home and Chris said “I think we might have to keep this one.” We were in LOVE! Lottie had been rescued near some woods at about 5 weeks old. Her rescuer fostered her until she returned to school after summer break. As all puppies are, Lottie was full of energy and very playful—that hasn’t changed.

We have taken in several foster dogs since. Lottie and the dogs all learn something from each other. Lottie teaches them how to play. She loves to play tug-o-war, and likes when her playmate is her size so they are strong enough to tug back. Lottie’s favorite thing to do is run! We expanded our fence to give them all more room to run and play. She loves to visit the awesome dog parks in the Central Arkansas area and is really excited about the new one in Conway.


Lottie Dottie's posts on Facebook helped bring in the votes!

Lottie sure likes her cuddle time though. All 60 pounds of her will crawl up in your lap! She loves for you to kiss on the sides of her nose. And she is the softest dog—we could pet her all day!

Lottie loves to show the foster dogs how to run and play until it is time for them to go to their furever home. Then, she waits for the next one to come. We are blessed to be her parents and to be involved with Help 4 Paws. We are forever thankful that Lottie come into our life and that she can continue to pay it forward by helping other dogs find their furever home.

Congratulations to these Cutest Family Pet runners-up!