'Paws' for some applause'

Way to go MoCo! We did it! You all showered Rambo with love and support!

Thanks to your votes, Rambo is not only in the top 10 in the America’s Favorite Pet contest, he is currently first in his voting group!

But he still needs our support! Voting is now under way to reduce the competition to the top 5 competitors in each group. That voting runs through Feb. 5.

Rambo has already proven he's a star! He's successfully made it through three voting rounds—top 20, top 15 and top 10. Public voting in the competition began Jan. 5. 

We agree with shelter staff that it's hard to understand why Rambo keeps getting looked over for adoption? He's a big boy, but just look at that sweet face in the accompanying photo for this post—Rambo was all smiles at the shelter last month when he received his Christmas Angel tree gifts.

LET'S MAKE RAMBO FAMOUS! Continue to show him some love with your votes and more importantly, share this post far and wide. Let's help Rambo, one of the shelter's longest residents, find his perfect forever home!

MORE ABOUT THE COMPETITION & RAMBO

America's Favorite Pet is an online voting contest hosted by celebrity couple Jenny McCarthy and Donnie Wahlberg.

An overall cat and dog winner will be named. If Rambo wins he will be featured on the cover of Modern Dog Magazine and the shelter will receive $10,000.

You can vote for Rambo at https://americasfavpet.com/share/3b1ec.

You can enter a free vote once each day and $1 for every vote after that. That money will be donated to help other pets in need.

The America’s Favorite Pet competition supports PAWS (Progressive Animal Welfare Society) in its mission to help cats, dogs and wild animals thrive in happy, healthy homes or natural habitats, according to promotional materials. Donations are tax deductible.

The Advocate plans to bring readers additional details about Rambo’s back story in a future post. Our ultimate goal in continuing to  spotlight him is that he and other animals in need at the shelter find forever homes.

Despite what Montgomery County Animal Shelter Director Adam Grubb describes as having an amazing personality, Rambo has been overlooked for more than a year.

Potential adopters may be intimidated by his size, but Rambo is really just a gentle giant, shelter staff say.

“When he does get a treat he always takes it so gently. Instead of barking for it, he patiently waits with thumper feet going as fast as they can,” his bio says.

“He’s one of the sweetest dogs in the world ... He loves getting kisses and being with people! He even gets afraid of dogs that are as small as 5 pounds.”

The contest submission for Rambo noted that  “America’s Favorite Pet title would help him prove to the world that he’s so lovable.”

For a look how the competition will be narrowed further from this point, see the related sidebar (in gray). 

The shelter is open Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Saturdays from 9 a.m. to noon. It is closed Wednesdays and Sundays.

The adoption fee for dogs is $150 and $75 for cats. Cats are spayed/neutered, microchipped and receive feline/rabies vaccinations.  Dogs are DAPP 1/rabies vaccinated, chipped, spayed/neutered and wormed.