About a month ago, Arlo the husky and German shepherd mix was in trouble in Los Angeles. He was set to be euthanized at 5 p.m., but, that morning, Amy Mers got the call to help.
She sprang into action.
Amy, the executive director of Paws for Life in Heber City, makes a habit of saving animals set for euthanization. She runs the no-kill shelter with her daughter, Zoe Mers, and a team of volunteers and foster parents. Every now and then, the bat signal for aid will get sent to the Mers women. That’s what happened with Arlo.
“They had some volunteers that reached out to Zoe and I, and they’re like, you have to save this dog,” Amy said.
Arlo is the epitome of a “good boy.” He has lots of personality. He loves being around people.
“There’s no reason that he needs to be put down, but because his time was set, his time was set,” Amy said.
So, Amy called a cousin in California, who went immediately to adopt the dog. He later released Arlo into Amy’s care. Now, he is ready for adoption in Heber City.
Arlo is one of 30 dogs under the umbrella of protection at Paws for Life. There are also 22 cats and 18 kittens under Amy and Zoe’s care. Of the pups, just seven are homed at the shelter. The rest reside in foster homes.
Shelter Animals Count, which pulls together a national report annually, reported that dog adoption rates increased from 55% to 57% in 2025. Cat adoption rates remained high at 63%.
Amy said she is seeing an increase locally as well. More than 700 animals were adopted from Paws for Life last year. This year, Amy expects that number to be closer to 1,000.
But Amy’s mission to help is furthered by the shelter’s foster program. Paws for Life reported a foster shortage in 2023, before Amy took the helm of executive management. Since then, Amy said the foster program has grown to the point where 23 dogs alone have safe homes to reside and prepare for permanent adoption.
Because that’s what fostering does, according to Paws for Life foster parent Nancy O’Toole. It makes animals more “adoptable.”
O’Toole’s foster journey started eight years ago when she stumbled across a pair of bonded dogs named Rufus and Bug. Rufus the healer and Bug the rottweiler-labrador mix were not well off when O’Toole heard about their need for a home. Both had been found starving in the desert of southern Utah.
“I just saw the need,” O’Toole said when asked why she started fostering. “I thought, you know what? I have an older home. It’s not perfect. I’ve got a doggie door, and I have a full fenced-in acre. Why not?”
Bug and Rufus found a home with O’Toole. Eight years later, the pair are what O’Toole calls “foster failures.” That’s when she loves a dog so much that they “fail to leave” her home.
While Rufus is still mildly skittish, Bug will accept cookies from friends and rides around the block from local delivery drivers.
“He’s a love bug,” O’Toole said.
O’Toole recently checked on her history of fosters and found that number to be a staggering 191 animals over eight years. At first, O’Toole said she “made every mistake.”
“I would take in like six, seven puppies at a time,” O’Toole said. “I mean, it was a work in progress for me. The puppies needed me, but, for me, it took a while to figure out how to do things.”
She stuck with it and figured out how to handle dogs with anxiety. She soothed stressed puppies and provided an outlet for energy for pent-up canines.
Take Mango the healer mix, for instance. O’Toole recently took Mango home as a foster. It was not smooth sailing at first. His previous owner kept Mango outside on a chain without human or animal contact. The healer mix became traumatized from the experience.
“He wasn’t aggressive,” O’Toole said. “He was scared.”
She understood that Mango needed time to adjust and heal. She gave him time and toys. She gave him space and the opportunity for friendship with Rufus and Bug. A couple of weeks later, Mango began looking forward to walks with O’Toole. Months later, O’Toole said Mango is sweet, gentle and ready for adoption.
“When a dog is scared, you’ve just got to give him time,” O’Toole said.
It’s why she asserts that fostering is an important step in the adoption process.
“It’s the only way to get the dogs out of the shelter. When a dog’s in the shelter, they’re not adoptable. They’re stressed out. The anxiety is high,” O’Toole said.
But, after months of tender love and care, even dogs like Mango come around.
Zoe Mers said fostering is not for everyone. The most challenging part of working at Paws for Life, Zoe said, is learning about the trials and abuse such animals experience.
“You kind of look at humanity in a different way,” Zoe said. “The dogs or cats come with their own challenges from their previous owners, so it definitely takes a lot of patience with them.”
But it can be a rewarding experience.
“It’s such a great feeling to see them open up and start to see their personality instead of being a skittish and scared animal,” Zoe said. “I think, with fostering, it’s getting them back from a bad situation … and showing them how it’s supposed to be and how they’re supposed to be treated.”
To encourage adoption and help animals become more “adoptable,” Paws for Life also offers a free coaching session with a trainer. Amy said it’s all about making sure the animals get the best outcome possible.
Both Zoe and Amy, who both work at Paws for Life outside of their jobs with the Wasatch County School District, connection with animals is deeply important.
“I just want to make sure that they’re all safe,” Amy said. “And so we do as much as we can.”
They consider the Paws for Life animals to be family, though Amy herself has four dogs and two cats at home. Every day, Amy will take home a van full of dogs to her half acre to let them run, bark and play.
“Then they usually go back, have dinner, and then they go to bed,” Amy said.
Caring for the animals is an important job, Amy said. Especially since she has seen an uptick in surrenders over the past two years.
“Lately, this year, in the last probably six months, it’s been really overwhelming,” Amy said, adding that she will get up to 20 calls per day of owners wanting to surrender their dogs.
That’s why Amy is grateful for her community of foster parents willing to take in new animals. And Paws for Life is always looking for additional volunteers. Amy said they can be picky about who is allowed to foster, but they will take all the help they can get.
“Zoe and I wouldn’t be able to do this without the support of our community,” Amy said.
If you’re in the market for a furry friend, Amy said the best thing to do is not shop — adopt. Or, at least, foster.