When Ken Peterson and his wife Pat adopted Winnie, a timid Lhasa Apso/Maltese mix with a shaky past and soulful eyes, they weren’t just welcoming a senior dog into their home. They were opening their hearts to a new way of loving—deeply, patiently, and without condition.

Winnie was found wandering the streets of Stockton, matted and scared. She was around ten years old or so and already a cancer survivor when Ken and Pat first met her at HSSV in the week before Christmas 2016. “She was shaking like a leaf when we picked her up,” Pat remembers. “I just held her, she gave me a lick and from that moment on, she was my little best friend.”

It took time for Winnie to settle in. She didn’t bark for three weeks. She flinched when Ken reached to pet her. And yet, despite the scars of her past, she slowly came to trust. “She didn’t want anyone but Pat,” Ken says. “But I was the one who fed her—so eventually, she figured I wasn’t all bad.”

With time, Winnie developed her own sweet quirks. She insisted on an appetizer before dinner and dessert afterward—usually a bite of lemon Bundt cake or carrot cake. She’d stand by the door and silently stare until someone took her out. And when Pat left the house, even for two minutes, Winnie would search the home in a panic, desperate to find her person. “We worked with a trainer to help ease her anxiety,” Ken says. “Eventually we could stretch that calmness to 45 minutes or so, but it never really went away. She just needed to see Pat and know everything was okay.”

When Winnie walked, she walked with purpose. Slowly at first, sniffing every inch of the path—but when the house came into view, she transformed. “We called her The Closer,” Ken says. “She’d sprint for the door like a racehorse headed for the wire. She knew there were treats waiting for her on the other side.”

Winnie’s spirit proved just as strong as her love. Over the years, she survived cancer not once, but four separate times. With every setback, Ken and Pat made sure she had the care, comfort, and love to thrive.

“She was a fighter,” Pat says. “But more than that, she just wanted to be loved.”

It was Winnie who first came home, but it was Tobey who evened the score.

Tobey, an 11-year-old cat, came into Ken and Pat’s lives the following year after losing everything he knew—his home, his brother, and his person—when his elderly owner entered assisted living. Ken first met Tobey while volunteering at the Nevada Humane Society. The trauma left him terrified and reactive. “He was in quarantine for a while. He’d hiss and swat and bite,” Ken recalls. “But I felt for him. I went to visit every day, sat with him, gave him treats. After nine weeks, I could pick him up and carry him around. Everyone at the shelter was amazed at his turnaround.”

Tobey came home as a foster, but quickly became family. He and Winnie existed peacefully in parallel—Winnie pretending Tobey didn’t exist, and Tobey learning to give her space. “She never had any interest in other animals,” Pat says. “She was my dog. That was it.” And for Ken, Tobey filled a different kind of role: “He was my cat. He chose me.”

Tobey was affectionate, loyal, and endlessly vocal. “He was very articulate,” say Ken. He followed Ken around the house, crawled into his lap for pets, and woke him up each morning with headbutts and kisses. At night, he’d snuggle into Ken’s side, placing his ear over Ken’s chest to hear his heartbeat. “If I rolled over, he’d climb across me, lick my face, and talk to me until I rolled back into position,” Ken says with a smile. “He just wanted to be close.”

Like Winnie, Tobey also faced his share of hardships. He endured major surgery to remove a cyst from his pancreas and battled other ailments along the way. But with the same devotion they showed Winnie, Ken and Pat made sure Tobey pulled through and enjoyed every day to its fullest.

Both animals lived out their final years knowing safety, stability, and the deepest love imaginable. Winnie passed away just before Christmas in 2023. Tobey followed this past Memorial Day. “They were our companions,” Pat says. “And when they were gone, the house was so quiet. You really miss that presence.”

To honor their memory, Ken and Pat made a gift to Humane Society Silicon Valley to support the purchase of a new rescue transport vehicle—now lovingly nicknamed The Winnie & Tobey Van.

The van will help transport animals from overburdened shelters to HSSV, where they can receive medical care and be matched with loving families. And for Ken and Pat, there was no better tribute. “We wanted other pets like Winnie and Tobey to get the same chance they did,” Ken says. “And we hope people see the van and realize that senior animals are worth every ounce of love.”

Their message to anyone considering adopting a senior pet is simple: “Don’t even think twice. Just do it. You’re saving a life—and gaining a best friend.”

Learn how, with donors like Ken and Pat, HSSV’s Winnie and Tobey Regional Rescue Van is helping more pets find safety and second chances. Read more about our life-saving transport work →