Kelly Nadel has “mothered” more than 60 pit bulls. (
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Ashley Speranza reads bedtime stories to Misty and Max-A-Million. (Lorenzo Ciniglio/Freelance)
* Lin Randolph, 40, of Manhattan knew she loved Lenny, her 7-year-old pug, before he was even born.
After clicking with a breeder (“She expressed a love for her pups I’d only seen in ‘pet mothers,’ not ‘pet owners,’ ” she says), Randolph made plans to adopt.
“I fell in love with Lenny through photos and e-mails describing his development,” she recalls. “I still have photos of his pregnant mom.”
Shortly after adopting him, he was hit by a car during a daily walk, and eventually had to have one of his hind legs amputated.
The accident spurred Randolph to begin a crusade to raise awareness about pet safety and health insurance. In the past six years, with the help of friends and family, Randolph has donated nearly $30,000 in cash and upward of $100,000 in products to the Mayor’s Alliance for NYC’s Animals.
And though Randolph champions the issue of pet insurance, she forgoes health insurance for herself because she can’t afford it.
“Lenny is some of the best preventative medicine I know — mentally, emotionally and physically. By protecting his health, I really am protecting myself.”
* After realizing how many pit bulls were being put into shelters due to lack of training, knowledge and experience levels of novice owners, Kelly Nadel, 30, and her husband formed the Bully Project, a not-for-
profit organization dedicated to fostering relationships between dogs and owners.
“Watching a dog who is shy or scared, or who has massive medical issues begin to thrive in your care is an incredible feeling,” says the do-gooder who has been foster mom to more than 60 pit bulls at her Upper West Side home.
Eventually, the pair adopted their own pit bull, Millie, but are still devoted to finding resources or trainers who, like her, would work with dogs to foster better relationships.
But as with kids, Nadel and her husband learned the importance of setting boundaries: “If you give an inch, they take a mile!” she says.
* When Ashley Speranza of Brooklyn adopted Pomeranians Max-A-Million, 5, and Misty May, 8, her maternal instincts were already at work. Both had come from abusive living situations, and she was eager to give them a happy home.
“Since my beautiful fur babies came from terrible circumstances, I knew from the start that they would be spoiled like no other,” says Speranza.
As she puts it, “Everything people do with their kids, I do with my dogs.” She paints Misty’s toenails, reads them both bedtime stories, administers doggie vitamins in liquid-drop form and buys jugs of Poland Spring water for them to drink (“never tap”). Speranza’s mother even refers to them as her “granddogs.”
Speranza, 28, won’t attend certain events or travel to places that her dogs can’t visit. “They totally rely on me,” she says. “They’re my world and my life support.”
Her utter devotion has landed her a spot in the reality show “Doggie Moms,” which features NYC women whose lives revolve around their pups.
And as for whether a doggie dad is in Max-A-Million and Misty May’s future, Speranza says, “As far as men go, if [my dogs] don’t like the guy, well, he gets the boot.”