Amanda Phelps’ Cats
When English teacher Amanda Phelps first saw Nessie and Pickles at the shelter, the two cats were polar opposites. Pickles was the runt of the litter, a tiny kitten who was being tormented by all the other cats. “We were like, ‘Oh my god, we have to save her. We have to get this one, because she’s being bullied by like, 10 cats,’” recalled Phelps. On the other hand, Nessie was running in circles, jumping around and pushing other cats out of her way. “She was this tiny tortie ball of chaos energy,” said Phelps. “So of course, I saw that and I was like, ‘Yes, this is the cat that I want.’”
Phelps has three rescue cats at home: two black cats, Pickles and Bug, and one tortoiseshell cat, Nessie. Nessie and Pickles are almost 1 year old, while Bug is 6.
“I’m really passionate about animals in general,” Phelps said. “I think that everyone should go to the shelter if they can.” When she visited the shelter, she saw it was overflowing with cats and dogs.
Said Phelps, “I wanted to take them all home. If I had a mansion, and I could have all the cats and dogs, I would.”
Almost a year later, the cats still have completely different personalities. While Pickles is sweet and angelic, and Bug just likes to cuddle, Nessie is often causing chaos around the house.
“She, literally, from the top of the door, will do flying leaps into the shower curtain and try to hang on to the curtain,” Phelps said. “She knocks stuff off of shelves. She somehow gets into the silverware drawer, and then I walk around the corner and her butt is just sticking out of it. She is a true agent of chaos, and we love her.”
Kenji Mitchell’s Dogs
One is named after a Japanese potato, and the other gets its name from the rat in “Ratatouille.” Beni and Remy are biology teacher Kenji Mitchell’s two pet golden retrievers. Beni, named after Okinawa’s Beni Imo potato, is a 9-month-old puppy. Remy, named after the character in “Ratatouille,” is 6 years old.
Remy, the older dog, is calm most of the time. On the other hand, the puppy is the complete opposite.
“He’s psychotic. He chews everything. He runs everywhere. There’s no middle ground — it’s either crashed out or sprinting everywhere with uncontained joy,” Mitchell said.
Mitchell decided to adopt these two because he has had dogs for all but 4 years of his life. Now, they spend time together daily. “We walk every morning at 6 a.m. — and they make sure to wake me up exactly at 6,” said Mitchell. Mostly, Mitchell enjoys just relaxing, watching sports games and hanging out with his dogs.
Sarah Nelson’s Cat
Orange cats are typically known for being chaotic and silly — and Spanish teacher Sarah Nelson’s orange tabby cat, Pumpkin, is no exception.
Nelson and her fiancé both grew up with dogs and knew they wanted a pet. They decided a cat would make the most sense for them at the time, because both were busy with work. When the family first got her 4.5 years ago, Pumpkin was shy and timid.
“The first time she ever came into my lap, and laid down and slept on my lap, is one of my favorite memories with her. Like, ‘Oh, she’s finally feeling comfortable. She’s finally recognizing me as her person,’” Nelson recalled.
Now, Pumpkin has become more confident in the house.
“She is a princess. Absolutely. She rules the house,” Nelson said. “She screams, she is very vocal, and she’ll get the zoomies occasionally. She is very, very orange. She very much follows the stereotype of not having a brain cell most of the time, and she likes to cause chaos, but in a very cute way.”
Amy Plat’s Cats and Dogs
Cheerio and Chex — not just two household cereal brands, but also the names of Amy Plat’s cats. Plat, who teaches Biology and Science & Society, has two cats and two dogs. The cats, both 9 years old, are named after her daughter’s favorite cereals. As for the dogs, Dash, an 8-year-old King Charles Spaniel-Papillon dog mix, is named after her husband’s favorite soccer player on Manchester United. Luna, a 5-year-old husky, got her name because of her howling, with Luna meaning moon.
All four pets are rescues. The Plat family started out with two rescue cats because cats were easier to manage than dogs, especially as the family was raising a toddler at the time. Later on, after moving to a larger house, they felt they had enough room and decided to adopt two rescue dogs.
“We’ve always just been animal people,” Plat said. “I would like to get more animals, but my husband told me, ‘No more, we are outnumbered.’”
Plat’s two cats have opposite personalities.
“The boy cat is super affectionate. He always wants to lie on your head or your chest, and just be in your face. The female cat is the opposite. She likes to be alone, and she’s very sassy,” Plat said.
The dogs are more similar, both being very energetic and attention-loving.
“They’re both wanting to be in on the mix. If you’re sitting on the couch, they’ll be on the couch. They’ll want to do everything with you,” Plat said.
The Plat family also loves to dress up their pets — each of the pets has their own wardrobe. The family likes to outfit the pets in dresses, sports jerseys, jackets or sweaters for family portraits. They also enjoy taking the dogs to the beach, and on weekly hikes.
Ying Jin’s Cats
Each of Chinese teacher Ying Jin’s four cats gets its name from a Chinese phrase. The first day back to in-person school after the pandemic, Jin’s Chinese 1 class was learning the phrase Taoqi, meaning mischievous. Jin had recently decided to foster two kittens from a shelter in Sunnyvale, and was looking for names. Inspired by her Chinese class, she came up with the name Taotao for her first kitten — for the second, she chose the name Baobao, so that the combination of their names would be Taobao.
“The meaning for the Chinese word Taobao is ‘to find a treasure, from among a lot of things’ — and I just felt like those two kittens were my treasures,” Jin explained.
Before adopting these two kittens, Jin’s husband was a dog person. “But the split second he put his eyes on them, he said, ‘I want more cats,’” Jin said. So, when her friends found a cat and its kittens in their backyard, Jin’s family rescued two from the litter. They chose the names Didi and Meimei, meaning younger brother and sister.
When Jin first introduced the new cats, Didi and Meimei, to her older cats, Taotao and Baobao, they did not get along. However, after some time living together, the cats all grew more comfortable with each other. One of Jin’s favorite memories is the first time she saw all four cats eating peacefully together. Said Jin, “I was just so happy. Finally, they had accepted each other.”
Tamara Emmert’s Cats and Dog
When hearing about counselor Tamara Emmert’s pets, one might think the conversation is about “Star Wars.” Sabine, a German Shepherd, and Phasma and Leia, two cats, are all named after characters in the “Star Wars” franchise: Sabine Wren, a rebel warrior; Captain Phasma, a lady stormtrooper; and Princess Leia, a rebel leader.
All of Emmert’s pets are rescues. Knowing that black cats are not selected as frequently as other cats, Emmert went to the shelter planning to rescue just one black cat. She changed her mind when she saw Leia and Phasma together. Said Emmert, “Leia was in the same area that Phasma was, and just was like, ‘If you’re gonna take her, then you need to take me too.’”
Each of Emmert’s pets has an interesting habit. For example, Leia likes to hide out in clothes drawers. Said Emmert, “I’ll be looking for a sweatshirt and see ‘Oh, there’s a cat.’”
Sabine, on the other hand, is playful and often grows attached to people.
“If Sabine is playing with someone, and they stop and they try to walk away, she’ll grab their leg and hold on,” Emmert said. “So I have to explain, ‘We did not train her to do that. She just did that herself.’”
Natalie Rodriguez-Garcia’s Dogs
Both of counseling substitute Natalie Rodriguez-Garcia’s dogs come from stereotypically aggressive breeds — a Doberman and a pit bull. However, Butters the pit bull and Joy the Doberman are both sweet, playful dogs, the opposite of what one would typically expect.
Both of Rodriguez-Garcia’s pets are rescues. Butters, a 15-year-old pit bull, was named for her cream-colored coat and a South Park character. Joy, a 3-year-old Doberman, was named by Rodriguez-Garcia’s kids when they rescued the dog after Christmas one year.
The two pets have a large difference in age, which gives them a unique relationship. Butters is calm and prefers to rest and lie around, while Joy, the puppy, is energetic and active.
“Joy is very much like a toddler,” Rodriguez-Garcia said. “She thinks she’s so small, so she’ll try and sit on my lap, like when she was a puppy […] And she tries to play with Butters, but Butters is so old. Butters is like, ‘No, leave me alone.’ But Joy’s always like, ‘No, I want to play! I want to play!’”
While neither dog is aggressive, they are still very protective of Rodriguez-Garcia and her family. For example, when Rodriguez-Garcia was taking her son in a stroller to the park, Butters was determined to guard the baby from another dog.
“The other dog ran right up to the stroller with the baby, and Butters jumped in front of it and started barking at the Chihuahua,” Rodriguez-Garcia said. “The Chihuahua stood still and then ran right back away. I was like, ‘Oh my gosh! She totally protected the baby!’”
Kelleen Loo’s Cat
Despite her long-established love for cats, English teacher Kelleen Loo got her first cat only a few years ago, during the pandemic. Emi — whose name coincidentally resembles Loo’s great-grandmother’s middle name, Emiko — has since become a sassy, loving companion who frequently jumps onto the counter, an instinct Loo still hasn’t found a solution for.
“Everyone said that foil would deter cats because they don’t like the sound and the feel. She don’t care. […] She would just jump on the foil and I said, ‘That’s great. This is going well.’ I gave up,” Loo said.
Emi also has a unique, less problematic way of seeking Loo’s attention that began after Loo’s daughter was born.
“She developed this weird thing where she’ll see me, we make eye contact, and she’ll leave the room and start meowing to the house like she’s alone and lonely,” Loo said. “I’m always like, ‘You should just come back’ — and then she’s meowing like, ‘No one loves me. Where did everyone go?’”
Ironically, Emi is most satisfied when her family is away from the house, as she gets to be under the care of her cat sitters.
“I just enjoy the storyline that I build in my head when she spends time with [her cat sitters] because she seems so happy when she’s with [them],” Loo said. “My favorite thing is to see her happy while we’re on vacation. She’s like, ‘Oh, thank God, now I can have someone who’s devoted to me, spends time with me,’ and I’m like, ‘Oh, I’m so happy for you.’”
However, Loo’s absolute favorite memory is when Emi, originally a shy cat, snuggled her for the first time.
“She decided that one day, she was just going to jump up and she sat right next to my face and then started grooming herself,” Loo said. “I just stopped breathing. I was like, ‘Look! Take a picture!’”
Amber Steele’s Dog
Goats, sheep, cows, mules, dogs, cats and a donkey named Pookie — those were the pets art teacher Amber Steele grew up with on her grandparents’ farm, which eventually became an unofficial animal rescue. After taking a hiatus from her animal-caring life during college, Steele was finally able to bring a pet back into her life. This time, it was Jax — a poodle mix that she is now so close to that she can interpret his every move.
“We’ve developed a language,” Steele said. “He will do different things with his paws to tell me what he wants. […] Sometimes it’ll be, ‘Okay, we’re going to go for a walk now,’ and he’ll be like, ‘No.’ He does this little head turn while he’ll refuse to look at you and be like, ‘I don’t want to do that.’”
Steele also enjoys being creative with Jax’s haircuts.
“I have pictures of him where he’s fully grown out, and he looks like this old man who should be smoking a pipe and yelling at people on his lawn,” Steele said. “Then we got his hair cut once into a mohawk so he looks like a punk rocker. Every time he gets his haircut, he kind of turns into a different dog — and it’s totally me projecting on him. His personality does not change whatsoever.”
Although Jax now has an independent, sassy attitude that reflects his haircuts, he was a fearful, timid dog when Steele first met him at the shelter — yet it appears she was an exception.
“When [the animal shelter staff] brought him back, he stopped in front of me and was sniffing around,” Steele said. “They’re like, ‘He doesn’t usually do that with people.’ He doesn’t really like people in general. He couldn’t care less. So the fact that he stopped — it was just, he is supposed to be my dog, I’m supposed to be his person. It was a moment. So, within 48 hours of me seeing his picture, I was taking him home. I [had] looked at hundreds and hundreds of pictures of dogs at that point, and it was just like, nope — this was meant to be.”
Kyle Le’s Brown California Spider and Malaysian Praying Mantis
Network Support Specialist Kyle Le has always been an insect person — but rather than observing them by the creek like he did as a child, he now collects, feeds and photographs them in his daily life. He currently keeps a Brown California Spider in his office as a pet.
“I was cleaning a storage container and it was just standing right there, so I caught it,” Le said. “Then I brought it home, and I put it in here — it had one egg sac, but then it laid another egg sac by itself. [They] hatched. I think in a couple of months, she’s going to die, and then the babies are going to grow — basically it’s the life cycle.”
Le also previously witnessed the life cycle of a Malaysian praying mantis, which ultimately ended in a tragedy.
“The last [praying mantis] I bought — I think I bought some crickets to feed her, and [they were] some crazy crickets,” Le said. “[They] had spikes, and she was by herself, and I was tired of just feeding her one a day, so I tossed four or five of them in there. I think the crickets were hungry, so the things were eating her eye. […] I said, ‘Oh, my God, she’s still alive,’ but then eventually she didn’t lay eggs — I think trauma.”
Yet Le already acknowledges the short-lived nature of collecting insects — aside from that one anomaly, each death only means he has more eggs to care for.
Sean Bui’s Dog
Not every dog can boast that their name is engraved on one of the bricks leading to Cupertino High School’s football stadium. Yet law teacher and English Language Development Coordinator Sean Bui’s dog, Blake — as well as his previous dog, Ace — can say just that. And Blake’s adorably unique personality makes him just as special.
“When we take him to the dog park, we call him the mayor,” Bui said. “He just walks around and he greets all the dogs, and he says, ‘Welcome to the dog park.’ Then he makes sure that the trees are in the right spot. When all the other dogs are playing and jumping around, he’s just in the background, staring at them, making sure everything’s going OK.”
Blake also has an unconventional relationship with Bui — rather than Bui training Blake, Bui sometimes feels like the trainee.
“We have something in our house called Pavlov’s Human,” Bui said. “[Blake] has conditioned me to obey his teachings. […] He has a whole thing where he wants me to open the screen door to the backyard — not to go out, but just to prove that he’s taught me that particular skill. And so he barks at me, I open the screen door, and he goes, ‘Good, you did it.’ He doesn’t need to go outside to hang out — he just lays down on the couch.”
Finally, Blake adores swimming and playing fetch, but not for the reason that most people would expect.
“Our dog is a pool cleaner,” Bui said. “People throw the ball and they expect the dog to go get it and bring it back. That’s not Blake’s job. Blake’s job is that whenever there’s tennis balls in the pool, he swims in, he grabs it, and he puts it all in the same place [outside the pool] because he wants the pool to be completely clean. What’s funny for him is he’s very frustrated because the other humans don’t know that, so they throw it back in, and you can see Blake goes, ‘Ugh! I guess I have to [get the ball],’ but he’s not fetching. He’s just trying to keep the pool completely clean.”
Aiden Hill’s Dog
Business teacher Aiden Hill could have easily been a cat owner had it not been for his late brother. He grew up with cats and even considered adopting one with his wife — but instead, he is now the proud owner of his dog, Hachi. Hachi’s name honors both the famous Japanese story of Hachiko — a dog who was loyal to his owner long after the owner’s death — and the lucky number eight, as “Hachi” means “eight” in Japanese. But most importantly, Hachi’s name carries a snippet of Hill’s brother’s legacy.
“During COVID, my disabled brother came to live with me. He had a lot of medical issues, and he really loved animals,” Hill said. “We decided we were going to get him a dog and then he was going to learn how to train the dog. We went to a breeder to sign up to get the dog, […] but while we were waiting for that, my brother died. He never got a chance to see the dog. […] So we gave the dog my brother’s middle name. My dog’s name is Hachi — Jared is my brother’s name — Hill.”
Despite the emotional weight behind his name, Hachi is an upbeat, friendly and intelligent dog that adores people and dogs alike — so much so that Hill and his wife are training him to become a therapy dog. Having already passed his first certification, Hachi periodically visits retirement homes and has even attended Cupertino High School’s Furry Friends events, where he met — and won over — Principal Bill Schloss.
Behind the scenes, however, not all of Hachi’s story has been easy. A few years ago, he began experiencing seizures — a condition that, even with medications, often reduces life expectancy.
“It’s actually a big deal for us to deal with his medical condition, but he’s such a wonderful dog that we don’t mind,” Hill said. “Our attitude right now with Hachi is, we don’t know how long we’re going to have him, so we’re going to try to make every day count. We just try to love him to death — and he loves us, and he sleeps in the bed with us. We just try to live every day trying to get the most out of it and have the most happiness, but also recognize that nothing’s perfect.”
Christina Masuda’s Cats
Robbie has loved sleeping from the start — a trait that ultimately led English teacher Christina Masuda to adopt him as her first cat. After requesting an easy-to-handle cat, Masuda was handed Robbie, who immediately fell asleep in her arms. At the time of their first encounter, his name was still Cristoph.
“I wanted to give him a new name because he had been returned by his previous family,” Masuda said. “He was adopted in his big litter — four cats were adopted to the same household, and they only returned him because he meowed. I was like, what? […] And I thought, OK, I really need to rename you — fresh start, and I’m not someone who’s going to return an animal to the shelter.”
After changing his name to “Lord Robert Grantham III Masuda” based on the show “Downton Abbey,” Masuda fell in love with the name — and its iconic length.
“When I take him into the vet for checkups, I will be that owner that waits just patiently for the vet tech to fully call out his full government name because you never know — there could be multiple Robbies in the room. But there’s only one Lord Robert Grantham III Masuda,” laughed Masuda.
A few years ago, after noticing that Robbie was sleeping even more in his older cat years, Masuda decided to adopt Koishi, her second cat, to energize Robbie — although it did not change anything. Unlike Robbie, Koishi is full of energy and enjoys following Masuda around the house and participating in her daily routines.
“Koishi will sit with rapt attention and watch me get ready for the day,” Masuda said. “He thinks it’s the most entertaining thing ever. When I’m applying eyeliner or anything to do with makeup, he is there watching and I decided to include him by getting him his own makeup brush. I have it off to the side, and he knows now when I’m done, I go, ‘All done!’ — and then I take his brush and I gently brush between his eyes on his head and he closes his eyes in relaxation.”
James Gilmore’s Dog
“Imagine a small, playful dog that doesn’t know he’s over 30 pounds,” said Physical Education teacher James Gilmore. He is describing Duke, his 132-pound dog that finally made his dream of owning a big dog a reality.
Gilmore enjoys the small, everyday moments that come with taking care of such a massive dog — the face-to-face hugs, the hardcore bed wrestling, the company while watching TV and the 3-mile morning walks at 5 a.m.
“We go to the water fountain and there’s the dog bowl one on the bottom and there’s the people one [on top], and he just uses the people one,” Gilmore said. “We tried to get him to use the dog bowl one, and he’s like, ‘I’m up already. You’re up. Can we just use the one on the top?’ It’s kind of funny.”
Duke gets along well with Gilmore’s family and his other pets. However, his protective instincts become prominent around strangers in the house and other animals — including his own brother.
“When he was adopted, we found out that somebody else adopted his brother […] and on their birthday, we decided we’d try to get them together,” Gilmore said. “We thought it was going to be super cute. So we went up to San Mateo and we let them hang out, and they fought and fought. We had to pull them off each other and we couldn’t get them near each other without them attacking each other. So then we’re like, ‘All right, we tried.’”
Although Gilmore acknowledges that owning a large dog comes with its pros and cons, at times, familiarity and reassurance are all that Duke needs.
“I wish he wasn’t so hyperactive and I wish he wasn’t so protective when people came over,” Gilmore said. “But if you were there with me, and once he saw that you were comfortable with me, he would be your best friend. It just takes five minutes.”
Ashley Hooper’s Dog
If it weren’t for English teacher Jenny Padgett, English teacher Ashley Hooper’s dog Bandit could have been named T’Challa or Fleetwood — two of the numerous names suggested by English teacher Zach Jacobs. Ever since Jacobs learned that Hooper was getting a dog, he stopped by her room daily to suggest new sets of dog names. But it was a single remark by Padgett that ended up sticking.
“[Mr. Jacobs] came in on the very first day my husband brought [Bandit] into school […]” Hooper said. “We were sitting, [and] Mrs. Padgett’s like, ‘Man, I mean, dogs are fine, but I don’t want one.’ And [Bandit] ran up to this little shelf and he grabbed a computer cord and he ran away and she goes, ‘Where are you going, you little bandit!?’ And we were like, oh, man. It was a moment.”
Although Bandit can live up to his name at times, he is also adorably communicative — especially when it comes to vegetables.
“He loves the middle stem of kale,” Hooper said. “So I take out that rib in the middle and hand it to him and he’s over there like, ‘Please give it to me!’ You could see his face is like, ‘I’m so ready for it.’ We have literal pictures of him eating kale that I’ve pulled out of my garden — huge stalks of it and he sits there so happy about it.”
Hooper also discovered that Bandit is energized around snow — although, ironically, he isn’t a fan of water despite being a Portuguese Water Dog.
“The dog walked outside, and he lost his ever-loving mind, which was kind of fun because I didn’t expect [that reaction] from him,” Hooper said. “He came in, though, looking like he had little fur boots on that were made out of snow. He would dive into snowbanks and was just like, ‘Oh my God, it smells so good. And everything’s so exciting!’ It’s like having a kid in the snow for the first time — it’s fun [to] get to see it through their eyes.”
