- [Narrator] Oregon is home to more than 4 million people, but humans are not the state's only residents, so are many, many pets.

- My favorite animal that I like to treat the most are goats.

I love goats.

I tell my husband all the time, "just get ready, we're getting goats at some point."

- He was very low to the ground, very big head, very big ears, so you can't help but turn your head when you see him.

- Pets are extremely important for a lot of people.

She's like a therapy camel for me.

- All of my animals have been just as important to me as my children.

- How can you not love pets, which might show I'm a native Oregonian.

- I'm Narrator Cuthill and I'm one of the estimated 92% of adults in Oregon who have ever owned a pet.

These are my cats, Darby, Simone, and Dickens.

Oregon gets called pet-friendly all the time.

Seeing all these frequent headlines, I had an overarching question: How did Oregon become so pet friendly?

First, a brief history of pets in Oregon, which starts before Oregon was Oregon.

The Coast Salish people, who lived in what is now Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia, bred and kept woolly dogs.

The woolly dogs breed was unique to the Pacific Northwest, and dates back 5,000 years ago.

Along with native dogs, pets famously traveled to our region.

On the Core of Discovery Expedition in the early 1800s by Merriweather Lewis and William Clark, Lewis's dog joined them, a Newfoundland named Seaman and on the Oregon Trail, when masses of settlers famously moved west, so did many pets.

Several people who traveled the trail wrote in diary entries about the dogs who joined them.

That brings us to Oregon becoming a state in 1859.

Less than a decade later, one of the oldest organizations of its kind in the country got its start.

(dog barking) - Who is this?

One of the things that I love about our staff here is how creative they can be with naming animals.

Our staff was like, "I don't know, "feeling like carbs that day," so they were all named after bread, so we have Rye and Sourdough and Croissant, and it's really cute.

- Oregonians typically adopt their pets, named after baked goods or otherwise.

Founded in late 1868, the Oregon Humane Society is only two years younger than the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, but it's nearly 10 years older than the American Humane Society.

Today, the main OHS campus in Portland includes adoption services, a shelter hospital, a community hospital, and a behavior training and rescue center.

Since 2022, OHS also has an expansion campus in Salem.

- Hi, you're doing so much.

Oh, thank you.

I got a kiss.

Good job, very nice.

Just seeing them wag their tails is amazing.

The little things that make me so happy.

So, the building we're in right now is a combination of a rescue center and a behavior modification center for dogs and cats.

They have no idea how to be pets.

They exist in their only world that they've ever known and that's usually a barren world where there's not enough food, there's not any socialization, there's not a lot of enrichment, all the things we take for granted with our pets, so they have to learn.

- [Narrator] In 2025, the Oregon Humane Society saw a record 12,000 adoptions.

Across the state and beyond, OHS has a network of partners to take in pets.

- I think of Oregon Humane as sort of a safety net for the Pacific Northwest.

We all want the same thing.

We want pets and people to stay together, reduce suffering, we wanna reduce euthanasia, make that human-animal bond stronger.

- Oregonians don't just own a lot of pets, we like to show them off, too.

In fact, Bend's largest annual parade is all about animals and it's been a Central Oregon tradition for over a century.

- The Bend Pet Parade is actually an offshoot of pet parades being a marketing gimmick.

(upbeat music) So in 1924 is when we first see it show up in the newspaper and in 1932 is when we see it become attached to 4th of July.

And the parade is just our absolute open celebration of love of pets.

Having our pets with us in those adventures has become part of modern Bend's lifestyle.

- [Announcer] We will start as close to 9:30 as we can once we get the a-okay from our traffic control team.

- [Narrator] While Kelly described early iterations of the parade as free-for-alls, in more recent years, some pets have not been allowed.

- Onion, the cat, Onion.

We're fighting for Onion's rights.

Yeah, I think he would enjoy the right to at least to have the option to be in the parade.

- Would you like to be in the Bend Pet Parade?

Bend Parks and Rec encourages cats, rabbits, and aggressive animals be left at home.

That's over concern those animals may be flight risks or rile up the thousands of dogs.

- All right, everybody, welcome to the 2025 Bend Parks and Rec Pet Parade, in partnership with the city of Bend.

We're so thankful you're here.

(upbeat music) (upbeat music continues) - Celebrating pets is fun.

Most of the time, though, pets spend time at home.

That's what makes them pets, after all and pet parenthood sometimes entails taking them to the vet.

According to a study of 2020 census data, Oregon has the eighth most employed veterinarians per 100,000 people, the best ranking of Western states, and some vets in Oregon travel all over for house calls.

- You have tubes.

- I have tubes.

- Goodness, on a given day, I would say we travel maybe 200 miles round trip.

I can help mama go give birth and then say goodbye to somebody's 18-year-old kitty cat.

- [Narrator] Dr.

Beamon works for Northwest Mobile Vet.

She tends to many types of animals over a wide radius.

- Oh, you caught one.

Would like to look at their comb, how red it is, the fact that it's standing upright.

Look at their eyes.

I remember being mind blown this was somebody's job.

I get to see parts of the state.

It's just amazing what people can do even in the city with like backyard goats and pigs.

For me, being a Black woman in this profession is super important.

I didn't see a Black veterinarian until I was like 18 years old.

It brings me joy to see kids like, oh, my goodness, that's a veterinarian.

She's a Black woman.

I can do this, I can do this when I grow up.

Beautiful.

- While play and care are the main parts of pet ownership, there can be tough times, too.

Sometimes pets go missing and the arguably most famous movie about lost pets was actually filmed in Oregon.

I'm talking about the tearjerker "Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey."

The 1993 movie, a standout in my childhood, follows the story of Shadow, Sassy, and Chance, who look to reunite with their family in San Francisco.

Their adventure takes them through the thick, forested mountains of the Sierra Nevada.

That scenery was, in fact, the Wallowas in Eastern Oregon.

While that movie has tugged at heartstrings for decades, pets in present day Eastern Oregon need help.

Meet an animal advocate who spent 14 years of her free time connecting thousands of people and pets.

- [Kim] With no experience with Facebook whatsoever, I just sat down one day and said, "I'm just gonna start a pet group."

And so I just did it, and it just grew to be bigger than I could ever have imagined it would be.

- The Eastern Oregon Pet Lovers Facebook group has about 40,000 members.

That's more people than the populations of Grant, Harney, Baker, and Wallowa counties combined.

And the group is very active with posts, from pets looking for homes to sharing resources.

- The community spirit of Eastern Oregon and all of Oregon is amazing.

They will step up and help in any way they can, whether it's fostering, donating to these vet clinics for these animals that are in dire need of vet care.

- Kim is the woman behind Eastern Oregon Pet Lovers, but she partners with many other people and small rescues, like Hope for Paws in Grant County.

- The small rescues really need our help.

The majority of them are simply run by foster homes.

They don't have an actual building to take care of the animals.

- [Narrator] Kim and her network see many harder situations for pets, including neglect.

While Oregon is very pet friendly, it's not perfect.

- The one I'm walking today is not in very good shape at all.

He wasn't fed.

On the scale of one to 10, he is like a one.

He's probably 30 pounds underweight.

Oregon Humane came out out of Portland and Salem, three weeks ago and helped me, which I've never had to ask for that before, but I sent 'em an email and they stepped up and they were right out here.

I mean, they came clear out here to John Day, kinda like you guys.

It's like, it was fantastic.

It really was.

- You don't have to be a veterinarian or work for a shelter to make a difference in pet's lives.

Kim and Shawn are examples of how neighbors come together.

Pets are commonly called man's best friend.

For this documentary, they're the main characters.

These days, Grant County has its own local celebrity.

- One time I was walking her down by the river, and somebody's like, "I've never seen a llama before" and I just started cracking up 'cause I was like, well, you still never seen a llama before.

The morning time, I just let her eat and I brush her, clean up her eye boogers.

Honestly, she's like a big dog, only she's quieter 'cause the dogs like to bark and run around and stuff.

She's pretty calm.

I walk her twice a week all through town and every time we go, she meets a bunch of new people.

She does actually sometimes try and snag people's cellphones when they're taking pictures of her, though.

Hilde has an Instagram, it's Hilde the camel.

I don't talk to strangers very much and she is just an amazing icebreaker.

(upbeat music) This right here is where I see the baby move the most.

Hilde actually went into heat a year early, got bred on the camel ranch that she was at, right before I went and picked her up, so it was an unexpected thing that she got pregnant, but I'm really excited about it.

- [Narrator] With all life, there is a start.

- [Dr.

Beamon] Yeah, you got a baby in there, lady.

- And an end.

- This pet cemetery was founded in 1918.

It's an important part of Oregon Humane's history.

I also personally think it's interesting to see the change in the vernacular that we use.

There's a lot of headstones in here that refer to pets as our favorite pal.

- Pet guardians make decisions about well-being, including when it's time to say goodbye.

- It's almost like my pleasure, my gift to give pets to end their suffering, because they can't choose to do that on their own.

- Oregon has come a long way in preventing premature goodbyes.

This "Front Street Weekly" report by OPB from 1989 shows how things used to be at the Oregon Humane Society.

- [Announcer] If you want to know how bad the pet overpopulation problem is, listen to this.

For every human being born in the US, 15 dogs and 45 cats are also born.

In fact, the Humane Society finds homes for only about 1/4 of the cats brought in here and only about 1/2 the dogs.

Last year alone, the Oregon Humane Society put to sleep roughly 12,000 cats, dogs, kittens, and puppies, pets they did not find homes for.

- Today, Oregon Humane reports they euthanize 2% of animals in their care.

One big reason for the improvement.

- I can't shout from enough rooftops, is the need for affordable, low-cost spay and neuter services.

We're just so much more advanced now than we were back then.

- After pets die, the majority are cremated.

A one-woman business, the first of its kind in the Portland area, offers a different option.

- So here we are at the bins.

It takes about 14 cubic feet to compost an animal.

- Natural organic reduction, NOR, is the decomposition of a body when microbes and organic material, like manure, convert the remains into compost, AKA human composting.

- So once I realized that this was something that I was very interested in learning more about, I ended up getting in touch with one of the people who were the first human composters in Washington.

- Washington was the first state to legalize human composting in 2019.

Oregon followed in 2021.

Now the process is becoming inclusive of animals.

Friend to Fern on Sauvie Island provides NOR services for pets.

- I came at it from the environmental angle.

What I've learned is that this is a sacred space of grief.

I just did a laying in ceremony for a dog named Buttons, and Buttons' owner asked would I play Enya?

- He loved Enya.

He was a napper.

This man loved comfort.

He loved finding the most comfortable place in the house, any corner of the house with sun.

In fact, he would follow the sun around the house, I think, as many dogs do.

So, in November and December, I started noticing that he was snoring more.

After a couple appointments, she diagnosed him with an oral cancer.

It was aggressive, so it was very quick and we had a tremendously, just amazing last 2 1/2 weeks together.

I promised him that when he got sick, that he wouldn't have to tell me twice, that I would listen the first time he told me and so we laid him in the ground.

We put little chamomile flowers behind his head.

I tucked a couple strands of my hair behind his head, so that I would always be the closest thing to him.

- [Narrator] Ashley agreed to have us join her first visit to Buttons' composting site since his burial.

- Oh.

- I loved, loved, loved caring for him in his life and I still love caring for him in his death.

- Being with somebody when they bring out a pet, I haven't got through one without crying.

- Buttons, in a very physical sense, is still here, not in his dog form.

It's just the greatest rearrangement of atoms into new life.

- Across species and years, pets are woven into Oregon's identity.

They have been by most Oregonians' sides, and we have been by theirs.

Oregon's outdoors are a big reason why it's considered so pet friendly, but it's also Oregon's people, from legacy institutions, to a long-running parade, and the countless caretakers.

Oregon is not only home to a plethora of pets, it's a standout state for animal welfare.

(gentle music) (animal snorting) - [Talyn] This is really impressive.

This right here is where Cora was born.

Hilde decided to bring her back up here.

(birds chirping) - Up, you gotta come up to mom to get the cheese, up to mom, up to mom.

So many times I have to do a lint roller for this.