Abba the dog sitting on a wooden floor

Celebrating Abba

The love and friendship of Bob Wilder and Abba is celebrated here at the Best Friends Pet Resource Center.

Abba
heart with paw print

Celebrating Abba

When Bob Wilder decided he wanted to adopt a rescued dog, he browsed websites for several weeks, searching for the perfect match. Lightning struck when he saw the photo of a dog in a shelter in Louisiana. Her endearing eyes and expression really spoke to him, making him think of the ABBA song “Take a Chance on Me.”

Bob decided to adopt the dog and call her Abba. He contacted a group in New Jersey that pulls and transports dogs from shelters in Louisiana, and they brought her to him. When Bob picked Abba up, she was so scared. Her head was down, and she was very timid.  But after an hour riding in the car, he could tell she finally felt safe, and she crawled into his lap. That was the moment when Bob and Abba first really connected, and they have been close since then.

Abba doesn’t take her relationship with Bob for granted. She appreciates all the wonderful things that come with having a loving home and a person of her own. Abba can always bring a smile to Bob’s face — especially when she wants to play. She puts her paws on his leg and picks up her stuffed dinosaur. After he throws it for her, she likes to run around in circles at 90 miles an hour, trying to keep her toy away from Bob.

Like all our beloved pets, it’s in Abba’s DNA to find happiness from within and to be appreciative of what she has every day. It’s something that Abba helps Bob with, and that pets everywhere help their people with as well.

You can honor pets like Abba, too

The Best Friends Pet Resource Center in Northwest Arkansas is a first-of-its-kind, fully reimagined animal shelter designed to support both pets and the people who love them.

As the future of animal sheltering, the Best Friends Pet Resource Center is more than just a place to adopt a pet. It’s a community destination that gives people better connection to adoptable pets and to each other, provides support for families to keep pets in homes, and offers opportunities for animal lovers to help make the state of Arkansas and the entire country no-kill in 2025.

It's also a place where we pay tribute to beloved pets like Abba with the sculptures you see displayed around the center and grounds, and a place where we express gratitude for generous donors like Bob Wilder. 

You can save the lives of homeless dogs and cats in Northwest Arkansas and help keep families together.

Make a Lifesaving Gift
Smiling person wearing an orange and white scarf with her arm around a dog with one blue and one brown eye whose tongue is out

Adopt a pet and save a life

Millions of cats and dogs enter shelters each year. One of them may be your new best friend.

When you adopt from a Best Friends location, or from one of the many shelters and rescue groups around the country, you’re not only adding a loyal and loving companion to your family, you’re helping to save lives.

View Adoptable Pets

You can also help today by adopting, volunteering, fostering and advocating for the pets who need you most in your community.

Smiling person wearing a Best Friends volunteer T-shirt holding a black and white cat at an adoption event

Volunteer to help pets

There are countless ways to save lives by volunteering your time for pets in need.
Become a Volunteer
Person wearing a Best Friends sweatshirt holding a puppy on her arm

Foster a pet and save lives

Welcoming a pet into your home for a short time not only helps that pet, it saves more lives by freeing up space in shelters.
Save Lives by Fostering

More stories from Northwest Arkansas

Looking for more inspiration? Check out these pets and their stories of hope, love and resilience.

Sweet Pea the cat wearing her crocheted ears

A new set of ears for an injured cat

After everything Sweet Pea had been through, her foster volunteer wanted to do something special for her, leading to a one-of-a-kind creation.
Look at her now
Video
The face of Coral, the mama dog, wearing a red collar

Faces of No-Kill: Mama dog beats the odds

How a dog without a home hung on until she and her pups landed the good life
It was destiny
Feature
Doug the dog wearing his sunglasses

Faces of No-Kill: Bespectacled pup wins over family

Doug’s future is so bright he’s gotta wear shades.
His sunglasses serve both fashion and function
Video
Best Friends Logo Mark

About Best Friends

Best Friends Animal Society is working to save the lives of cats and dogs all across the country, giving pets second chances and happy homes.

Just a few years ago, cats and dogs were killed in staggering numbers in this country simply because shelters didn’t have the community support or the resources to save their lives. As of 2023, that number is 415,000 per year, but there’s still work to do to ensure a bright future for every dog and cat in America.

Best Friends operates the nation’s largest no-kill sanctuary for companion animals and is saving the lives of homeless pets across the country by working with shelters and passionate people like you. Together, we will bring the whole country to no-kill in 2025. Together, we will Save Them All.

Smiling person and a tabby cat sitting on a couch in a home

Let’s be friends!

Connect with us on social media to stay in the loop about what’s happening at the Best Friends Pet Resource Center.

Follow along to see photos and videos from our events, hear about upcoming adoption events, admire adorable adoptable pets, discover kitten care tips, check out foster success stories and so much more. 

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