What's a task harder than "The Hunger Games"? For actor Josh Hutcherson, it's visiting an animal shelter and leaving pups behind.
"It's hard for me to come to shelters, because I just want to take every dog home with me," Hutcherson said.
Hutcherson spoke to USA TODAY Pets outside Long Beach, California shelter spcaLA ahead of a local "Clear the Shelters" event — one of hundreds of pet adoption opportunities across the country organized by NBCUniversal Local and Hill's Pet Nutrition.
The actor's love for animals started early with his family dog before he took the leap at age 19 to get his own pet: An injured puppy he named Driver. Shot and abandoned by the previous owner, he came to Hutcherson with a broken leg and complex medical needs.
"He was
... this little ball of skin with a sideways leg, just so happy, jumping around like a frog kind of," Hutcherson said.
Hutcherson got Driver the care he needed and slowly helped nurse him back to health.
"So after I got Driver, they did a surgery to try to save his leg, which they ultimately were able to. And they had to put a steel rod in his leg. And so for the first three months of his life, he wasn't allowed to run around. He's a three month old puppy, and so I literally held him on my lap every day for hours and hours," Hutcherson said. "Now he's 14 years old and he still likes to sit on your lap ... he's like 65 pounds. Pretty big boy. I love that."
Manci joined the picture later: "It was just time for Driver to have a friend. I was always traveling a lot and stuff like that, so I wanted him to have a brother with him," Hutcherson said. Manci is now 11 years old.
For those thinking of taking the leap into pet adoption, Hutcherson offered some words of wisdom.
"When you bring in a pet into your home, it's a one of a kind bond that you create with them that's really beautiful," Hutcherson said. "I think that you definitely want to be ready for it and it's a learning experience. You don't have to have it all figured out. When I got a dog, I was 19, I was starting 'The Hunger Games,' and it was like a crazy time to adopt a dog, but I made it work because what I got from Driver, what Driver got from me was well worth it."
Progress, not perfection is what he thinks new pet owners should strive for: "You don't have to hold this gold standard of what you need to be to be a pet parent. All you need to do is have patience and some love," Hutcherson said.
Hutcherson, who appeared at the event on behalf of Hill's Pet Nutrition, noted that the company is providing free sample bags of food to people who take home pets from local "Clear the Shelters" events during the August campaign.
"'Clear the Shelters' is super important because it just kind of raises awareness and gets dogs and cats on people's minds," Hutcherson said. "I've found that the shelter pets that I've interacted with have been incredible and they have such a capacity of love and of learning ... they just need the right person to connect with them."
Visit the "Clear the Shelters" website to find an adoption event near you.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: From Peeta to pet parent: Josh Hutcherson's dog adoption story
