“We all love her,” the shelter director said, summarizing the shelter staff’s feelings about Ember, a dog who’s sweet and caring, even though she was never cared for herself. Ember had litter after litter of puppies. Instead of spaying her, her people simply got rid of her when they’d had enough puppies.

Now Ember is spayed and, with more practice at loving than any other dog in the shelter, Ember is wishing and pleading for a human companion she can love as unconditionally as she loved her puppies. Her sincere face sends that message.

Ember promises, too, to be easy to love. The shelter staff verifies that. “She’s been nothing but perfect,” the director says. Poor, under loved Ember wants a chance to prove that.

Pom Pom is the golden girl of this group of Jack Russell Terrier-mix, eight-week-old puppies. The sweet little girl has the wire-haired face of her sisters, but she’s the color of 14-carat gold. Pom Pom, like her sisters, also has a heart of gold. These puppies have spent their earliest weeks with children.

So, Pom Pom has been getting and giving love for as long as she can remember. She thinks of the children as another part of her family, a part just as important as other puppies. That makes her a puppy whose love can expand infinitely.

That means, too, that Pom Pom will blend into almost any family. Pom Pom thinks all creatures deserve love and she’s just the girl to give it.

In Norse mythology, a Valkyrie is a maiden who escorts a chosen one to paradise. This Valkyrie, an 18-month-old American Foxhound, is sweet enough for that role and just as discriminating. People saw her at the intersection of two county roads, running back and forth, looking and waiting. Valkyrie believed her person would come back for her.

The sweet pup stayed loyal. She stayed by that intersection, running from anyone offering help. Finally, someone put a shelter by the road. People put out food for Valkyrie, too. So, the heartbreakingly, unconditionally loving pup survived while she waited.

Finally, a kind woman persuaded Valkyrie to come to her house. She brought the pup to the shelter. Now Valkyrie is waiting to love someone who appreciates her.

Chopper has the adaptability and maneuverability of a helicopter. He’s had to, to survive. This nine-month-old, neutered pup is a self-made house dog. And that was even harder than being a self-made man or woman.

For instance, the pup had to survive being forgotten and ignored by the person he needed. His first owner, when he was more interested in baby Chopper, fastened a collar on the puppy. When the shelter staff met Chopper, the collar was painfully embedded in the poor pup’s neck. It could have killed him. Instead he battled a horrible wound.

Then, at the shelter, the intelligent pup house-trained himself, figured out that fetching pleased people and found other ways to be charming. Now he deserves someone to enjoy his charm.

Gamora’s funny face, with ears that look as if they could take her airborne, wears an eager, alert, hopeful expression and a big smile when she meets people. Yet, if a human had lived Gamora’s life, she’d have trouble smiling or hoping. Despite being perfect — spayed, fetching, following commands, never having indoor accidents — Gamora is a two-time loser.

And the two-year-old pup’s losses happened even though she’d earned her owners’ love and admiration. In her short life, Gamora has unconditionally loved two people. Unlike luckier pups, Gamora’s love included an unusual amount of comforting. Each of her two owners died.

Yet pups have infinite love. Courageous Gamora is offering to try again. She believes that her past only makes her better at loving.