HOKU, REPRESENTING THE ALOHA STATE IN THE PUPPY BOWL

Hoku was initially a bit timid but very sweet and very cuddly once comfortable. Hoku was placed into a foster home and grew into a healthy girl who really loved to eat (that still stands true today!). Hoku was fostered by a few MHS employees to prepare herself for the big game. Initially scared to be on a leash and walk past the end of the driveway, in just a few days of being in foster homes with other pups, she was ready to follow wherever they went.

On August 27th, Animal Planet came to Maui and filmed Hoku in her element – all around Maui, at Ho’okipa Beach, Twin Falls, and then ended at Maui Humane Society. Hoku loves the water and she loves to play. She is extremely intelligent, an incredibly calm and trusting puppy, and uses her howl only when appropriate.

In order to participate in the Puppy Bowl, we needed to get her to the stadium in Glens Falls, NY (upstate New York). At the beginning of October, Jenny Miller, the Director of Development & Marketing, traveled from Maui to Los Angeles with Hoku, spent roughly 4 hours sleeping in the hotel and then jumped on a cross-country flight from Los Angeles to Newark, NJ, where Katie Shannon, Marketing Manager, picked up Jenny and Hoku from the airport. After flying across the Pacific Ocean and across the country, a trip that many will never do in their lifetime, Hoku was an absolute champ and slept all the way to Katie’s parents’ house in Connecticut. Hoku slept right next to Katie on the couch until the morning when we were ready for the 4+ hour drive from Connecticut to upstate New York.