The Story
We were founded by Chris Northup (aka Captain Cuddles) in Sherwood Oregon in 2025. He and his wife were getting closer to being "empty nesters" and wanted ways to stay active and involved in the community. As rescue dog owners already it was an obvious match to partner with a local rescue and the rest is history!
It only took one walk to understand much more needed to be done.
So much joy is created for both the dog and the walker, but one person can only do so many in a day. Joining us allows that joy to be multiplied and spread everywhere!
The Mission
Like all pirates, the Cuddle Pirates are a group of adventurous souls searching for excitement and treasure. However, the treasure we seek isn't gold or silver...it's love. Specifically the love between a shelter dog and their new humans.
Our mission is two-fold and very simple:
1. To improve the lives of shelter dogs by visiting shelters as often as possible for cuddling, running, walking, and just playing with every dog we can.
2. To accelerate the adoption process by hosting events (Cuddle Fests) and helping get the dogs to the people on top of existing shelter efforts of getting people to the dogs...basically getting more hands on more dogs.
The Big Plans
Everything we do is based on our philosophies of raising awareness, encouraging action, and accelerating adoptions.
The Disney empire started with a single mouse, now imagine the power of millions of dogs! Check out our vision page for more.