Despite the short week, the Amazon CARES volunteers treated over 250 dogs and cats and completed 76 sterilizations. During this time, the esteemed panel of judges examined all puppies entering and exiting the clinic. The above pup, a friendly mutt from Secada Vignetta, will be competing against the inaugural Puppy of the Week.

As a reminder, the panel has a strict criteria and puppies are judged on cuteness, snugglability, and new puppy smell.  A new Puppy of the Week will be chosen each Saturday. After four weeks, the winning puppies will compete in a head to head final battle of cuteness to determine who will be crowded Puppy of the Trip.

More photos can be seen on my flickr site [tag: puppy_patients]