Archives for Why we do this category
Gray day today here at Pets Alive. We’re working on something way cool (sorry…can’t tell you right now), and hopefully it will pan out.
I was going to call this brief blog The Power of Pets Alive. but it really isn’t about us – it’s about you. We have a certain number of spots set aside here for “lifers” — those dogs that will take a long time to be adopted. For whatever reason, be it breed, or temperament or just the fact that they are black dogs (black dogs take the longest to get adopted).
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Why we do this by matt on Sep 18, 2009. There are comments.
Hi everyone. Matt here. Yes, I am still alive. Yes, I still work here. Yes, I know you haven’t heard from me. Yes, I am, as Kerry says, the other director. I don’t tweet or twit or whatever else it’s called. I work. Although I have been called a twit and much worse. Now that that’s out of the way…
More than a thousand dogs pass through our ramshackle little slice of heaven every year. Every single one is special. We have found that there are degrees of special. I love every dog I meet here. But some stand out. Some of the dogs we meet stay with us, leaving their indelible mark on our hearts. It is an intensely personal thing.
We pull them from other shelters. We gently take them from their crates and get them into their temporary homes, either in the kennel or in the warm weather outside in the dog area. We examine them carefully and lovingly. We pet them. We wash them. We brush them. We kiss them and tell them we love them and they’re safe now. Then, when we’re just getting used to them, playing with them, noting their eccentricities and likes and dislikes and pouring out our hearts with love so they feel comfortable, happy and cared for, as they return that love with their own affection, they leave us to go to their forever homes. Every single one leaves a mark on our hearts. Some leave much, much more.
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Why we do this by matt on Aug 16, 2009. There are comments.
Precious will be arriving at Pets Alive on the 23rd.
This is such a touching story and so many special people reached out to try to help this poor assiduous soul. I wanted to share her story with you and to introduce you to a very special rescue person named Anita. Anita is the one writing almost all the below. She takes very badly damaged dogs into her home and works with them before sending them on to rescue. We have taken many dogs from her in the past. Unlike many rescue people, Anita is still so kind and so courteous and so very compassionate. She isn’t pushy and she doesn’t play the “guilt card”. She never lies to you about a dog. She is brutally honest about all their issues and what she has done to try to help them. Many rescue people are NOT like that. I am not beating up on rescue folk. God knows that their hearts and souls are so damaged and so wounded that all they can often think about is how to save that next dog and if someone would just give this dog a chance…and it consumes them and it keeps them awake at night. So I am NOT beating up on them, but most have been doing it for so many years that they become jaded and weary and willing to do anything to save the animal. I do not sit in judgment of them. I applaud all their efforts and I grieve with them over their failures. Yet once in a while you meet someone different. Someone that has not become bitter and someone who can still tell you about a dog with feeling and emotion and passion and deep love and understanding. My hat is off to this very special woman. Anita …..thank you for what you do and for who you are. We look very forward to meeting Precious and finding her a person to love her and give her a chance. Thanks for loving her and caring for her and seeing past her wounds and her damage.
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Why we do this by kerry on May 17, 2009. There are comments.
Hi everyone. Matt here. Hope your winter is going well. It’s been a rough day here at Pets Alive. Kingfish died earlier today and there’s a pallor of sadness that has cast itself across the face of Pets Alive. I can hear the click-clacking of Kerry’s fingers on the keyboard across from me and the almost comedic yet melodious snoring of Scrumpy is floating by from somewhere off-camera.
Have I ever mentioned to all of you that we get hate mail?
Whenever I start a new business there is always someone who thinks they are doing me a favor by pointing out to me where I’m going to fail. I’ve been tremendously successful, and they have been -well- wrong. But that doesn’t stop them from trying. I used to be tremendously offended by these people, but now I basically just laugh. There is something very close here in the rescue business.
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Why we do this by Admnistrator on Feb 25, 2009. There are comments.
Aileen Hurley was a very special woman. She was an NYPD detective. She loved animals. She was smart, friendly, vibrant, fun, had a terrific husband and many wonderful friends. Aileen died in October of 2007.
We were visited several months ago by a group of Aileen’s friends. They wanted to organize a walk in honor of Aileen with the proceeds going to Pets Alive. A lot of people come in and out of our office in any given week, and they are all special. But I sensed something extra special with this group.
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Tributes,
Why we do this by Admnistrator on Sep 11, 2008. There are comments.
The headline is an eye-catcher, isn’t it? Bet I could get just about anyone to click on the headline with that promise. Today, August 14, is my birthday. Birthdays are interesting days for me — if life is a carousel, where we sit on our horses and go round and round, birthdays are the brass ring dispenser we pass by each time around. I always pause and reflect on what has happened in my life and where I think things are headed. There is no question that I have led a charmed life — but that’s another story.
Pets Alive is all about life — the lives of animals who are always innocent — and about death, ever-present in the emails and calls we get asking us to save those innocent lives. Sometimes the juxtiposition of life and death is so amazing as to drop the meaning of life into your lap, which was my birthday present today.
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Animal Rescue,
Why we do this by matt on Aug 15, 2008. There are comments.
The one year anniversary of Sara’s death was the 19th. As you know from previous posts, that is the Yahrzeit in the Jewish religion, which represents the opportunity to remember and honor someone who has died.
The weather for the 19th was predicted to be rainy, so those of us who knew Sara stood in the cemetery at the beginning of the dog walk path created by the volunteers who love this place as much as we do, and talked about her for a few minutes. There were some jokes, some shared memories, and I said a few words.
Then we all reached into the box that has contained her ashes for a year now and spread them around the cemetery so she could rest with the animals she loved so much. I sprinkled her ashes on the path, on the areas around the path, the woodpile, along the treelines. I remembered walking back here with her sometimes, a cigarette dangling from her mouth, talking about a particular animal or person or just ordinary stuff that makes up average conversations. Sara could be charming, interesting, and frightening in the same sentence. Quite a talent. I remembered some of her funnier lines and how she could size up people just about instantly.
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Why we do this by matt on Mar 28, 2008. There are comments.
Running Pets Alive can be challenging. Draining. Disheartening. Even if you’re lucky enough to have someone like Kerry Clair doing all the real work. Sometimes it just seems like one big Rube Goldberg device (Sigh…those of you who don’t know what a Rube Goldberg device is — it’s a complicated machine with lots of moving parts designed to perform a simple task. Like this one from YouTube.)
Some days you get here and it seems like you’re getting your butt kicked from the second you walk in until the second you leave. There are so many animals and not enough space. Sometimes we have to choose which ones we can take, knowing the rest will probably die. Then there’s the money. We watch every penny and always seem to get blindsided by one more expense, like a $3500 electric bill. Ouch. Then there are people who mean well who insist on second guessing every decision or policy, not realizing that we have to take into consideration every animal, employee, volunteer and donor, not just their favorites. And you wouldn’t believe the minute details that we have to deal with every day. I’m a big picture guy, and some of this stuff just makes my eyes glaze over.
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Why we do this by matt on Feb 20, 2008. There are comments.
Hello everyone. It’s me, Matt DeAngelis. A thousand people out there just collectively scratched their heads. “Who?” It’s a long story, but I’m the co-director of our little Shangri-La. I spend a lot of time on the behind-the-scenes stuff. My partner, Kerry Clair, makes my job easy. She’s perfect for this job and is really terrific at it.
So the new Pets Alive is one month old.
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Updates,
Why we do this by Admnistrator on Feb 06, 2008. There are comments.
My dog Zack died today.
Zack was just eight years old and like all your dogs are to you (I am sure), he was very special to me.
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Why we do this by kerry on Jan 27, 2008. There are comments.