I had tucked the rented van in behind a full-sized bus that was picking up crew members from American Airlines.  As Kerry and the pups passed by the crew members every single person craned their neck to get a glimpse of them.  I didn’t realize that where I had wedged the van to hide from the Port Authority Police “shoo away squad” blocked the driver from getting to the cargo doors for the bus.  He looked at me, looked at the crate, and waited patiently, without a sound.  When I picked up the crate off the cart and headed for the van he offered to help.  Nice guy.  It dawned on me later that he had purposely dragged his feet loading the bus so Kerry would have enough time to make the three trips to get the dogs.

While I was waiting for the next cartload, I examined our charges.  There were six in total, all from Yabucoa Beach in Puerto Rico.  Yabucoa Beach is nicknamed “Dead Dog Beach” because of the strays that roam the coast and are sometimes found dead of disease, starvation or gunshots.  They had left Dead Dog Beach at 9:00 that morning, and arrived here at JFK at about 4.  They were being loaded into the van for the hour and a half trip to Middletown and Pets Alive.  Most importantly, they were finally safe.

I had gotten shooed away twice and had to circle the airport while Kerry was rolling them two by two from the terminal to the van.  On one of my circuits around the airport I got stuck behind several Port Authority Police cars, lights flashing, blocking the road from all directions near the cargo area.  I was getting squirmy until I saw what they were doing.  A hearse followed by a vanload of Marines slowly made its way past where I was stopped, winding their way toward the airport exit.

Sigh.  So much death.  You don’t think about it.  You’re not even conscious of it after a while.  But it’s caustic.  It eats away at you, sometimes in little bites and sometimes in giant chunks.  Dead dog beach.

We had a bit of a scare just before the dogs were due to leave the beach.  One had severe damage to her back end.  The vet thinks it was from being kicked repeatedly and or beaten.  The surgery to fix her would be expensive.  Rob and Marisol stepped up and offered to pay for it.  She would be arriving at Pets Alive the following day, Wednesday.

She was actually not scheduled to be on the trip, but the rescuers at Dead Dog Beach had fallen in love with her and couldn’t leave her.  Neither could we.  They named her Hero.  Each time the rescuers came to the beach Hero would run up to them excitedly and try to get their attention.  When she got it, she led them to a puppy that was sick and needed their help.  She did this several times.  How did this sweet, selfless, intelligent dog end up here on this beach, disfigured from abuse and surrounded by pain and death?

Between the second and third trips I hopped up into the van and peeked in the battered crates.  As my feet hit the step I could hear the thumping of little tails against the side of the plastic.

I bent down and peered into the crate.  There were two puppy noses pressed up against the wire door, with tails wagging like crazy in the background.   This was Stacey and Casey, seven weeks old.  They squeaked in delight as I rubbed their heads gently.  I heard a loud thumping from the other other crate and I turned to see Macy, Hero’s sister, and Jenny, an absolutely adorable three month old long haired pup.  They were both ready to play.  Their sweetness and their willingness to trust always amazes me.  These poor souls had been through so much — getting dumped on Dead Dog Beach, fighting for survival, being abused and mistreated, then being stuffed into a crate and spending hours in the belly of a cold, large steel cylinder, ears popping and the fear of the unknown seeping through the rush of the artificial air supply.

As always, it was love at first sight.  Kerry returned with Jillian, eight weeks old, and Jack, twelve weeks old, and I loaded them gently into the van.  Out of the corner of my eye I could see the Police shoo patrol sauntering my way, and the officer blew his whistle at me.

Kerry climbed into the van and slammed the door.

“It was really sweet,” she said.  “People were walking off the plane into the terminal and stopping at the crates to say goodbye to the dogs and wish them well.”  Kerry said she heard the words of affection in both English and Spanish.

“Did you see them?”  She asked.  “So young.  Yet they have so much experience on their faces. In so many ways they’re old.  Old souls.”

And they are.  They have sweet young faces and are friendly and approachable, but their lives of pain and fear are etched into their faces, and they absolutely crave contact, even as they tentatively approach your proffered hand.

As we exit on to the Van Wyck Expressway the yipping begins.  They are stirring, excited to be on the ground.  Safe.  Still in motion but not scrounging for something to eat or cowering in fear or fighting for their own place on the beach.  They are pitifully skinny and malodorous.  But they are absolutely beautiful.  And they are safe.

The yipping becomes a symphony, reaches a crescendo then slowly decreases in volume and intensity.  Kerry is whispering to them soothingly, and as the sun sets they eventually fall asleep from the motion of the van on the Palisades and the exhaustion of their travels.

We bump down the rutted driveway at Pets Alive and I gently back the van up to the entrance.  We are bone tired.  They are bone tired.  But their little heads still perk up as soon as the motion of the van stops.  I always wonder what they’re thinking when the transport is over.  Do they hope?  Do they feel relief?  Can they sense the same feeling that there’s something special at Pets Alive that all of us feel when we’re here?

I remembered a conversation I had with Nancy the dog trainer about how dogs can sense our emotions.  For those who don’t believe that, it’s easier to believe that dogs have stronger senses, which causes them to pick up more cues from us and intuit things that we wouldn’t normally see or feel.  How’s that?  Anyway…Pets Alive relaxes me and brings me a sense of belonging.  Do they feel that themselves, or at least feel it radiate from me?

While I’m having my philosophical debate internally, Kerry is a bit more practical.  She yells at me to get moving (that’s a paraphrase).  We unload the pups and bring them into their home in the room next to Janet.  We pop them out of the crates.  There is, of course, a giant bowl of food, warm and soft blankets to lie on and plenty of newspaper for more esoteric needs.

We both stand there for a moment, watching them and smiling.  Once they are sated they turn toward us and climb up on the wire Ex-pen fencing, wagging their tails and preening.  They are some of the friendliest dogs we’ve had at Pets Alive.  They are sweet, gregarious, gentle and very affectionate.  Sigh.  They’ve been through so much.

We gently close the door and turn our attention to Macy and Jenny.  We let them out of their crates in the Volunteer Lounge and they quickly gobble up a bowl of food.  Macy looks up at me with eyes of pure love and melts my heart.  She’s a little tentative, but as I gently rub below her chin she leans into me and looks up at me with those eyes.  I am in love.  Her tail wags.  First slowly, then increasing in tempo.

She is giving me her heart.  And I feel the age of her soul.  The pain, the suffering, the loneliness and the despair that comes from not knowing where you will eat or sleep or live another day.  I feel her small, ridiculously thin body shudder as she sighs.  It moves me beyond words and I give her my heart right back.  This poor girl has lived decades in just a few months.  An old soul in a young body.   I’ve seen it a million times and I know that in a week or so she will let it all go and realize that the rest of her life will be okay.  She will be loved and cared for and have a home, and the first few months of her life will fade until her body catches up to her soul.

And then there’s Jenny.  She seems to realize right away that things have changed.  She bows down on her front legs and starts running around the room, ready to play.  Macy darts between the crates and situates herself right next to me.  Kerry comes over and they are on her like Spandex.

The exhaustion starts to seep in and we play as long as we can before we tuck them in for the night.  As we carry them back to the isolation part of the kennel, Macy gets frightened and hides her head under my arm, shuddering.  I gently stroke her until she’s okay.  We stay by the kennel for a few minutes until they get settled, and then we head for home.  I think about them all as I am getting ready for bed.  More souls saved from certain death.  Another day at Pets Alive.

Kerry gets in the next morning before me and goes to check on the pups who are doing great.  When I get in I run to the back kennel to check on Macy and Jenny.  When they see me they wag their tails so hard it looks like they are going to shake themselves apart.

I jump into their kennel (don’t tell Janet – she’ll yell at me about quarantine rules) and they are all over me.  So sweet.  I spend some time with them, stop to see a few of my favorite dogs and then head up to work.

Later that day I get word that Hero has arrived.  She looks a lot like Macy, except that her back legs bow out in different directions.  She has trouble walking, favoring one leg or the other from the beatings she received.  She is as sweet as her sister with one little twist…she’s a talker.  She looks at you with the same eyes full of love and gives a little hoot as her tail wags faster.  Like Macy she’s a little more tentative with males but she is an absolute love.  I couldn’t take my eyes off her and I couldn’t let her go.  So much suffering, such an old soul but what an amazingly sweet dog.

Whoever adopts these dogs is going to be very lucky to have their love.  Thanks so much to Rob and Marisol and all of you for making it possible for Kerry and I to experience the joy we feel on days like this when its more privilege than job, which is most of the time.

I can’t help but think of the dogs left behind on Dead Dog Beach, and all the old souls out there that suffer and die every day.  Every day Kerry and I, the staff at Pets Alive and our volunteers and supporters go home tired.

We always wish we could save more Macys and Heros.  Thanks to you we will.

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The following cats were also adopted: Charlie, Eddie, Cleo and Ricky. That is a total of 61 adoptions this month. Great. Good luck furries!

We had a lot of “pairs” adopted this month too – people coming down and taking two dogs home. Hero & Noble, Linus & Lucy, Claus & Kringle, Cody & Major, Matilda & Madden and George and Mabel went home as duo’s. It is so much better for a dog to have a companion. We’re really thrilled by this latest trend.

One of the stand-out adoptions this month would have to be Bobey. Bobey has lived either in a shelter or at the end of a chain his entire two years of life. He has even been with US for many months. He had almost no interest from adopters, and yet he was such a great dog. A family came to see another dog and he was in the lounge waiting to go back to the kennel and they fell in love with him and took him home. Here is their latest update:

I wanted to thank you for letting me adopt Benny formerly known as “Bobey”. We’ve had Benny for about a month now. What a lovable sweet boy. From the moment Benny got to his new home. he was very nervous & timid. Benny hasn’t been in a home for 2 years its understandable. But in his eyes you see the eagerness to please. He has mastered crate training & is doing fantastic with housebreaking (it took him 2 weeks). I can see signs that Benny was abused/abandoned. So I decided to pamper him at a grooming salon. He did not want me to leave him (abandonment issue). But we got him to stay. When I picked him up a few hours later I swear he almost took out a couple of tables because of that beautiful shake/wag of his. SOOO Happy! Benny loves to chase the deer off my property. He smiles at me after the deer run off. Benny loves car rides as well. Benny also has all the patience in the world. I have an autistic son that is 4 1/2 yrs old. My son does not speak, just makes noises (sometimes loudly). I’ve talked to Benny about my son several times (just like I would talk to another human being) explaining my sons situation. Benny wants my sons attention but does not push my son Nicholas for it at the same time. If Benny sees my son acting up he will stay away from him or just lay on his bed. If he sees my son playful, Benny becomes playful. Benny gives my son all the space in the world like he understood every word I told him. I’m just trying to stop Benny from jumping up on you, which I can see lots of improvement. I was scared he would knock my son over by jumping up. Once again Benny trying to please me and being such a fast learner. I cant believe with Benny’s past that he has remained soo sweet & forgiving of people. Benny seems to have alot to teach people in life.

Congratulations Benny/Bobey. We’re so very happy for you.

Pets Alive Puppies
We have so many puppies right now (odd for us) that I created the
Pets Alive puppy slideshow: Hope you enjoy it. Click here to watch.

Intakes:

This month we took in 19 dogs from West Virginia (take a look at the news coverage on that!), 9 from Ohio, 2 from West Virginia, 7 from Kentucky, 7 from North Carolina, 3 from South Carolina, and 3 local dogs.

General Updates:

Last month we told you about a challenge to increase sponsorships. If we could get 100 new sponsors in two months, an anonymous donor would match the amounts for ONE YEAR. Thanks to all of you – we did it. As of January 1st, all those new sponsorships are being MATCHED. Thank you to everyone who stepped up to help. Thanks so very much.

New Staff: Pet Alive found ourselves in need of some extra staff this quarter (Eddie and Tom are no longer with us). We have not hired a new kennel worker yet. Juan and Marcos have been absolutely AMAZING – truly AMAZING, coming in early, staying late, working extra to make sure everything is covered. However we did hire a dog trainer and we did hire a new horse caretaker (we are still looking for a kennel worker if anyone is interested you can email info@petsalive.com).

Nancy Parker has started doing dog training here. She is willing to work with any volunteers that want to do some additional work with our dogs, and she will also be starting dog training classes in the spring (as soon as the weather is accommodating). She is also handling owner surrender requests. In other words all of the many requests we get to take in dogs – MOST of them are easily fixable. So she is working with these owners to keep the dogs IN their homes, rather than surrender them. So far it has been going great and we’re seeing a huge difference. Nancy also handles all our negative follow-up calls. Most of you know that we call and follow up on our adoptions after three days, then three weeks, then three months to make sure all is going well. If we hear anything negative or the new family is having trouble, Nancy puts on her cape and goes to work. She does ONLY positive reinforcement training and is very good at working with aggression issues as well, which many trainers shy away from. She practices the best practices we learned from Best Friends and we’re really happy to have her with us.
(That is a picture of Houma playing in the exercise yard. Doesn’t he look happy?)

We also hired Juliet Charkin as the new horse caretaker. Juliet comes in for a few hours every morning to tend to the horses needs. She is simply wonderful. She has started taking pictures of Glen’s eye every week so we can compare it weekly to more easily tell if he starts to have trouble. She also really loves all the horses here. She gets a special look when she talks about them which deeply touches me. We really like her and I hope she’ll be around for a long time. The horses ALSO like her, which is even MORE important. She has a very good way with them and we’re thrilled to have her join us.

If you see them around,please take a moment to stop and welcome them both to the Pets Alive fold! Welcome Juliet and Nancy!

Note to our Volunteers (written by Nancy Parker): This is an important factor in getting a dog adopted. I would encourage all humans to make eye contact with dogs as they interact. When volunteers and staff take the dog in and out and walk, encourage the dog to look at you (once you are out of the main kennel). Stop and say the dogs name or just make a clicking sound. Once the dog looks up say YES (marker word) and give him a good pet or rub to acknowledge. Doing this several times during the walk will keep him connected to humans. When dogs are around dogs for the major part of their day they will focus on only dogs and the behavior of dogs. They loose the ability to connect with humans. We need to remember to encourage them to look into our eyes and connect. I teach this basic behavior as part of my Leadership Skills Training. I know it is difficult for staff, but having volunteers take the time to make eye contact during the walk will help the dog to remain connected to humans. I noticed volunteers take the dogs out for short walks….would be better, if possible, if you could take more time and walk the same route two times. This will encourage the dog to slow down and walk better on the leash. Usually second time around the dog slows down and relaxes. Anxiety goes down and the walk is more fun!

Did you see my blog on
What does “no-kill” mean?.

Pet Food Pantry: Pets Alive and Orange County Veterinary Hospital (OCVH) and have created Pet Chow Pantry to help feed family pets who are going hungry and may ultimately be abandoned. The Pet Chow Pantry will immediately start collecting donations for distribution at OCVH, 1761 Route 17M , Goshen Monday-Friday 8:30am t o 5:00pm. Additional locations will be set up shortly. The Pantry hopes to have enough inventory to start distribution to those in need by mid February. Families in need can visit distribution location: Pet Chow Pantry, 43 St. John Street, Goshen.

Oreo’s Law Update: Oreo’s law will be presented to the agricultural committee this month (it has to pass there first). DID YOU REMEMBER TO EMAIL, FAX, CALL your Assembly Members and State senators? THIS IS URGENT! We need you to tell them, ask them, beg them to support this bill. You can do so here: http://petsalive.com/mailem.php. Additionally, we also need letters in support of Oreo’s Law to go to the Agriculture Committee Members as well: http://tinyurl.com/yk6f9md – calls and personal notes and messages mean more than template sends, so keep that in mind. Thanks for your support. TOGETHER we can stop the killing.

For more information click the button below:

Animal Medical Updates and Issues (written by Janet):
Although all the staff had the joy in seeing so many wonderful animals spend the holiday season with their new families, some were not as fortunate. Over the past two months, we have been persuaded to take in a handful of dogs of either geriatric standing or failing health. One such pair was Annie the Shepherd mix and Trixie the little chubby beagle. When I first met Trixie, she was obviously OLD and FAT…but was full of energy. I thought to myself, ‘gee does that dog need to go on a diet’! Many beagles tend to become obese especially as they age, because they are such food motivated critters and they are so cute owners have a hard time telling them ‘No’. So the dog staff placed her on a reduced calorie food as she began the long journey of weight loss. Sadly though only a couple days after Christmas, a volunteer was taking Trixie out for a walk. Trixie came back extremely winded and short of breath. The dog staff became very concerned. Of course it was mid-day on a Sunday (the absolute WORST time for any animal emergency) but we were lucky enough to get in touch with our vet, who met us at the office. Quickly our vet was concerned for her prognosis. He worried about a possibly internal mass that ruptured, cardiac complications, or cancer. He was sending out bloodwork, but in the meantime, set her up in ICU with IV fluids and diuretics. If she did not improve overnight, he would then take x-rays. Sadly, even with the quick response, Trixie did not pull through. Our vet informed us that Trixie indeed had cancer. I suppose we should just be relieved that her health went quickly, instead of experiencing any long term suffering. Still, Trixie missed her chance to live in a loving family as she so deserved.

DID YOU KNOW: The number one health problem with dogs in the US is being overweight?

Trixie had been surrendered with Annie the Shep mix. Although the very limited, inconsistent paperwork states simply that Annie is over 8 years of age, it is pretty apparent that is a conservative statement. Her teeth are worn, her eyes are glazed with age, and her frail emaciated body bears the burden of neglect. Upon her intake, we found out that she is Lyme positive. Although not a surprise to see this in dogs living in this region, it is not good news. If caught early enough it can be treated with antibiotics, BUT left untreated and it will affect the kidneys. Annie was immediately started on Doxycycline, and a full blood panel was sent out. But the doxycycline was upsetting her gut, so we needed to stop for a few days and give sub-q fluids. In the meantime, the bloodwork came back revealing increased kidney levels. We are continuing daily fluids to help flush out her kidneys and we were able to successfully start her back up on her medication. We will recheck her kidney values in two weeks. In the meantime, Annie is getting more confident…and her appetite is great. We simply hope to make her as happy and healthy as possible in her situation. And boy oh boy is she getting a LOT of attention lately, which she truly enjoys.

Another old sad couple arriving to our facility was Simba and Nala, two decrepitly old beagles. They had lived together their entire lives and were now the victims of divorce. Simba visibly is the older (14 years old) and his body frame is frail and arched. The staff had just been discussing the fact that neither dog (especially Simba) seemed to have much time left. BUT neither appeared to be in any pain or distress. When the dog staff and volunteers arrived that next day, ironically Nala just never woke up. She must have died in her sleep. We were afraid that Simba would be distraught over her loss, but he is so old that he seems undisturbed. Simba’s days involve sleeping, eating, pooping/peeing…and then a whole lot more sleeping. As long as he has some quality of life in him, we are content.

Mufasa, the old grumpy Chihuahua that was saved from euthanasia at another local shelter has also been sick this past month. He was neutered at the end of December and since he is typically unhandable, we knew we should have every thing done while sedated He needed a full dental (leaving only his two canines present) and a blood panel came back looking great. But a couple weeks later, Mufasa started feeling ill. He vomited and became very lethargic. Of course he was completely uncooperative at the vet. We would muzzle him and have TWO people restrain him while giving him sub-q fluids and injectable medications. We continued this for several days until the point that he was eating normally and taking oral antibiotics. Luckily (or unluckily for some) this little dictator is back to his normal little tyrant self!

Oreo, the much adored pit bull has fallen sick again!!! She is roommates with the mighty Mufasa, so immediately we assumed that she caught something from him. But Oreo presented with a sporadic cough. Sometimes she was acting completely normal, but when excited she’d go into a little coughing fit. Our vet feels that she has kennel cough (the plague of the shelter world!) and hopefully with some antibiotics and cough medication, she will be just fine. If she worsens (or doesn’t improve in a week) then steroids will be given and radiographs taken. She is still her happy little self though and is actually already looking improved.

The Notorious Biggie Smalls has been losing a ton of weight. When he arrived last May we did find out that he has an underactive thyroid. So he was put on appropriate medication. But with his pronounced weight loss, there was the possibility that he needed an adjustment to his medication dose. Bloodwork revealed that this was indeed the case. He has been lowered on his dosage and will be rechecked in two months. Everyone who has seen Biggie lately can’t help but state how wonderful he looks and how active his is. Biggie is like a brand new dog.

Last week while placing a canine kennel mate back into the run, two volunteers noticed a small pool of blood in the drainage area. When I went back to check, I noticed some blood on Mabel’s paw…but upon closer inspection there were no evident punctures on the body. The only thing we could see was a bit of blood along her gum line where she apparently was chewing at her dog run. We relocated the pair hoping to stop that behavior. Although Mabel was lucky enough to not fracture any teeth in her endeavor, she must have punctured an area of her mouth. A few days later and it swelled. She needed it drained and is now on antibiotics and pain meds.

Talk about pain….Angel the pit bull had her left hind pad torn off during rough play with her kennel mate. The vet did need to remove the entire (hanging) pad but feels that is should recover nicely. I’m fairly certain Angel is in full appreciation of the benefits of pain medications at a time like this. Poor Girl!

Dog Update:
Annie is a senior dog that we took into Pets Alive. Her case really touched us. Her owner was killed in a motorcycle accident. The family went to the house to get her, after his death, and she was so frightened by all the people and the commotion that she darted out the door and was gone. The family tried to trap her for over a year, as they kept seeing her in the area, to no avail. Annie slipped them up every time and was getting more and more thin. Finally her hunger got the better of her and she was trapped. Whew. Well. No. They brought her to a shelter. There Annie lived for another YEAR. The shelter was kind but holding a dog this old (she is about nine or ten) that was getting no adoption interest was beyond their space capabilities. So she was scheduled for euthanasia. Pets Alive was deeply moved by her story and we accepted her here. She came here but she was just “dead”. She had no life to her. Her eyes were dead. She did what you asked of her but there was no joy. One of our volunteers, Colleen, discussed Annie and how troubled she was about her lack of interest in anything. Annie affected me terribly and I started having trouble sleeping for thinking of her and seeing those eyes that never lit up, that tail that never wagged, that body that was giving up and just wanted, it seemed to me, to die.

I put a note on the volunteer board and asked volunteers to spend time with her. Boy did you all come through! Everyone that came by, read the note and stopped in to see Annie and spend time with her. We moved her out of the kennel and into the senior room. I started spending time with her every day too. Little by little Annie came back to life. Her eyes now shine, the tail now wags, and she will come and lay in your lap when you sit in her room with her. We even matched her up with another elderly dog although ultimately she decided she’d rather live alone. Still, our volunteers and staff are just the most wonderful bunch of people. They have touched her little life and made her remember “joy”. They taught her tail to wag again and they taught her that even in a shelter, she can be loved and cherished. Thank you all for that. Now…we need to find her a home. It won’t be easy as she doesn’t really like other dogs, but I’m determined that she will love someone again, and not die here at Pets Alive. Please consider taking Annie into your home, or perhaps there is an elderly person you know, that could use a companion for a few years? She is house trained and really no trouble at all. I hope you will think of this dog that loved someone once, was betrayed, but now has hope again and think of a way to help her find someone to love once more.

Cat Update:
With winter hitting hard, our feral cat house was a concern. Last year we heated it with an electric extension cord running all the way from the house out there to an electric heater. CAN YOU SAY EXPENSIVE? So this year we came up with a better idea. A propane heater (ventless) that we could temperature control. We called the oil company and had them drop a 100 gallon propane tank there, hooked up a brand new heater we found on craigslist CHEAP, and voila’. Our feral cats have heat again and rather inexpensively. We’re all thrilled with the results and I thank Tom Dore for doing so much work over there to figure it all out for us.

Horse Updates:

With the new horse caretaker comes some new horse care taking. (grin). Juliet has been getting to know all the horses and her calm and easy demeanor resulted in a great session with the farrier this week. Our farrier is really good with the horses and barely charges us, so it is a great asset to have him and Juliet as a team when the horses need their feet trimmed. This past week was completely uneventful and everyone mostly slept through their trimming. Juliet also started bringing in her digital camera to take some pictures of Glenn’s eye. She wants to keep a weekly record for comparison and thinks the photos will be helpful. So far the eye looks unchanged to her, but when you look at something everyday, small changes may not be so obvious. We love the idea and love having Juliet’s thought process here.

Our shyest horse, Murphy (pictured here) was her first challenge. Murphy can be very difficult to catch for vetting or feet trimming. He is frightened to trust too much, but once he gives you his heart, you have it forever and he trusts you explicably. Once a carriage horse, Murphy seems to always be anxious about being made to leave his field, friends and new life and be put back to work! Juliet has already won over his heart though and he eagerly comes to her when he sees her.

Upcoming Events or Fundraisers
We received the following email and while it doesn’t help US or the dogs HERE, it DOES help shelter dogs and we encourage you to send them your old sweaters!
We are trying to save shelter dogs from the freezing cold this year by taking in used sweaters (donated to us) and then recycling them into doggy sweaters for all the dogs stuck outside the shelters this time of year. I noticed on your website you had a list of resources and I was hoping you would add us to that list to help us spread the word about this cause. We not only want to reach dog lovers to obtain old sweaters but also shelters who may be in need of these sweaters. So please ad our blog to your resource list. http://bignutshell.com/blogs/dogproject/

We will be having many events and fund raisers this year. So far our membership has come through for us when we ask for specific items we need but our events are very poorly attended. We would really appreciate your support and your physical presence at the functions we are running this year. We are trying many things this year to entice you into attending. Remember these are not just great days or nights out, the ticket is also a tax deduction. We hope to have a casino night this year, we’ll be doing our annual yard sale, we will be doing some really fun other things too – but I don’t want to let the cat out of the bag too early, but stay tuned. We’re super excited at this year’s line-up and we really hope that you will come to them!

We also need your HELP in putting these events on! 2010 is going to be a great year for Pets Alive. The past couple of years Pets Alive has been in survival mode, but 2010 is the year this turns around and PA begins to really grow. We are going to get that medical building – we’re determined – and we aren’t stopping there. I know that we have many talented people out there that would love to be pat of this if only you knew how to help. There are a ton of things you can do to help us and you’ll have fun doing it too. Just send an email to volunteer@petsalive.com and tell us about your skills, strengths and talents? We will contact you to let you know how you can help Pets Alive change the lives of countless animals this coming year! Please – ACT. Send that email. By helping us, you help these animals and by helping these animals you help yourself. Giving of yourself and your time for a good cause is one of the most rewarding experiences you can have, to say nothing of the good karma (and friends!) that you find as a result. We look forward to meeting you and making you a part of our team!

Ragazzi life is hosting a contest. They are asking that you submit a photo of you and your dog, and for every photo submitted they will pay Pets Alive $2.50! They are giving the winner of the contest a free custom oil portrait by renowned artist Michele Amatrula…..and you’re invited to attend the party where they announce the winner. Not bad, and your submission wins for the animals! I submitted one already of course. WAY cute. I challenge you to beat it! Click here to submit your photo.

Thank you’s
Thank you so much to Liz who came by to pick up all our broken horse blankets and repair them for us. Horse blankets are very expensive, so someone that can repair them is such a godsend. Thanks so much for this Liz. This is the second year she has helped us with this.

Thank you to long time supporters Bob and MaryEllen Chanda. Bob has invested money for Pets Alive and whenever we need a little help he dips into it and sends us some. Their recent donation of $6000 is a huge boon to us during the “dry” donation months (January and February) and we really needed the help. They are also always thinking of us, networking, coming up with ideas to help. We just love the two of them (they also ADOPT from us!) Thank you both so much for your CONSTANT and CONTINUOUS support!

Our displays at the Middletown and New Paltz Starbucks were VERY successful. In less than 30 days they raised OVER $1,000 in donations! Thank you to Starbucks for allowing us to set up there and thank you to all the generous people that put money in our display! That is Artie and Anna in front of the display! They volunteer here at Pets Alive with their great mom Mary Ellen,who is always doing wonderful things for us. We love them!

Thank you to Cathie G for coming in every Sunday to get new pictures of the dogs for our website and for volunteering walking dogs & helping out with the horses. Thanks also to Vera who cares for the horses for us every Sunday.

Thank you to Dave D for replacing the door in the laundry room. Thanks Carmine for donating, building & organizing this for us! Thank you also to Jan for redoing and cleaning the grooming room. Our new file racks…thank you Wanda, Claudia, Amy …one so came with no name! TY! They look great!

Thank You to Charene Tse & her daughters Kirsten & Chelsea for making all the new going home bandannas for our adopted dogs. They buy the fabric & make them at home. They sent us several with Christmas fabric, now have doggy valentine themed ones. They are really wonderful. They also come and spend time with our shyest dogs. This picture is with one of the pile puppies!

Thank you to Gil and Maria for coming down every week, and more than once a week! You both do so much for us. And OMG Gil is now walking Cam! Go Gil Go! Another person that can handle Cam. This is so great. We really appreciate your love and support.

Thank you to Girl Scout Troop 127/Otisville. They came to Pets Alive, volunteered and brought donations for the animals!

Thank you, as always to our very good friend, John Heads, for all the doggie pickups, transports, repairs, the cabinets, making the file folder hangers, putting together that impossible desk, and for just always being there whenever we need anything. We so appreciate you.

Thank you to Marc Roberge and his charity organization HEARD THE WORLD FUND. They recently lost their precious pitty Judy and made a $5000 donation to Pets Alive in her memory.

Thanks to Sue and Marty P for all the decorating for the holidays, the extra time with our special needs dogs and for always stepping up when we need you!

Thank you to the Monhagen Builders Club for raising money and donating a Kuranda bed to Pets Alive!

Thank you to Maria and Anne, who made a winter weekend trip to Pets Alive and helped clean the puppy room and the cat house. They also brought tons of cat food and supplies.

Thanks for a really flattering blog from John S. about his time volunteering at Pets Alive.

Thank you so much to Paul Q who nominated us for the IBM Employee Charitable Contribution Campaign! Thanks Paul!

YAY! Thanks to all your voting we received a $1000 check from Petfinder for being voted #1 shelter in New York!. Thank you all SO MUCH!

Thank you so much for the help on the weekends from Barb, Trudy, Lisamarie, Colleen, Ricki, Alina, Becky and Fran. We could not do the adoptions and orientations without you all!

Thank you to Mari and Rob Thomas for giving all the Pets Alive staff tickets to his show at the Mohegan Sun, bringing us all backstage and treating us so wonderfully. We had such a great time and it was fabulous to see you in your element. Thanks for all you do for us and all the love you show us.

Current Needs:
We are in great need of reams of paper for our printers. If anyone can donate some paper, we’d really appreciate it – just standard printing paper. We also found out that Kuranda.com now has cat towers and cat beds. Cat Towers and beds are available at a discounted rate for shelters and rescues. You can go to their website and just pick our shelter and they send it directly to us, let us know it is from you, and give you a discount for doing it! If you can consider sending us a cat tower or bed, the cats would LOVE it. These seem great as they are so easily cleaned.

We also just found out that our brand new washing machine can only use High Efficiency detergent. Most of what we have is NOT. That is ok, we can still use what we have up at the cat house in the older washing machine but now we REALLY need some HE Laundry detergent! Thanks for your consideration on these items.

We are also looking for clean fill to fill an old inground swimming pool on the property. We want to make it into a big exercise yard for our dogs. The pool is just an old fenced off area and we’d love to fill it and make it a surface we can use! We also really need to get our driveway paved. It is filled with potholes again and I’m at wits end with the thought of filling the holes yet again. Paving is the only thing that is going to solve this for us. If you have any connections that can get either of these things done for us, please let us know!

Lastly, we really need a building. We want to build a medical facility on site with a meeting room for our students (Humane Education) and maybe with three little adoption rooms. Currently if we have more than one family at a time, we have to have them stand outside while the current family is in the one room we have. Not ideal when it is 20 degrees out. Anyone have like $200-300k just laying around they are looking to get rid of? Or maybe a big building you wanna deliver? Just sayin’. We could really use it.

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The clinical definition of the term means that no animal who can be saved is killed.

So if you are no-kill you don’t kill any animals because you’re out of space. You don’t kill them because they are ill (and because it might be expensive, or difficult, to care for them).  You don’t kill them because they are elderly or more difficult to adopt.  You don’t kill them because they are a certain breed and you don’t like that breed or have “too many” of that breed already in your kennel.

It means that no healthy (treatable) animal is killed.  Ever.  If you follow those guidelines then you are considered “no kill”.

Now there are different interpretations of the term “adoptable” though and even “healthy”.

Some shelters that are “no-kill” DO kill because the animal is severely aggressive.  That is considered “not adoptable”, especially if it is behavioral or medical in nature – and therefore considered that it  can not be fixed.  Perhaps something such as a tumor or something else that causes the animal to act this way, something that can not be trained out of them.

No-Kill also means that you may end suffering.  So if an animal is so sick, in a way where no medical treatment can ease their suffering, then out of kindness you let them go, to spare them any more pain and discomfort.

So do no-kill shelters kill animals?  Well, yes.  They will euthanize animals because the animals are so aggressive that they can not work with the animal or because the animal is so sick that there is nothing else you can do to help it.  Are those sanctuaries considered no-kill still?  Yes.  That is still defined as “no kill”.  No-kill doesn’t mean you keep an animal alive no matter WHAT.

My opinion is different.  Pets Alive is different.  We are not claiming to be right or wrong. But we do not kill even our aggressive dogs.  We WILL let an animal go that is so sick that it has started to suffer. That is simply humane and something borne from love and responsibility.  That is true love – and a selfless act – because while we do end their suffering, it starts our own suffering (known, of course, as grief).

Our aggressive dogs though…they stay alive.

Would we be justified to end their lives and still call ourselves “no-kill”.
If we believe they can’t be fixed — yes.

Are we a better shelter than the ones that kill aggressive dogs?
No. I don’t think so.
In fact, an argument can be made that they are much wiser.  That they are saving more lives as a result of their decision to end the lives of aggressive animals.  After all, our runs will have a dog in it that is likely not going anywhere, and that run could be used by other dogs that deserve a chance at life and deserve a home and a sanctuary, while this dog that may never get adopted, is taking a space that they could be in.  Indeed.

I can’t argue that, nor the wisdom of it.

However, for me it is deeper.

At Pets Alive, we commit to all our animals. Any animal that comes through our doors we tell them and we promise them: “You are safe now.  No matter what else happens in the world or in your future life, you will always be safe. We will always protect you, care for you, provide a place for you and love you.”

We commit to them.

Completely.  Without reservation.  100%.

We promise to find them a good home. Perhaps the reason they have become aggressive and come back to us is because we didn’t find the best match for them in the home they went to.  Perhaps it is human frailty not canine?  Perhaps they have suffered so much at the hands of humans, up to now, that they are simply unable to completely feel safe and trust.  Have humans caused this condition?  Has something in their life caused them to feel this way and live in fear of what the next person might do to them? Is it fair that they die as a result? At Pets Alive, we just don’t think so.

Or perhaps they have a medical condition that makes them unstable.  Should we kill them because of something they can’t help?  That perhaps they can go for YEARS without ever biting or trying to bite someone, but then something in their brain misfires and they lose it for a second and then a minute later they are back to “normal”?  Should we kill them for that?  I don’t know the “right”" answer so the only thing I can do is listen to my heart.  My heart looks into their eyes and as they look back I know I can’t do it.  I can’t give the command that puts a needle in their veins and ends their life for something they can’t help or something that humans perhaps caused in them.

Do I have the authority to?  Yes.
Do I have the “right” to and still claim we are “no-kill”?  Yes.

Could we make that decision one day?  Yes, it is possible.

But my moral compass looks into their eyes and strokes their heads and says, NO.
Don’t think that every day I see our “lifers” I don’t think of the dogs their runs could save.  But then I look at them and know that I made them a promise and I’m keeping it.  That as long as we can provide them a happy life, then we will do so and we won’t let anything happen to them and we’ll forgive their quirks and try to understand why they are still frightened or frustrated.

At some sanctuaries and shelters this might be considered “warehousing” animals, and in some, that may be so. I am not sure how I feel about that. I try very hard not to pass judgment on any other rescue on any person who is trying their best to save animals and protect them.   I know that they are all doing the best they possibly can and they have to make difficult and tormenting decisions every day.  So I try not to think about if they are right or wrong.  I can only look at our own sanctuary and decide what is right or wrong HERE….and then live with our decisions.

Here we don’t warehouse animals.  Even our most aggressive dogs have volunteers – MANY OF THEM – and ALL of our staff that can interact with them. They go for day trips to get ice cream, they go on overnight trips, and they snuggle in the offices with staff that can handle them (although we put a note on the door DO NOT ENTER – YOU MIGHT GET EATEN” for safety of others, of course), and they are walked and played with and most have other dogs they live with that are companions for them so that they can play with and enjoy some canine (or feline) companionship. I don’t feel that is warehousing.  I feel these dogs still have a great quality of life and sometimes, yes rarely, but sometimes, they get adopted by staff or volunteers that love them and understand their issues and needs.  I know of at least ten off the top of my head that definitely could be considered “kill-able” but that now live in homes with staff or volunteers.  So who knows what will happen to those that are “lifers”? Indeed many may not be and may surprise us by how much they can change or who might fall in love with them.

All of the pictures of the dogs in this blog are dogs that are lifers, or dogs that were considered “unadoptable” by someone or some place. Take a close look.

Should I end their lives to make room for other more deserving and adoptable dogs?

Do they look unhappy and warehoused?
You be the judge.

I don’t know if my personal opinion and view of “no-kill” is right or wrong but I do know that I can sleep at night and not break promises to any of the animals that walk through our doors and into our arms.

Oh…and out of all of these photos of  “lifers” or “unadoptables”, only a few still live here.  Interesting, isn’t it?  A dog even WE considered a lifer, a dog that would spend the rest of their life with us…. gone into a home and into the arms of someone else that saw their worth and decided they could love them.  What is unadoptable after all? What does THAT mean?

Again. YOU be the judge.

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Sanctuary animal updates:
Since our last update on November 11th, we adopted out about 57 animals! Preston, Tisbury, Snausage, Rosie, Sandy, Brizzie, Buddy, Coal, Dixie, Shayna, Billy, Dory, Ember, Talia, Quigley, Spunky, Kylie, Bingo, Tessa, Inglebert, Kit, Ernie, Akasha, Princess, Droopy, Layla, Gypsy, J.D., Kanga, Friday, Maggie, Daks, Gracie, Redford, Boomer, Barbie, Rosie2, Pork Chop, Tundra, Slugger, Sinclair, Gunner, Panda, Bunny, Max, Nixon, Samson, Redford (again), Huey. We even adopted out eight cats this month! Yay to Sammi, Jesse, Vinny, Pumpkin, Bear, Katie, Vladimir & Virgil.

Stand out adoptions this month would HAVE to be Rosie, Tisbury, Snausage and Gracie. Rosie was a little dog scheduled for euthanasia because she could be so ornery. She arrived in a metal cage where she could not even turn around or stand up! We were shocked. We were told not to handle her but to DUMP HER out of the cage because she was so nasty. Oh my. In a cage like that, totally exposed, who could blame her??? We opened it up and let her make her own way out. Within 20 minutes she was kissing us and friendly. It is true that it took about 20 minutes every time she met someone to warm up and understand they would not harm her, but she was not a nasty dog at all. In fact, Rosie was one of the sweetest and most affectionate dogs (always wanting to cuddle in your lap) that we have encountered. She was adopted and now lives in New York City. Imagine. Truly. Yes imagine. From death row, to Central Park. Imagine.

Gracie was a dog that lived in a home for the first four years of her life and was well loved. Her family lost their home though and they were forced to surrender her to another shelter. When she got there she became a staff and volunteer favorite but the director loved her so much she wouldn’t SHOW her to potential adopters. As conditions at that shelter deteriorated, Gracie spent most of her time in a crate, laying in her own waste. When we got her, this was evident from the raw skin on her stomach from laying in urine. It was terrible. But Gracie was an older dog, did NOT like cats or other dogs and so placing her was quite a challenge. She was adopted, finally, after 8 months here, by a wonderful woman who had been looking a long time for a dog to love. They are a WONDERFUL match and Gracie is doing tremendously well. Happy, and in her forever home at long last. We all get teary eyes thinking of this dog that finally is where she needs to be. We miss her, of course, but life is finally back on track for this wonderful girl.

Tisbury came to us when the owners were forced to consider euthanizing him. Tisbury was a golden but had a bite history and they had tried many things but ultimately were being forced to consider euthanasia for this boy. No shelters would take him with such a history and they couldn’t keep him in a house with children. We considered long and hard about this guy, but his bite history was sporadic and he wasn’t aggressive ‘generally’. Enter Brenda & Ron. They met Tisbury and we explained he had a spotted past. They decided to take him anyway. So far things have NOT been perfect and he HAS displayed the issues that resulted in him coming here (food aggression and collar aggression), but his new family has refused to give up on him and they say they are keeping him no matter what. They use caution with him and work with him every day on his issues, but they have decided that the good outweighs the bad and they are keeping him in their lives. Wow. You don’t find people like this every day. Tisbury could have very well wound up a “lifer” here at Pets Alive. It is amazing that they can see the good in this dog and how loving he is and deal with his other issues. Let’s hope he learns to trust them and get over his negative behaviors. Stay tuned to the online forum updates and we’ll keep you posted.

Everyone who has spent any time at Pets Alive would know Snausage. Originally called “Chained Charlie” because he spent the first year of his life tied to a doghouse with a three foot chain , and shown little or no affection. Again, another dog that had a lot of strikes against him. He was a pit mix, did not get along well with most other animals and had absolutely NO MANNERS what-so-ever. This was a dog that needed a LOT of work. Staff LOVED this little Snausage and he was one of my favorite dogs here, but he was definitely rude as far as doggie manners and he definitely had no house manners. Enter Claudia and Michael. They fell in love with Snausage and we were honest about his needing some work. Their first week at home was really rough as they tried to master house training and some behavior problems, and they came down and worked with trainer Nancy a little as well. But they were committed. As much of a bad boy as this guy was, they were determined to stick it out with him. They’d tell us horror stories about his behavior and then end each note with how much they loved him. Here is the latest update from this week. Again, maybe I’m a sap but I can’t help but get choked up when I see a dog like this find two such wonderful people that see his worth.

“Thor (aka Snausage or Chained Charlie) first got my attention online with his strange, yet adorable look. My fiancee and I both filled out an application to go visit him, and fell in love with him from the first day, although he had his flaws. He was extremely hyper-active, and had no manners. He never listened to any commands and had a tendency to jump in your face and knock you over while doing it. The first week he was home, he eliminated in the house and we had no idea how to fix it. He still had no manners, and we were starting to get worried about whether we might be able to keep him. Regardless, we decided to stick it through and see if he would change. Little by little, the little monster turned into a very important part of our lives. He began to listen better, he even learned not to eliminate in the house. He now knows when too much licking is enough, and has calmed down drastically to a well behaved dog. Training Thor is still under the works, but this little dog’s transformation in about a month or so has been miraculous. We cannot wait to spending the next 10-15 years with him and giving him all the love and care that we possibly can. He really is an amazing dog with a very distinct personality.”

Thank you Claudia and Michael. Thank you so much. We know this has been a challenge and we’re so happy that this young dog will not spend any more time in a kennel environment. I’m so glad he found you.

Intakes:

This past month or so we have taken in 8 dogs from North Carolina, 15 from South Carolina, 1 from Arkansas, 2 from Kentucky, and 9 other local dogs detailed below.

A local vet called us this week, a little four month old pup had been dumped in their area…could we help. Of course. We took little Noel (now name Jingles) in here and she is an absolute cutie-pie.

This month we took in Mufassa – a little, elderly, Chihuahua from the Newburgh Shelter. What wonderful folk over there. They called us and asked if we could help with this dog, before euthanizing. We’re so happy they reached out to us. Mufassa IS a little bit of a difficult case. Very elderly, mean as they come, with about three teeth left. Someone suggested all the other teeth are buried in people’s ankles (laugh) but that may be true. He can be ornery, but once he gets to know you, he settles in and is a sweetie. Well ok, sweetie is a little stretch…but he’s, ummm….tolerable. (grin). Come and meet him. Wear gloves.

Gabby is a huge mastiff that came to us when another shelter was being forced to euthanize her. She is also elderly and can be growly, but mostly she is a lap dog, or thinks she is.

We also took in two dogs from Queens, when their owner died. This poor woman developed cancer and was gone very quickly. She lived for her dogs and would be horrified to learn that they could have been euthanized. If you have not made plans for your pets, no matter HOW old you are – do so. It can be as simple as downloading a form from our website and filling it in and then making sure your lawyer or family are aware of your intentions.

Additionally we took in two dogos. We have a long history of loving dogos at Pets Alive. These two were about to be euthanized, were elderly and had some medical issues. We took them here and they are doing well in our senior room now. They are really affectionate and sweet. Come by and say hello.

Many of you read the story of what we started to call the “pile puppies”. These three female dogs had lived feral (wild), for all their seven months, under someone’s porch. With winter coming the owner decided the best thing to do was to trap them and have them euthanized. Oh no. They were so adorable and so terrified. They never came out of this “pile” of dogs at the shelter they were at. See the before picture when we first were told about them, and now the ‘after’ picture. They are our “kitchen dogs” now and readily come up to visitors offering treats and good will. Little by little they are coming around. We request that you come down and spend some time with them. They REALLY need socialization and we really need your help in getting them to adjust to MANY different faces – not just ours. Please consider coming down and sitting with them for an hour. We will appreciate it, they will appreciate it and you will fill your pool of goodkarma!

We also took in four cats: Spider, Princess, Stardust, and Pebbles. All of them are owner surrenders or strays that were in need of help. Spider is semi-feral and needs a lot of work. If you have good cat socialization skills we beg you to come down and help us get Spider out of his little shell. We are at a critical point of his development and feel he can go either way right now. With your help he will become a domestic, affectionate, cat. Please consider coming down and working with Spider to ensure his future is in a loving home.

Pets Alive Tour
We put this together to try to show you a mini virtual tour of Pets Alive.
We have SO much work to do and so much maintenance and fixing up,
but I think from the pictures you can tell that we try our hardest and that
“Love is Everywhere”. We hope you enjoy it. Click here to watch.

General Updates:

Want to give someone the gift of a dog this holiday season, without the responsibility of feeding, walking, and cleaning up after the dog? Did you know that shelters fill up in January with puppies and kittens that have been abandoned by people who can’t handle the responsibility of caring for them?

We have the answer. With GiveADog you can give someone you love the joy of following one of our rescued dogs on his or her journey from being alone in a shelter or foster home to the Pets Alive Animal Sanctuary facility to his or her forever home.

The person who receives your gift gets a thank you card and when they choose their dog, a beautiful certificate announcing that they have saved that dog.

They also get an account at GiveADog where they can go to follow the progress of their dog. Once or twice a week they will get email updates about their dog as he or she embarks on the journey to a forever home. Their personal page has the current status of their dog, pictures of their dog, notes about their dog and a place to communicate with us about their dog. They can even see videos of their dog.

You can see a sample of the control panel here. For a full break down of how it all works you can read here.

They will follow their dog’s progress through the journey to Pets Alive, intake and examination, settling in, being matched with another dog, playing and being walked, breed determination, writing narrative about the dog, staff and volunteer care of the dog and how they feel about him or her, different families looking at the dog and finally adoption.

Throughout the process your gift recipient will know that because of your gift, they saved this dog from euthanization and made a difference in getting this dog to his or her forever home.

YOUR gift will genuinely save the life of a dog. You will personally be responsible for making that possible. What better thing can you do with your money at the holidays? Save a life.

It’s a terrific, one of a kind gift for the holidays. And it’s only $39.95 per recipient. And is tax deductible.

Looking for Oreo content? Blogs, press release etc., can be found by CLICKING HERE. Support has been coming from all over the nation for Oreo’s Law. Read these letters of support from Rob Thomas, Michael Mountain, Nathan Winograd, and the nation’s top law professors – they all join No Kill leaders, rescue groups and shelter reformers in support of Oreo’s Law.

We read about this story on Craigslist when one of our members sent it to us. I contacted the owners and heard a terrible story of a hunter that had killed their dog. They are looking for any and ALL information anyone might have that would help them find the person that did this to their cherished pet. I usually do NOT put negative things in the newsletter if I can help it. I try to always make this a positive part of your day but in this case, if this happened to me, I’d want anyone that could help, to help me. The story of Creedence was written by their owners. If you know anything, please help if you can:

My wife and I were hiking on the back of our property with Creedence going up to visit friends. He was running around checking things out like he always does. At 4:45 PM on Saturday November 28th, the dog killer fired the shot that killed Creedence. Five witnesses (2 hikers, 2 hunters and a homeowner) all confirmed they heard the shot come from the same spot. The killer saw through his scope a dog with an orange collar on, not a deer, or a coyote, but a small one year old pet loved by someone. The killer then picked up Creedence by his collar and carried the 40 pound dog across route 6 to a spot in the woods or perhaps a yard. When Creedence did not come when he was called, as he always did, a search with several people on foot and quads searched the whole area this side of route 6 for 5 or 6 hours, and no one found his body. Then the next day, several more searchers on foot and quads searched again for 8 hours never finding his body. At this time we all agreed that Creedence was not shot, but had been spooked and ran away and gotten lost. We then began a big missing dog effort with posters, notifications etc. Myself, my wife and dozens, and dozens of wonderful relatives, friends, neighbors, co- workers, and people we did not even know, drove around for hours and hours every day for 6 days, in agony and worry for his well being. Then on the afternoon of Saturday December 5th, two friends found Credence’s body at a place that had been searched numerous times before. He had been shot with a high powered hunting rifle. Sometime between Monday November 30th and Friday December 4th the dog killer carried Creedence to this place, as it had been searched many times before and the body was now out in the open. The killer was on foot and possibly came from one of the houses on route 6. We buried Creedence up on the hill, with our other 3 dogs from the past, Buddy, Tucker, and Dutch.

Don’t forget our 2010 Pets Alive Calendar is available for sale! You can get it on our CafePress store or in our kennel office! Thanks to Becky for putting this together for us.

Medical Updates: (Written by Janet)

Veruca is a lovely female pit mix. She came to use a year ago October from the hurricane Gustav rescue. She was one of three puppies around 10-12 weeks (although none were littermates) that survived the hurricane and were brought to us. Veruca was adopted along a male from that group. When she was around seven months of age, the owners noticed her limping. Not knowing if she simply hurt herself playing with her brother, they took her to the vet for an exam. As part of a normal protocol and due to the high incidence of such in this area, the vet performed a lyme combination test. Shockingly, Veruca tested negative for lyme but POSITIVE for heartworm. When we learned of this news, we were not only alarmed but baffled. Veruca left us as a 12 week old puppy and in theory heartworm prevention can be started anywhere up to the age of 6 months without testing to rule out a heartworm infection. So how did a seven month old dog who was on heartworm prevention since adoption, test positive? Our vet explained that this must be an extremely unusually occurrence where the mother probably was infected and passed it along to her offspring. He also explained that even if we had tested her for heartworm as a puppy (which is NOT protocol) the test would have come back negative since it tests only for adults and not the larval stage.

Even though we finally had an explanation, we were dismayed over this seven month old puppy that was infected with heartworm. The last thing we heard was that owners were getting quotes for the treatment from a couple different vets and they would then decide who to have the treatment done through. About three weeks ago coincidentally some volunteers ran into the owner and found out that they never had Veruca treated for her heartworm disease. Upon that news, we contacted the owner and stressed the importance of treatment while she is still asymptomatic. When we learned that they would not do so, we were able to convince them that it was in her best interest to surrender her and get her the care she needed. So Veruca has been back with us for two weeks. She is a beautifully sweet submissive girl who just wants to be by your side constantly. We ran bloodwork and started her on pre-treatment medications. Veruca is scheduled for the first part of her adult heartworm treatment tomorrow. Although there is no reason to expect any complications please remember keep Veruca in your thoughts this month!

Leo the red shepherd mix went to see a veterinary ophthalmologist to have his eyes examined. For those of you who know Leo, or at least know OF Leo, you are aware that he can be great with some people and NOT so great with others. Although we do not have an exact age, we are aware he is in the senior category (he is at least 9 years of age but could be as old as 11). Because of the way he stares blindly at people and appears to be caught off guard, we wondered if some of his aggressive tendencies could be attributable to cataracts or other eye-related illnesses. Leo was not the best patient in the exam room, but all in all, the vet was able to perform a good in-depth examination. To our surprise, Leo’s eyesight is actually VERY good for his age. He does have some mild fatty deposits, but that alone should not hinder his vision. So if you are one of the unlucky ones that Leo dislikes, we can blame crotchety old age versus visual impairment.

Maco the chubby, huggable pit bull was found limping in his outside enclosure this month. It appears that his neighbor Tyson has once again caused trouble by ripping Maco’s nail right off. (Would someone just adopt Tyson already? He is a wonderful dog. He just doesn’t like other dogs). Luckily there was no blood and Maco did not seem to be in much pain, especially if you were close enough for him to give you licks and hugs. We did bring him inside and he was started on some antibiotics and pain medication.

In the cat world, this month has been full of fractious feline fun. Some of our feral cats were acting sickly. The problem with treating feral cats is just that….they are FERAL! Wild, untamed, and definitely not in favor of human handling! So it’s always quite the task to try to catch and treat a cat whose least favorite thing is the site of a human…and especially one with a net!

A feral cat who was named “Large Hissing” before arrival to Pets Alive (I know, ingenious name) has had chronic upper respiratory issues. He typically fairs pretty well, but the cat staff noticed that he seemed to be losing weight and that his nose was encrusted with nasal discharge. In our favor, Large Hissing enjoys lounging in one of the cat sheds on the pets alive property. We were able to corner him inside and capture him. He too is getting a good deworming in addition to other medical attention like fluids, antibiotics and steroids. Large Hissing was particularly fond of us shaving mats out of his fur with electric clippers – NOT. Somehow Marcos and I managed to keep all of our fingers!

Molly is a small-framed white and black female that’s been living on the property for several years. Her coat was extremely matted and she looked like she needed some TLC. As a long shot, Marcos and I decided to hang out for their nightly feeding. Most of the other cats took off at the site of us (who can blame them really) but Molly remained at the feeding dish. We approached from separated angles and Marcos was skilled (lucky) enough to net her. We brought her down to our isolation area where we dewormed her for several days. Before her release we actually shaved all the mats out of her fur and applied frontline. She is now back on the property with all her friends.

Wonderful news for Charlie the cat!!! A recheck of his bloodwork has revealed that ALL of his blood values are back within normal limits. He has stopped his antibiotics and is being weaned off of his steroids slowly. As far as being infectious, our vet recommended continuing to keep him isolated for a couple more weeks before he can be safely placed back in the normal population or adopted to a multi-feline home.

Princess is an older declawed cat who is one of our new arrivals along with her sister Stardust. They are extremely timid and during their quarantine period, they were perpetually laying in their beds without much movement. The cat staff noticed that from the very beginning, Princess’ eye was a bit runny. We monitored it for a day or two but then it worsened quickly. I was able to get a look in her mouth (as she was hissing at me) and noticed that indeed her gums were inflamed. We took her to the vet where he removed five of her teeth. She is now back on site but still being difficult with food and taking her meds. Overall, she is looking better but is still quite the handful to treat daily.

Did you see Matt’s Thanksgiving blog:
Giving Thanks.

Barnyard Updates:

The horses and goats all appear to be weathering the winter well, even Glen. Glen did go blind in one eye this past month. We were prepared for that as the eye had been having issues for a while and the vet said eventually he would lose site in this eye. Hopefully he will not also have to lose the eye. Right now the vet feels he is not in any pain but we are monitoring him closely. Glen is a horse in his thirties and we continue to hope he will make it through the winter. He is generally healthy but does have a great deal of medical problems.

He absolutely LOVES living with our two goats though. Glen was never gelded so putting him in with other horses can be tricky, but he can interact with other horses over the fence in many different spots and he has his goats as barn companions. All in all he is a happy horse but we are preparing ourselves that he is failing. We continue to do everything we can to keep him happy and comfortable. He is quite affectionate and loves to greet everyone that goes down the driveway. Be sure to always stop and call to him. He knows his name and when his good eye finds you he will come right over for affection and rubs. Glen has almost no teeth so you can NOT give him treats. If you make a carrot MASH in a blender, you can offer something like that or crushed apples to him but please know that anything large, even cut into small pieces is a choking hazard for this horse. This is a picture of Matt, and me, with the goats and Glen is hanging out in the back!

Latest Media
Matt and I were featured on Animalwise Radio this week to discuss Pets Alive and Oreo’s Law. You can download the podcast or play it on your computer here. (Click on December 11th show).

Last month we were featured on Family Pet Time with Dr. Joe radio show. We spoke all about the sanctuary, what we do, how we do it, our supporters, etc. You can play that here.

Pets Alive has been in the news a great deal this past month. Catch up on our media coverage.

Cat Update:
Debbie and Joyce cleaned the two feral houses this month – in a snow storm and freezing weather! They are amazing. They also built a bunch of extra cat “houses”out of tupperware containers and other unique ideas. The houses really needed it and today we’re installing heat back into one of the feral cat houses. It’s just too cold and these cats have been provided with heat every year so we can’t stop now.

We bought a ventless, SAFE, propane heater (no flame) that mounts on the wall (they can’t knock it off) and are having a propane tank installed outside. Voila. Heat again for the ferals. Let’s hope it is just for them and NOT for all the raccoons and possums that also eat here every night. Anyone know a way to let CATS in but keep wildlife OUT? The feral house has cat doors and an outside enclosure too that also has cat doors to it. The wild animals come in and also help themselves. If you have a suggestion please let us know, otherwise we will continue to get all the wildlife fed through the winter as well! Anyway thank you so much Debbie and Joyce, this was very much needed.

Our cat staff could really use some extra volunteers that want to come in to help clean up the cat rooms every day – litter, mopping floors, laundry, dusting etc. We have our regulars that we are so grateful to, but we could use some extra help each morning. Are you free in the mornings – from about 9:30 or 10:00 to 12 or 1?

Thank you’s
Thanks so much to our Pets Alive Adoption Day teams for this month. To Jan for helping to get the dogs spruced up for their big day out, and to – Mimi, Eileen, Wanda, Connie, Marilyn, Laurie, Jaime, Alison, Barbara, Lauren, Jennifer for escorting the dogs and cats to PetCo and PetsMart. Without their help we would not be able to bring our message out into the community. If you would like to participate in the offsite adoption events, please send email to volunteer@petsalive.com

Thank you Nancy Parker for conducting dog training classes for volunteers and for handling some of our negative follow-up calls! Thanks to Trudy S. for the Christmas adoption Bandanas. Thanks to Peter of Cornell Carpets in Pelham. NY for the donation of carpet samples! Thank you to Fran for selling bunches of the Guardian Angel pins and raising $600 from those sales. Thank you to Pets Alive volunteer Sean Morris recently joined the Navy and is heading off to Michigan. Our good wishes go with you, Sean.

Thanks to Melanie for answering a last minute call and picking up the now famous “Ernie” and driving him to Pets Alive. The rest is history! This was Melanie’s FIRST transport! Thank you Brian M. for braving an ice storm to meet Snowball’s transport and get her to Pets Alive. We are very thankful that you both arrived safely.

A big thank you to our Holiday Photo Team Vera, Cathie ,Tom G., Nicole, Cyndie, and to our Santas Tom F., Donnie, Ken and Matt M. Special thanks to Vera, Cathie and Tom G. , who organized it all and who are working all three weekends to make it happen.

Thanks very much to “Mitch and Kelly’s Christmas Trees” at the Matamoras Driving Range for donating the tree for the holiday celebration, and to Marilyn for decorating it! Thanks to our bakers, Melissa, Tom, Cathie, Lynette Lisa, and everyone else who brought such delicious goodies!

Thanks to Katie for coming in another snow storm to groom the horses and bathe the dogs! Thank you to John Heads for all the repairs around here and the last minute canine transport pick ups!

Thank you to the Orange and Rockland Payment Processing Department. Gloria, Donna, Lori, Manny, Patti, Joe, Sue C., Sue D., Sue G., Joan, Les, and a special thank you
also to Sue D’s daughter Jenny, a high school junior who helped out too. They raised tons of donations for Pets Alive and brought them all to us!

Thank you to Elaine C!! She got her company to donate 9000 vinyl bumper sticker labels and then found a printer to print them for free! Thank you to that printer, Rye Printing, Rye, NY, Peter Nix PNix@ryeprinting.com for doing that for us!

Thank you to Danielle from Churchill’s of Mount Kisco for donating 15 brand new Kuranda beds after she read about Oreo. Thank you so much Danielle.

Thank you to Elaine A. for the huge box of leashes that we use here and the fabulous letter. Thank you to EVERYONE that sent us boxes and care packages this month. Thank you to all the people that heard our tweet and donated much needed space heaters to us this month!

Thank you to our great staff that were scheduled to come in when the big storm hit and STILL made it in. (Janet, Juan, Marcos and Alex). Juan and Marcos, I don’t know what we would ever do without you, and Alex thank you for not only getting here but dragging your husband Mike who worked his butt off all day shoveling, plowing and cleaning. You are all wonderful and we really appreciate you.

Thank you to all our new sponsors that are helping us reach the 100 goal! Especially to Angela who signed up for TEN additional sponsorships (and she already had a bunch) and to Tara Mikolay for signing up for 25 new sponsorships!

Thank you Bekim for coming out to support us at the Desires By Mikolay Fundraiser and giving Matt a very big donation for Pets Alive! He also often shows up here with a truckload of much needed supplies.

Thank you Bobby G from VA for the AMAZING letter, the HUGE donation and your personal note. We so appreciate your help.

Thank you to everyone that donated in honor or memory of Tyler. Your letters were touching and your support so appreciated.

Events and Fundraisers
The biggest thing I can mention this month however would have to be the HUGE donation to Pets Alive from SideWalkAngelsFoundation.org (Mari and Rob Thomas’ charitable organization). Last month they gave us $20,000 and this month they gave us $80,000. That is $100,000 and this donation will ensure that Pets Alive lives another year. This means that we can and will be here next year. You may think that is odd but every month we spend about $30,000 here. We need about $150,000 EXTRA in addition to what we raise in fees and fundraisers on our own, to keep us going. This donation means that we CAN make it to next year now. We can and will. I can not tell you what a relief this is. We are always just a few months away from closing our doors, that is how tight finances always are for us. This donation ensures our survival through 2010. We still do plan on trying to start a capital campaign to develop a medical and adoption building, so if you have any ideas or want to help with that we would love to hear from you. In the meantime we would like to extend our deepest gratitude to SideWalk Angels, and Rob, Mari and Maria and Gil for all that you do for us. If it were not for you, we would have shut our doors many years ago. Thank you so much for this help.

The Desires by Mikolay event was a HUGE success. It raised a total of $13,200 for Pets Alive. We want to thank Tara and Scott and everyone that came down that night to help us out! Rob and Mari (and Sammy!) and Maria and Sheela also showed up as well as many of our biggest supporters. Thank you all so much for making this such a success. The necklaces that were specially made for this occasion will still be available for sale all year long. The women’s design features a disk necklace with a paw center, and the men’s design takes the form of a dog tag. You can purchase them on the Desires website (www.desiresbymikolay.com) and 100% of the proceeds from these pieces are donated to Pets Alive.

Don’t forget our FINAL pictures with Santa this weekend!
Santa has to move on to his other duties next week and so this will be your FINAL chance to get your pets picture taken with him before he and his reindeer fly off. Pictures are just $10 and Santa is VERY patient and VERY jolly. So come on down to the Middletown, NY, Petsmart from 11 – 4, on Sunday the 20th with your pet.

Current Needs:

Paper towels(URGENT!), laundry detergent, (URGENT!), Bleach (URGENT!), Kennel Wash (URGENT!) Kong toys for the dogs, dog treats (small or medium sized), Panacur dewormer (the big bottles of equine liquid has been working well for us!), Advantixx or Frontline for dogs, disinfectant wet wipes, bleach, split keyrings, toilet bowl cleaner, Murphy’s Oil Soap, 3-lb paper trays, and Libman wonder mopheads, Slip leads, empty computer ink cartridges (Staples will give Pets Alive $3 each for the empties). Thank you for your kind consideration on these items!

Please consider helping us continue our mission
of finding homes for animals in need!

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”

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Matt,

I received your letter last week and read about your current project – Pets Alive. A few weeks ago my daughter and a neighbor had a lemonade stand. They had decided that they wanted to donate their funds to help animals. After I received your letter I told the girls about your animal sanctuary .  They decided that this is where they wanted their funds donated.  So please accept the enclosed donation. Although it is a small sum of mone, they hope it can help.

Melissa H.

Funds raised by Casey H., Haley H., and Callie K.

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Since then the girls have been collecting empty bottles and cans and returning them, collecting all the money for Pets Alive as well.  While we don’t have a picture of the lemonade stand, we DO have a picture of the can collection in progress!  Thank you so much Casey, Haley and Callie!  It definitely HELPS!

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[Middletown, N.Y. CA/USA – Nov. 30, 2009] Pets Alive, one of the nation’s oldest no-kill animal sanctuaries, will keep on saving unwanted pets with a $100,000 gift from Sidewalk Angels Foundation.

Matchbox Twenty singer Rob Thomas and his wife Marisol started the foundation to raise money for worthy causes. Sidewalk Angels has so far donated almost half a million dollars to Pets Alive (http://www.petsalive.com) to help the organization save abandoned and unwanted animals.

 “We can attribute a good part of our success to the support of Sidewalk Angels and Rob and Marisol Thomas,” says Matt DeAngelis, Executive Co-Director of Pets Alive. “We are fortunate that they have been involved with Pets Alive all these years and are grateful for their support on projects like GiveaDog.org, our socially responsible pet gift for the holidays.”

GiveADog.org (http://www.giveadog.org) allows people to give their loved ones the gift of a dog without the responsibility of feeding, walking, and cleaning up after a dog. Pets Alive gives recipients regular updates on their dogs through email, custom Web pages and even video.

Rob and Marisol Thomas started volunteering at Pets Alive about six years ago and adopted their beloved dog Tyler from the sanctuary. Tyler recently passed away but the couple’s love for Pets Alive continues, says Kerry Clair, who serves as Executive Co-Director with DeAngelis.

“Rob and Marisol have not only given us their money, but they have given us their hearts, and we appreciate that very much,” Clair says.

Their fans have donated over $6,000 to Pets Alive in Tyler’s memory, Clair says. The sanctuary plans to renovate its outdoor dog area and rename it “Camp Tyler” with that money. Marisol also serves on the Pets Alive board and her parents volunteer at the shelter.

 The most recent $100,000 donation from Sidewalk Angels Foundation will go towards Pets Alive’s annual operating budget of about $400,000, Clair says. The sanctuary saved a record 1,000 unwanted animals last year, and is on track to save a similar number this year.

 “Each year we raise about half of what we need. Sidewalk Angels gets us through the rest of the year,” Clair says. “Without them we would have been forced to shut our doors twice already.”

 Founded 30 years ago by animal lover Sara Whalen, Pets Alive rescues animals from New York and across the United States. The sanctuary also takes animals from other shelters that might otherwise be killed, with a focus on animals that have been abused, neglected or have special needs.

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Back in 1620, a group of about 100 religious dissidents from England found themselves in Plymouth, Massachusetts after a short stop in the Netherlands.  They were the first settlers in this new world, and things were rough.

During the first winter here 50 out of a hundred settlers died of starvation and sickness.  Tradition has it that in the spring they planted their first harvest and the abundance of some of the crops was amazing.  They were able to pay off their financiers in England quicker than they expected, and there was still plenty left over.

They were thankful for their very lives – thankful to be part of the surviving Pilgrims.  They were thankful for their harvest – thankful that they were reaping in abundance the seeds they had sown.

A little over a week ago we were all shocked at the senseless killing of Oreo, the dog who had survived being thrown from a six story rooftop, landing on air conditioning units which broke her fall.

As we know she died not from her injuries but as a result of the decision to take her life rather than respond to our request to take her to Pets Alive for rehabilitation.

Since then we’ve seen the announcement of Oreo’s Law, a bill introduced by Assembly Member Kellner and Senator Duane of New York.  The language is practically identical to the language found in the Hayden Law in California, and is simple…if another legitimate rescue organization offers to accept responsibility for an animal that will otherwise be killed, the organization that has the animal must, by law, release it to the requesting organization.

Since Oreo’s death I’ve watched the ASPCA and its supporters try to divert the discussion away from the central issue, but let’s all remember that the issue is simply this:  Is it morally right for a so-called humane organization to kill an animal when there is another option?  In this case that option was Pets Alive.

The answer is equally simple:  No, it is morally wrong.

Euthanasia must be understood for what it is: a last-step, end-of-the-road option to spare animals further hardship and suffering.

Do you think the ASPCA agrees with that statement?  They should.  It’s their Euthanasia Policy.  With Oreo, they violated it, even though they’ve recently amended it to take it farther from the concept of “no-kill.”

I’ve also watched Pets Alive get smeared here and there on the Net.  Whatever.  Our supporters know who and what we are.  I invite the naysayers to get some testicular fortitude and come visit us.  See if you’re still talking out the same side of your face when you leave here.

When Kerry and her large, extended family get together around the Thanksgiving table each year, the first thing they do is go around the table one by one and talk about what they’re thankful for.

At Pets Alive we’re thankful for you – the people who believe in what we do.  The people who give us their hard-earned dollars five and ten at a time, who expect that we won’t spend it on large salaries and million dollar advertising budgets.

People who trust us to do the right thing no matter how much we get slammed for it.  I promise you we always will.

I’ve read the lies.  About how we’re doing this for the publicity or the money.  Those of you who know us know we did this because this is simply what we do.  What you underpay us for.

We’re thankful that the Oreos of the world have places like Pets Alive to go to, along with thousands of smaller organizations that do what we do.  Thankful that we have Best Friends to lead the way, and thankful that they work so closely with us and pick up the phone every time we call.

We’re thankful for the employees in organizations like the ASPCA who truly care about the animals, and advocate regularly for dogs like Oreo, risking being “written up” for “caring too much about the animals.”  The employee who told me that said “What am I supposed to do?  Stop caring?”  No, you’re not.  Another employee spoke of killing animals for reasons other than sickness, saying that “each one took a piece of her soul.”  These people may seem exceptional but we are thankful that there is a blanket of these people protecting the animals who can’t protect themselves.

Even if they couldn’t protect Oreo.

At Pets Alive we’re thankful that our employees have never stopped caring.  They buy animals chicken and rice with their own money when they won’t eat.  They come in on their days off to check on an animal.  They do so much for so little, and they touch us beyond words.  Our volunteers are equally amazing, except they do it for nothing (I suspect our employees would too.  And do.  Regularly.)

Like Thanksgiving, the Oreo debate is about life.  It’s about doing the right thing, which makes it about right and wrong.  Don’t let anyone use sleight of hand to make this something else.

So this Thanksgiving realize that your dog or cat is thankful for YOU, especially if you rescued him or her.  Acknowledge that special bond by sneaking them all something from the dinner table.  At the DeAngelis house we have to protect all food items from the long reach of Roscoe, the Plott Hound from Pets Alive that had surgery on both hind legs and now can rear up and snag anything on any surface at any time.

Now let’s talk about a harvest of a different sort.  Let’s use the opportunity created in having the family together to sow the seeds of Oreo’s Law.  Tell your family members about Oreo.  Tell them about Oreo’s Law.  Tell them they can help by supporting the law, telling other people and writing to the lawmakers in New York.

Refer them to the page that will help them do all that:

http://petsalive.com/oreo

With your help next year we can reap the results of those seeds:  more animals saved from death.

By the way…thank you.  From all of us at Pets Alive, human and furry (and both).

Enjoy Thanksgiving.

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Well…a little conversation with Carl, and then going to see for myself (with Matt) put a lot of misconceptions to light.  I’d like to address them one by one because at first I felt so badly for this family but now I’m kind of outraged about the untruths going around, and the resultant smearing of the name of an organization that, from my eyes, is pretty incredible.  Head and shoulders above what you might think.  First, let’s address the mistruths, and then let me tell you a little about the Orange County K-9 Unit.

It was stated that Hunter, the dog, was now being held at the Training Unit, huddled in the back of his run, deeply depressed and refusing to eat.

Well.  Nothing could be further from the truth. Hunter has a new handler, and I met him today.  His name is Jordan.   Deputy Jordan Forbes. Jordan is such a likable guy, I know I should refer to him as Deputy Forbes, but honestly this guy is someone you could hang out with, and watch a football game with. He is genuine and sincere.  His smile is ear to ear the entire time he works with Hunter.  It is evident in every action and every movement he LOVES working with Hunter and Hunter adores him back.  The training is based on positive rewards – the dog does what is asked of him (like sniffing out some bomb material) then he gets play time. Tug of war, or jumping and playing around with his handler.

Let me tell you about Jordan.  Jordan so wanted to be a part of this program, he bought a HOUSE. Seriously.  He lived in an apartment, and he wanted to work with the K-9’s and Carl felt that an apartment wasn’t the ideal situation for a K-9 dog.  So Jordan bought a HOUSE to better his chances of getting to work with a dog.   How’s that for someone that REALLY REALLY loves dogs?  And he got it too.  He got Hunter, when Hunter’s previous handler reneged on his commitment to the department. I’ll tell you more about that later but let me explain that Hunter lives with Jordan now and he goes home with him every single night.  Jordan’s mom made Hunter a HUGE bed.  It could fit THREE Hunter’s and it is at the foot of Jordan’s bed.  They are always together.   That is true of EVERY dog in the unit.  There is not a single dog that lives at the kennel.  Every single one goes home with their handlers, and live with them and their families.  The handlers can (and do) stay in the unit for the entire length of the dog’s involvement and then the dog can retire with them.

We also met Sergeant Dave Campbell.  He has been with his dog for ten years.  His dog is nearing retirement age, so he is now working with Scout, his next generation dog.  His older dog, Max, will retire and continue to live with him and his family. Then he will continue in the unit, with the new dog he has that is currently being trained now.  So the facts are that you CAN stay the only handler your dog ever has.  You CAN have them retire with you and then you can CONTINUE to work in this department with a new dog and have BOTH dogs live at home with you.  But this is a commitment YOU need to make if you join this unit.

Sergeant Dave is actually the one that does the interviews to get into the unit. He discusses the seriousness of entering into the unit and he – yes – he even discusses the bond you develop with your dog and how important it is that you  commit to a minimum of four years, preferably for the whole time the dog is in the unit, because of this bond.  Every person going in knows this and is made aware of the situation.  These guys want and expect you to stay with your dog for his duration in the K-9 unit. Sometimes things happen where you have to move on and they understand that – but they STILL expect, and require, a minimum of a four year commitment.

Deputy Josefovitz wasn’t retiring.  He wasn’t moving away.  He was quitting the department and going somewhere else and wanted to take the dog with him.

Hunter is tremendously valuable to the Orange County sheriff’’s department.  He ranked number 2 out of 38 teams, this past January,   in the United States Police Canine Region 7 Explosive Detector Certification Trial held in Danbury, CT.  The USPC Region 7 Trial is a rigorous test of a dog’s physical and investigative abilities. The dog that took number one is actually the number one dog in the entire nation.  The ONLY dog to beat Hunter. He is an amazing resource for them and they simply could not give him up because Josefovitz decided he didn’t want the job anymore.

And as for Hunter wallowing in misery and fear at the back of his run? Well, first there is no run that he lives in and second do these pictures look like a dog that is miserable?   No.  He appeared to be very happy.  Believe me – I can tell happy dog, from miserable dog.  I do this all day. This is one happy dog.

That’s another thing.  All the dogs here have come from a long line of dogs that were bred specifically for police work.  They aren’t your average family pet.  That is not to say that they are vicious – actually the ones we met today were also used in community relations.  These are great dogs, but they are trained and they are bred to have very high prey instinct.  They are bred to work and they are happiest working.  I understand that both Josefovitz and his wife work all day.  Hunter would have sat home, alone, for eight plus hours a day.  A dog that worked or trained every day of his life and is just six years old.  Maybe less than half his life expectancy.  He has many  good years left and seeing him work, play and train and how motivated and happy and excited he was, I can’t imagine him laying around in front of a fire waiting for someone to come home…and take him for a walk. This guy was so focused…I stood right next to him and all he was interested in was the next fun thing he and Jordan were about to do. Barely noticed me, even though I had rubbed myself entirely in baloney before I went there. OK, that’s a joke, but he really didn’t much care about me, or being pet.  He was focused, intent, and ready to go.

Additionally…ALL the dogs there were REALLY humanely treated.  They have kennels right there – heated and immaculate – because the dogs need frequent breaks. They don’t overwork them or stress them.  It was routine today to hear someone say “That was great!  He did great!  Put him up for a while, let him rest”.   And off they’d go. When the dogs MISSED their cues I held my breath. Expecting a rough snap, a harsh NO or something else.  I was pleasantly surprised.  The dog might get a light “no” if they got even that, instead they didn’t get the toy or the play reward. They just did it again. When they did it right, they got tug of war or rough housing or jumping and playing with their handler, and lots of happy verbal praise.  I couldn’t stop grinning the whole time I was there.  The dogs were HAPPY. The handlers were HAPPY. It was a happy, pleasant place.  Not because I was there either.  No one really paid us any mind, if they even noticed we were there at all.

As I said, every handler takes his dog home every night.  There are no dogs that live there or stay there. They love these dogs.  When Sergeant Campbell was talking about his dogs, he got a half smile on his face and a faraway look in his eye the entire time he was talking about them.  I see a LOT of fake “I love my dog” people as they come here to try to dump them on us “Oh but I LOVE him SO much” and lots of crocodile tears and you know as soon as they drive away they go shopping and never look back.  I KNOW phony. This was real. You can’t fake this.  This guy…LOVES his dogs.  That’s the thing. They all do. The dogs aren’t just possessions.  Objects of the county or state.  They are FRIENDS to these handlers, pals and brethren.

Remember  Zeus, the New Paltz police dog killed in a crash involving two patrol cars?  Many of these guys got tattoos to memoralize him and all went to his “funeral”.  Did you know that Zeus was treated just as an officer would have been?  He was AIR lifted to an emergency hospital to try to save him. These guys care. They honor and respect their dogs.  These photos hang under a sign that says RETIRED / DECEASED.

They care about Hunter. Deeply. No dog in the Orange County Sheriff’s department has ever died in the Line of Duty.  When I asked them that question every single one knocked on wood.  They said “No, NEVER” and knocked on wood. That’s twenty years.  They never lost a single one.  They did all turn out though for the memorial service of Zeus.  That’s how important these dogs are to them – on a PERSONAL level.  I know many of our volunteers also attended those services.

In regards to Hunter being sick and elderly with a heart condition and hind end trouble?  Well, their vet is Flannery Animal Hospital.  We use Flannery for anything our local vet, Dr. Furman (Monhagen Veterinary) can’t handle at his office.  We have always found them to be professional, extremely experienced and a pleasure to work with. They have given Hunter a 100% clean bill of health.  His heart condition is a minor murmur.  My dog has a stage five murmur…VERY serious.  We still let him run and play and he can handle just about anything. A stage one would be relatively minor and Hunter has probably had it for years. It would be no reason to retire him.  Also a dog with back hind end issues couldn’t do the things I saw Hunter doing with zest and glee today.  He’d be sore and achy.  I have had MANY dogs with hind end issues and we have had many here at Pets Alive. This dog didn’t have any of that.

So I’m not sure what we’re left with.  The fact that they offered the county $7000 for the dog?  I find that very noble, and a wonderful, gracious gesture.   The problem, unfortunately is that it isn’t about money.  It costs much more than that to train a dog to the level Hunter is and the facts are that they need this dog. He is an integral part of the unit.  Hunter was never a price tag to this department.

The easiest solution it appears to me would be for Josefovitz to just have followed through with the commitment and promise he made when he took the job.  Then he would still be with Hunter, he would still be a part of the unit and his dog would have retired with him, and poor Deputy Jordan would be living in a new house, with a huge dog bed and still waiting for his chance (smile).  But yes, I DO feel and recognize the emotional side of it and I DO sympathize with that.  Anyone who has ever had a dog would recognize that.  But the dog could still be with him.  In my opinion, he made these choices himself that resulted in him being without the dog.   Should the Sheriff’s Department be smeared as a result? I think that’s unfair.

I find the coverage grossly exaggerated and uneven.  That’s why I’m writing this blog.   There is a huge other side to this that just isn’t being presented.

I’ll always be on the side of the animal.

In this case – after what I’ve seen today?  Hunter is deleriously happy.  He’s doing what he absolutely loves to do and he is spending every day with a group of people that really love him.

So that’s my take on it.

Trust me, this dog is not abused, mistreated or anywhere near ready to retire.

He’s loving life, loving work, and at the end of the day laying in a big bed with the guy who I’d guess is gonna be retiring him one day and where he’ll spend his golden years…and be copiously wept over when he does finally pass ……. by a bunch of burly guys in blue.

Go Hunter.

Thank you for your service to our community.

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The bill is modeled after a similar law in California (the Hayden law), and would have saved Oreo and brought her to us. This is a MAJOR step in the right direction for ensuring the safety of the animals in the care of organizations like the ASPCA. It must pass.

We expect that there will be shouting and foot stomping and doomsday predictions (as there was in California) from the ASPCA and the big money organizations, and it is VITAL that you help us keep their feet to the fire. Support this bill, and support the legislators who introduced it. Write the Assembly members and/or State Senators and let them know what’s going on and that they need to support this bill. Call them if you are so inclined. Spread the word to your friends and neighbors.

Send your expressions of support to:

Assembly Member Kellner at kellnerm@assembly.state.ny.us
State Senator Tom Duane at duane@senate.state.ny.us

Read the press release here:
http://www.micahkellner.net/2009/11/18/oreos-law-would-give-dogs-a-second-chance-at-life/

Please take just a second to email them and thank them.
Then spread the news. Post this to your Facebook and Myspace pages. Twitter it. Digg it, Reddit. WHATEVER social network you use, please use it. Let’s get everyone involved.

Kerry & Matt

Unfamiliar with the Oreo case?
You can read a great summary here in the L.A.Times.You can also read our own page here, and check our press page.

Be the difference. YOU are all the have.

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Pets Alive is not a money raising machine.  We save animals.  That’s it.  Every day we pour over emails, phone calls and phone messages from other shelters, trying our best to save as many as we can.  Understand one fundamental fact that some people seem to be forgetting.  They are all equal.  Every soul is as precious as the next.  Each one is completely innocent and each one deserves life.

I was broken when I left my office last night.  I was completely disgusted.  I went out to dinner and drank more than I ate.  Kerry was heartbroken as well.

The question left in our minds is very simple:  how could an organization that has virtually unlimited resources claim to have run out of options and kill an animal?  We’re not talking about an animal dying of cancer or ripped to shreds in a dogfight.  There are no shades of gray here.  No wiggle room.  There’s only a binary reality – right and wrong.  Black and white.  Yes or no.  Life or death.  They chose death.  Period. Why?  Because that’s what  Sayres and his minions wanted for Oreo.  That’s what they thought was best for her.  Can you f’ing believe that?  They gave us all the finger and told us that death was the best thing for Oreo.

That is simply insanity.  In fact, if I close my eyes it reminds me of another organization that preaches animal rights but kills most of the animals in their care — PETA.   PETA’s “Animal Record” report for 2008, filed with the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, shows that the animal rights group killed 95 percent of the dogs and cats in its care last year.  During all of 2008, PETA found adoptive homes for just seven pets.

Want to hear it from their arrogant, self-serving, god-playing mouths?

“We’re saddened by the outcome,” said ASPCA spokesman Andy Izquierdo on Friday afternoon after the organization announced Oreo’s death. “But we truly feel it’s the most humane decision for Oreo.”   [Emphasis added]

Wow.   Let me see if I have this straight.  Death is the most humane solution for Oreo.  Hello PETA.  So why NOT Pets Alive instead?

In an e-mail, Stephen Zawistowski, one of the ASPCA’s lead animal behavior experts who had worked with Oreo, said the organization didn’t believe that sanctuary placement was “good for her welfare.”

Pure doubletalk.  Pure thinkspeak.  Death is better.  Hello PETA.

What they meant to say is that Oreo is better off dead then with Pets Alive, who they don’t know.  And their cars are broken.  And their emails.  And their cell phones.  And they forgot the phone numbers to Best Friends, the Mayors Alliance (which they helped found), and all of the shelters we help regularly.   And when they recruited Rob Thomas to do some announcements for them I’m sure he didn’t mention us either.

Anyway…they couldn’t grant Oreo a twenty four hour reprieve and come here to look around.  That wouldn’t be good for her welfare.

This all just amazes me.  They are getting called out for this by many people like you.  As they should be.  They issued a press release this morning spinning their fool heads off to get us idiots to understand that the best thing for Oreo was a quick death rather than spending the rest of her life here with us.  Sort of what they wanted for the Vick dogs, which are now living comfortably at Best Friends in Utah (at least the ones that Best Friends kept them from killing).

The entire press release had me alternating between laughter and rage.  This is, by far, my favorite line:

The ASPCA is worried their decision will make people think they failed Oreo.

Um…you killed her.  I think that may be pretty close to the textbook definition of failure.  ASPCA, you totally and completely failed Oreo.  You tried to innoculate yourselves from criticism by blaming…all of us.

If the ASPCA has failed at anything, it is shielding America from the true face of animal cruelty for far too long.  Animal cruelty isn’t pretty and doesn’t always have a happy ending—it is ugly and sad and, ultimately, tragic.

Yes Ed, you failed to shield us unknowing morons from the face of cruelty.  You and the rest of your arrogant, overpaid, unfeeling crew.  But we got a good lesson in cruelty from you and from the ASPCA.  What you did to Oreo was cruel.  Killing is cruel.  Killing unnecessarily is cruel.

So what IS the lesson we should all take from this?  I think there are several.

1.  The bigger so-called “humane organizations,” with the exception of Best Friends Animal Society, don’t deserve our support or our money.  Humane Society of the US euthanized dogs by the hundreds during hurricane Katrina, ASPCA is, as someone commented a cesspool for animals and a piggy bank for humans, and PETA is a joke.

Take your hard earned money and keep it, or give it to local humane organizations who are struggling to stay afloat.  They are the ones that are in the trenches saving animals.  You won’t find big salaries and plush offices.  You’ll find people working hard at the grassroots level to save animals.

Remember that when these organizations are killing dogs like Oreo, or placing 7 out of tens of thousands of animals and killing the rest, or setting up portable euthanization and cremation centers for dogs rescued from the hurricane, they’re doing it with your money.  Is that where you want your money to go?  Is that what you intended?

I’d like to share several emails and responses I’ve received from my earlier blog.  This is the same old stuff.  The red herring argument that Pets Alive is calling out the ASPCA because we will get money and publicity for doing it.  Uh…no.  We’re doing this because there’s a right and a wrong here and they’re wrong.  Here are some examples of my hate mail that I’d like to address:

To all those here who condemn any national organization for making an unpopular choice on behalf of ONE animal, I say shame on you all for your negativity, short-sightedness, and ignorance. The ten dollars you may have sent to NY will now NOT save another Oreo…another dog who may have the emotional capability to become a lifetime, loving and happy family companion, unlike this poor soul. Get the full story before you decide to yank your support. Without PEOPLE who understand this battle we fight, the animals will never be safe.

Uh…no.  An organization that claims to be the voice of animals, an organization that raises tens of millions of dollars on that premise, must not kill a SINGLE animal that could be saved.  Not one.  Period.  These are not statistics…these are lives.  Souls.  Innocent beings who feel pain and emotion and are self-aware.  There is absolutely no compromise on this.  ASPCA accepted the responsibility for  the lives of ALL the animals in their care — not most of them.  Not all but one of them.  ALL of them.  What they did to Oreo was wrong.  It was an abdication of that responsibility.

Wow, way to go, Pets Alive. Fundraising by libeling and badmouthing one of the finest animal shelters in NYC & best animal advocacy group in the nation. And doing it on the back of a dog. Your group will NEVER get a dime from me. Your fundraising effort using Oreo as your poster child is despicable.

THIS GROUP IS ATTACKING ASPCA SO THEY CAN GET MEDIA AND MONEY.  F–K YOU

Yes.  Of course.  We don’t care about Oreo.  We just want the money.  And it’s pouring in.  We’ve raised $400 so far.  That comes to about $18 an hour for the time we’ve spent, making us the highest paid employees at Pets Alive.  Ed Sayres, angel guardian of animals and the purveyor of one of the finest shelters in NYC made $5500 during the same time period.

I could have made more money standing outside the Middletown Wal*Mart with a cup (thank you for every penny.  I promise we will spend it wisely).

Okay.  Listen carefully Dr. Leather (the guy who wrote the first email).  yousuck@yahoo.com wrote the second one but that’s probably not his real email address:

2.  All the animals are important.  Every life.  Any animal that can be saved deserves to be saved.  Animal welfare groups should spend time actually saving and placing the animals in their care rather than just making flashy TV commercials to raise more money.

I’m tired of hearing this one too:

I have a suggestion….all those folks all that attention to ‘adopt’ Oreo” well go back to NYACC 95% of the dogs are Pitts..go help one that isn;t a bitter, nor aggressive I agree with what was done..why don;t you save a dog that deserves to be saved??

This gets to the heart of the matter.  The key words in that sentence are deserves to be saved.  One last time folks.

THEY ALL DESERVE TO BE SAVED.  OREO DESERVED TO BE SAVED.  

They are all equal.  Every life, every soul.  And we will continue to save dogs.

3.  Regardless of  our differences, animal people and animal groups can come together and save animals. Ed Sayers will eventually leave the ASPCA.  Hopefully sooner rather than later.  The Internet will be the undoing of phoneybaloney groups like his because they make them transparent.

Pets Alive, the animal rights group WAR, the TV show Rescue Ink, and you.  Where else would all of those misfits come together to try to save Oreo?

That’s the real face of animal rescue Ed Sayers.  The arrogant little jerks who mocked those people who tried to help are not the face of the compassionate people that make up this movement, nor are you.  You are just a parasite, sucking money and resources away from the smaller groups who are actually carrying your water.

You are actually part of the face of cruelty that you so flippantly mention on your website.  You are part of the reason dogs are being killed.

Meanwhile, thousands of organizations and people around the world are saving animals.  Some specialize in breeds or geography.  Most exist on donations or their own money.  Most would give their left arm for one hundreth of the money you spend sending out fund raising appeals.  Yet we all save animals.

You may rather kill Oreo than give her to one of us, but we will continue to work to save animals.  We saved almost half the animals you did on a budget that was one half of one percent of yours.  You should be ashamed of yourself for taking people’s hard earned money and squandering it.

You take advantage of people’s generosity.

And you failed to act responsibly with the life of an animal in your care.  Oreo’s blood is on your hands.

So, my friends.  My fellow rescue people.  Pets Alive supporters.  Our detractors who read this stuff anyway.  We thank you all for trying.  Our hearts are broken for this poor soul who should not have suffered and should not have died.

We now know who is the real voice of these animals.   We are.

Click HERE to sign a petition to get ASPCA President Ed Sayres fired: http://tinyurl.com/ye9cdk7

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