Tomorrow, June 10, is Rochester Animal Services’ Fast and the Furriest dog walk and run to benefit the downtown animal shelter.
The fun starts …. well, super early if you’re a volunteer, early if you’re a runner, and a reasonable breakfast time if you’re a dog walker. In other words, it’s a full day of fun, dogs, entertainment and more!
The 10K and 5K races begin at 8:00 a.m. and 8:15 a.m., respectively; the Dog Walk begins at 10:30. There are also a variety of dog contests and awards including the Furriest, Largest, Smallest, Best Trick, Hot Dog Bobbing, Owner Look-Alike, and Ruff-Ruff Relay Race.
Inside the shelter, you can visit the dogs and cats who are looking for “furever” homes. You’ll find all the info on the website for the Verona Street Animal Society, the non-profit organization that supports the municipal shelter.
Even the pups are happy that we've moved on to the next round!
A HUGE thank you to everyone who took time to vote for Rochester Animal Services in this last qualifying round of the ASPCA $100k shelter challenge!
We wanted to move on in first place, just to keep up the momentum, but the good folks down at The Humane Society of South Mississippi snuck ahead, leaving us in second place. (You can see all of the qualifiers here.)
But that’s OK! It’s all in good fun and all for a worthy cause!
The next round involves increasing the number of our adoptions over last year, form August to October. How can you help?
We really need businesses and organizations willing to host adoption events - meaning we’ll show up with some dogs and cats and invite the public to come and adopt animals! We’re willing to be creative – your work, store, think outside the box! It’s a great way to raise awareness about your business while helping animals at the same time. And it’s lots of fun!
Again, thank you so much for taking time to support Rochester Animal Services, the city’s animal shelter. And if you’re bored on this rainy day, stop down and visit with the animals! We’re open Saturdays from noon to 3:30. You can get more info at http://RochesterAnimalServices.com.
I’m not keeping the puppy. I promise. She needs to find a forever home, and mine isn’t it. But I’m happy to foster the little snuggle pup.
Yesterday, a woman came into the shelter and asked, “What do you do when you have more dogs than you can take care of?”
Turns out her dog had a litter of pups and she’d been able to get rid of some, but not all, and she was looking for a place to dump them … er, I mean , she was looking for homes for them.
Because the pups are a pit bull mix, and one looked very much like a pit bull, if the shelter took the pups they’d be euthanized. The woman didn’t know what that meant, and when Pam said “put to sleep” the woman said she didn’t want that.
Obviously, we didn’t either.
Long story short, we gave the woman some alternatives. I gave her a list of local animal rescues and called Pitty Love. I knew they’d take the pups, and I told her I’d take them until Pitty Love could get them.
Here’s where things got a little confusing. There were some folks from a non profit using the conference room at the shelter, and as soon as they heard the words “put down”, they assured the woman they’d take the pups and find them homes.
There was never a moment when Pam or I were going to have the shelter take the pups and put them down. But I’ve also learned that I have to take every opportunity to teach dog owners how to be responsible. (See, Pam, I was listening!) And in this case, I thought it might help the woman to make a few phone calls and ponder the worst case scenerio before we saved her from it.
But before we could really finish that conversation, the pups were in the arms of the other volunteers and the woman was happily out the door. Pam managed to get a Low Income Spay/Neuter application into her hands, with the suggestion “Let’s get the mom spayed so we don’t have this problem again.” But I suspect that it went in one ear and out the other. She had a problem, it was solved very easily, and I doubt very much if we’d see her again. Unless she has more puppies she doesn’t want.
Don’t get me wrong; I love that the other folks stepped in to help. It’s just that people come in with the same story day and it’s easy to want to step in and save the day without considering the bigger picture. It’s emotional. Trust me, my emotions get in the way a lot. A LOT. I call it naive; Jonelle jokingly told me once I’m a sucker. Either word works. My husband says it’s a miracle I haven’t brought home a hundred dogs already.
In the end, it all worked out great. One of the volunteers found a home for one pup right away; her brother had been wanting a pit bull puppy. Perfect! I took the other one home and will keep her until Pitty finds her a home, which they expect to be fairly soon. I’d been considering doing some fostering, and this is a great way to see if it’s something I can do.
Bandit checks out the puppy
So if you’re looking for a puppy, let me know! She’s a 6 week old pit bull/German Shepherd mix. She’s staying here with my two Border collies and my cat, and she seems to be enjoying herself, especially when someone is holding her. She’s definitely a snuggle puppy.
** UPDATE: Lester found a forever home – with one of the RAS volunteers!!!! **
After the heartbreak of the last week, when I found that three dogs we’d had up for adoption had been euthanized after weeks and weeks and months of looking for homes, I needed a little levitiy in my volunteer experience.
So yesterday I stopped in at the shelter to see the dogs we had so I could do a new “featured shelter pet” post. Jonelle, the shelter manager, asked if I minded trying to get some video of a puppy to update the website, so I said sure.
The only problem was that the battery on the video camera was really low, so I needed to be near an outlet so I could plug in the camera to tape.
Lester was ready for some adventure!
I gathered the camera, cord, tripod, leash and collar and went to get Lester, the 6 month old hound/mix. Lester had just been neutered, so he had a cone around his head. My task was to get some “cute” footage of Lester romping around.
Easier said than done.
First, I went to the puppy room and reached over the gate to pet Lester. “Good boy,” I said. “We’re going to have an adventure! Would you like to have an adventure with me?” I looked around the room; no outlet. Darn. I had to find another place to tape. “Hold on, puppy, I’ll be right back.”
I turned around, left the puppy room, and peeked in the cat visitation room. That would be a good place to tape, but I wanted to make sure it was OK to bring the pup in there. So I went through the next door, into the front part of the shelter. When I saw Jonelle, I asked, “Can I use the cat room to tape?”
Her reply, “Sure, but first you need to put the puppy on a leash.”
I looked down, and there was Lester, excitedly padding his little self around my feet.
It was hilarious. At first, I thought maybe he’d jumped the gate. But it turns out that when I leaned over my sweater must have caught on the gate latch. Lester took advantage of the opportunity and followed me – out of the puppy room door, to check out the cat visitation room, and out the door into the lobby. All without me even seeing him!
It’s my fault; I suggested an adventure!
I finally got Lester into the cat room, got the camera set up and plugged in, and tried to get Lester to play in front of the camera. He would rather roll around on him feet and have met pet his belly. I tried a few times to get short clips; once I even crawled around on the floor. I’m glad Jonelle didn’t use that shot of my fat arse pointed right at the camera. Yeeesh.
But Lester chased a nice squeaky, plush toy, so I was able to get him to play in front of the camera. Then I realized that the toy was covered in blood. Great, that’s all I needed. First I let the little bugger out of the cage and now I’ve injured him. Turns out little Lester lost a puppy tooth while we were playing.
They should have named him Rascal, because that’s what he is. But darn, he is so stinking cute!
Lollypop Farm took part in the ASPCA’s Adoption Challenge, which ran from August until October. The goal was to increase the number of adoptions from last year at the same time. The winning shelter was the Humane Society of Boulder Valley, CO, who increased their adoptions by almost 1,000 from last year at the same time.
While Lollypop didn’t win, the did increase their adoptions from 2009. Accoding to their newsletter, the lives of “1,856 dogs and cats were saved as part of this effort”, an “increase of 208 from last year.” (Just a note: if you read the leader board for the contest, Lollypop is at #28, with 20 more adoptions. I’m checking to see why the difference in numbers.)
Nationwide, the 50 shelters competing adopted out 48,779 dogs and cats in 3 months, a total of 7,362 more than last year during the same period.
Yay for everyone, from the shelters to the families who added a new member during the adoption challenge.
Wally Winkie, the 7-month-old Basset Hound mix pup, is looking for a forver home.
Wally Winkie (#11149463) is a seven-month-old male Basset hound mix who was brought to Lollypop Farm by their Law Enforcement department because he was not receiving proper care.
Poor Wally Winkie! He was a bit underweight at the time, but can chow down with the best now. Woof! Wally Winkie would rather play than walk on his leash, but is looking forward to attending training classes alongside you to learn his doggie manners and to gain confidence. He would do best in a home without young children and should meet any resident dogs just to be sure that everyone will get along.
Can you provide the warm home that Wally Winkie deserves? You can learn more about Wally Winkie on the Lollypop Farm website, or visit him at the shelter at 99 Victor Road, Fairport, NY 14450.
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Tomorrow, June 10, is Rochester Animal Services’ Fast and the Furriest dog walk and run to benefit the downtown animal shelter.
