EDITION OF WEDNESDAY, FEB. 17, 2015 (PetPowellPress) -- Congrats to Miss P, the Westminster-winning Beagle. Fancy groomers everywhere are crestfallen Now, let's celebrate something else in the dog world. The Humane Society of Flower Mound’s Love On Wheels Program has sent its 1000th dog to safety in New York. How about that!
We got the news Tuesday from Stacy Smith, the Society’s Vice President For Animal Advocacy. You probably have figured out by now that they’re kind of proud of this record.
After all, the program was launched just a few weeks under 2 years ago -- on March 4, 21013, HSFM sent three dogs to Dewitt, New York. Put ‘em on a truck and sent them off to a place where, the society says, “adoptable dogs are in short supply.”
Dog 1,000 is this guy Bruce, a 9-month old shepherd mix.
How did Bruce wind up in the care of the Humane Society? Stacy says, “He came to us from the ‘Smith County Barn,’ where there are effectively no public adoptions and a dog's only real hope is to be reclaimed by the owner or taken in by a rescue group. I didn't realize until today that the barn is run entirely by inmates out there.” [Smith County Animal Control is a “holding facility” in Winona, just north of Tyler. It’s the official county site. And that explains why, in this VIDEO, Bruce’s handler is not wearing the latest Brooks Brothers suit.]
That woman holding Bruce is his foster mom, Gale David, Tuesday as the pup was getting ready to go and that is Stacy giving the boy a goodbye kiss before the honored and rescued dog heads north.
“We send about 30 dogs each time and are pulling the last few dogs now for the net trip,” Stacy says. “Tomorrow (Wednesday) we’re getting three from Glen Rose -- Dallas, Durango and Midnight Princess.” (See them HERE), one from Joshua, one from Alvarado and one more from Smith County.”
This program sends the dogs to Helping Hounds Dog Rescue of Dewitt, N.Y. They don’t just go from death row around here to a cage to a truck to New York. The Humane Society of Flower Mound has a foster support group that socializes the dogs and gently helps them become adoptable. You can see how to get involved by clicking the Love on Wheels link HERE. Volunteer to help by emailing [email protected] -- or maybe you’ll just want to offer to donate to help the cause.
ANOTHER ‘FLY ‘EM TO SAFETY OPPORTUNITY
If you don’t live on the Flower Mound side of the metrosprawl, there’s an opportunity to help Tawana Couch’s organization, the Society For Companion Animals. SFCA is famous for taking dogs off death row in Texas and flying them to The Hamptons where they then lead a life a heckuva lot better than scrambling for a meal in alleys and vacant lots and behind fast food joints in Dallas, Big Things Happen Here, Texas.
You can volunteer to help assemble travel crates from 8 a.m. to 10 a..m. Saturday at SFCA headquarters in Oak Cliff. Just email [email protected].
And that artwork? That’s SFCA’s new logo -- “updated thanks to the creativity and talents of our friend and fellow animal lover, Molly DeVoss at MDVC Creative Inc.” (FYI: Molly also is a veteran member of the City of Dallas Animal Shelter Commission.)
[LARRY ASIDE: How can it be that in the nation’s 4th-largest metropolitan area, with a population of more than SIX MILLION PEOPLE, we have to ship dogs to other cities to save their lives? What is wrong with North Texans? Don’t care? Not interested? To dumb to pour BLEEP out of a boot? Sorry, got carried away with my disappointment in my fellow human. You’d think I’d be used to it by now. There has to be some way to get people to step up for these dogs. Wait a second. What am I thinking? Sorry. Forgot where I live for a moment. Thought I lived in the “Friendship State" And Help me off this soapbox before a slat breaks and Inky drops his martini. He was prematurely celebrating the black Cocker winning the sporting group at Westminster -- unfortunately for Inky's martini, the title went to the Springer.]
THREE TO GO
These dogs are, from left, Tara, Brutus and Bear -- the three death row dogs Tuesday night at the Irving Animal Services shelter. We got their photos and info from the camera-carryin’ shelter walker Russell Posch who is relentless in his work to save animals.
Read about these three HERE. The shelter rescue hotline is 972-721-3597 (followup with emails to [email protected]rg or [email protected]. Call the shelter at 972-721-2256 or 57.
WHAT’S UP AT DALLAS ANIMAL SERVICES?
That top photo is Keke, one of just FOUR cats currently listed on the DAS website (dallasanimalservices.org and navigate to adoptions). The site lists just 97 dogs in shelter. (That’s a screen save version of the navigational tool.) And “other” is in the photo below. (We got the photos from the entertaining Dallas Animal Services Facebook site.) We’ve mentioned the Lone Mouse before, but this is the first time we’ve seen the big-eared rascal, consequently, he or she is declared Rodentus Earhoundus.
CONTEMPLATIONS: You never know what you’re going to see in Dallas. On Ervay near Pacific about 9:15 a.m. Tuesday, I saw a young man standing outside -- in light winter clothes in wind chill rivaling the dark side of the moon -- playing a banjo. Been driving in Downtown Dallas “nearly 40 year, by cracky” and I’ve never seen that before. Never seen a loose banjo player. Didn’t roll the window down to hear what he was playing. Just about guarantee he wasn’t hitting any hot licks. ... About that Westminster Dog Show -- there was a genuine link to the wild 1970s. On opening night, a Shih Tzu named Rocket won the Toy Group -- one of his three owners is heiress/actress/writer/dog world personality Patty Hearst. [LARRY ASIDE: The rehabilitation of the Stockholm Syndrome Terrorist appears complete. Let me know when Michael Vick shows up at Westminster.] ... One more Westminster note: The Subaru commercials with the dog family are better than anything we saw during the Super Bowl. Song for the day? Click HERE. Oh, yeah, I don’t think I could keep those liver treats in my mouth while showing a dog, either. Yuckamundo.
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