TailsInc.com

Breed Specific Legislation (BSL) is something we are strongly against here at TAILS because we feel that it punishes the innocent, not the guilty. Back in October we wrote an in-depth article talking about why BSL’s are not effective and why they should be stopped.

We wanted to share with you an editorial piece on dog breed bans written by Jamie Buehrle that was recently published in the Orlando Sentinel. Jamie and her husband, Mark, are spokesmen for Best Friends Animal Society in Kanab, Utah.

In the pro-baseball life, moving houses, cities and states is nothing out of the ordinary. My husband, Mark, and I have been fortunate that, other than ferrying between our off-season home in St. Louis and our baseball-season home in Chicago, finding a rental home every year for spring training in Arizona has been our only stressful move for the past 12 years.

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Photo credit: www.FlyinFurPetPhotography.com

Harper the pit bull puppy is nothing short of a miracle. Harper’s story begins with the trash bag that held her tiny, deformed body. A man was selling pit bull puppies outside a store and had discarded Harper. However, little Harper was taken by a Good Samaritan who discovered the puppy alive in the bag and took her to a Seminole County Shelter.

The shelter discovered Harper had, Pectus Excavatum, more commonly referred to as swimming puppy syndrome. Most puppies with this condition do not survive. It causes puppies to lay flat on their chest with their legs perpetually splayed out. Unable to move, many of these puppies contract pneumonia and die within weeks. However, Harper was estimated to be around 2 months old.

Mary Beth Lake, the shelter supervisor, took pity on the puppy which showed a great deal of will to live. Knowing the puppy may need to be euthanized she called Erica Daniels of the pit bull rescue Dolly’s Foundation. Erica took Harper home to provide a night of comfort and love that the puppy had never known. What happened next is incredible.

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REP. RANDOLPH FILES LOW-COST SPAY AND NEUTER BILL H.B. 359 WILL CUT LOCAL GOVERNMENT COSTS ORLANDO, Fla. – Representative Scott Randolph (D-Orlando) filed a bill last week that could save local Florida governments $30 million to $40 million annually. The Spay and Neuter Bill (HB 359) would increase funding for low-cost spay and neuter programs across the state. Each year, local governments spend roughly $90 million euthanizing more than 150,000 cats and dogs. States that have passed aggressive—but voluntary—spay and neuter programs have reduced their costs by nearly 40 percent within a few short years. “This bill is a fiscally and ethically responsible step forward for Florida. Beyond the obvious cruelty of pet euthanasia, the practice places a significant burden on local governments and its citizens,” said Representative Scott Randolph. “H.B. 359 would use violations of animal control ordinances to fund the cost of spay and neuter programs. It is crucial that we begin looking at innovative and cost-effective measures that reduce the financial burden for middle class Floridians.”  Senator Nan Rich is the Senate sponsor for the Spay and Neuter Bill.

Please contact your Representative or Senator today!

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The Humane Society of the United States invites you to participate in our upcoming conference devoted entirely to helping you save lives and cope with the everyday struggles of shelter and rescue work.

Animal Care Expo is the largest international education and training conference and trade show in the fields of animal care and control, rescue and emergency services. Now in its 20th year, Expo is proud to provide attendees with workshops for shelter and animal care professionals, volunteers, emergency managers and responders, veterinarians and vet technicians, and equine protection.

At Animal Care Expo 2011, you will have the opportunity to attend over 70 educational workshops, 7 daylong workshops and over 175 exhibition booths. In addition, Expo provides outstanding networking and continuing education opportunities with attendees from animal welfare agencies and shelters across the globe.

Take a look at this video of all Animal Care Expo has to offer http://www.animalsheltering.org/expo/.

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We asked Tails readers to vote for the best animal-related services and products for our 10th annual Readers’ Choice awards, and boy, did you come through!

Tens of thousands of enthusiastic pet lovers logged on to TailsInc.com to vote. Without further ado, here are your Orlando favorites:

Orlando

BEST VET

WINNER:
North Orange Veterinary Hospital
(407) 886-0706

RUNNER-UP:
Shores Animal Hospital
(352) 372-8387
ShoresAnHosp.com

OTHER FAVORITES:
Cole Animal Clinic
Matt Schmitt, Palm City Animal Clinic
Gentle Care Pet

BEST DOG WALKING/SITTER SERVICE

WINNER:
Happy Tails Pet Sitting
(407) 869-1244

RUNNER-UP:
Planet Doggiewood

OTHER FAVORITES:
Aloha Kritter Pals
Critter Sitter by Rosemary
K9 Companions, Cape Coral

BEST PET BOUTIQUE

WINNER:
Pookies
(407) 877-8666
PookiesBowWowBakery.com

RUNNER-UP:
Poodle Penthouse
(813) 960-1013
PoodlePenthouse.com

OTHER FAVORITES:
Timberlake Pet World
Petco

BEST PET PHOTOGRAPHER

WINNER:
Puparazzi
(407) 898-4122

RUNNER-UP:
Rebecca Brittain
(727) 709-2260
RebeccaBrittain.com

OTHER FAVORITES:
Animal Photography

BEST PET-FRIENDLY RESTAURANT

WINNER:
Mulligan’s
(772) 288-1881
MulligansRestaurant.net

RUNNER-UP:
Wings ‘n Things
(407) 880-3277

OTHER FAVORITES:
Coconut Mall
J & J’s Seafood, Delray Beach

BEST GROOMER

WINNER:
Paws 4 Grooming
(954) 749-9927
APaws4Grooming.com

RUNNER-UP:
Pawsh Pet
(407) 654-7297
PawshPet.net

OTHER FAVORITES:
Kute Kuts
You Handsome Dog

BEST OVERNIGHT BOARDING/DOGGIE DAYCARE

WINNER:
Best Friends Pet Care
877-493-973
BestFriendsPetCare.com

RUNNER-UP:
Pawsh Pet
(407) 654-7297
PawshPet.net

OTHER FAVORITES:
Planet Doggiewood
Critter Sitter by Rosemary

BEST POOPER SCOOPER

WINNER:
Critter Sitter
(561) 620-1000
CritterSitter.com

RUNNER-UP:
Dollar Store Plastic Gloves

BEST PET BAKERY

WINNER:
Three Dog Bakery
(800) 487-3287
ThreeDog.com

RUNNER-UP:
Pookies
(407) 877-8666
PookiesBowWowBakery.com

BEST DOG PARK

WINNER:
Woodville Dog Park
(954) 724-2447
NLauderdale.org

RUNNER-UP:
Apopka Dog Park
9407) 703-1741
Apopka.net

OTHER FAVORITES:
Boca Raton Bark Park

BEST DOG TRAINER

WINNER:
Kingdom K9 Training
(305) 247-0501
K9Enforcement.com

RUNNER-UP:
Petco
(407) 251-4211
Petco.com

BEST DOG FOOD

WINNER:
Halo
(800)426-4256
HaloPets.com

RUNNER-UP:
Wellness
(800) 225-0904
WellnessPetFood.com

OTHER FAVORITES:
Science Diet
NULO

BEST CAT FOOD

WINNER:
Halo
(800) 426-4256
HaloPets.com

RUNNER-UP:
Blue Buffalo
(800) 919-2833
BlueBuffalo.com

OTHER FAVORITES:
Wellness

BEST DOG TREATS

WINNER:
Halo
(800) 426-4256
HaloPets.com

RUNNER-UP:
Iams
(800) 675-3849
Iams.com

OTHER FAVORITES:
Milkbone
NULO
Nylabone

BEST CAT TREATS

WINNER:
Halo
(800) 426-4256
HaloPets.com

RUNNER-UP:
Whiskas Temptations
(800) 525-5273
Whiskas.com

OTHER FAVORITES:
Pure Bite
Friskies

BEST DOG TOY

WINNER:
Kong
(303) 216-2626
KongCompany.com

RUNNER-UP:
Nylabone
(800) 631-2188
Nylabone.com

OTHER FAVORITES:
Squeaky Bones
Tennis Balls

Thanks to all of our Tails readers who voted in this year’s contest. And congratulations to all of the outstanding businesses who were recognized.

It’s been an incredible eight years since partners Marcia Sundberg and Melissa Gosik left the corporate world to run Pookie’s Pet Nutrition and Bow Wow Bakery. It hasn’t always been easy, but these two have made their mark on Central Florida doing what they love best: caring for pets and the people who love them.

Marcia and Melissa took what was an incredibly small storefront known for its homemade treats, and made it into a holistic pet food store. In the process, they moved to a new (and larger) location in Winter Park (at 1980 W Fairbanks Avenue), opened a second location in Ocoee in 2006 (at 2462 Maguire Road) and went through a name change to reflect who they really are.

The natural food for pets craze was just starting in Central Florida when Sundberg and Gosik purchased Pookie’s Bow Wow Bakery.  But holistic pet foods and sound nutrition has always been a passion for these women, so they developed a business plan that included selling pet food with no additives as well as getting the word out to pet guardians about diet and nutrition. Pookie’s has always stressed the importance of a healthy diet and the long term benefits – including better quality of life for pets and fewer visits to the veterinarian.  “The biggest issue is that a lot of people don’t find out about us until there’s a problem [with their pet],” Gosik notes.

Today, Pookie’s has an amazing record of repeat customers due in large part to the quality of their products and their superior customer service. They rely heavily on customer referrals for new business but now even veterinarians (both conventional and holistic) are starting to recommend them to their clients. This success has allowed Pookie’s owners to give back to the community that supports them.

Marcia and Melissa have made a habit of supporting rescue groups throughout the greater Central Florida area: They regularly donate food to a rotating list of local nonprofit rescues, and also donate gift baskets and gift certificates to animal groups that are having fundraisers. Pookie’s sponsors dog washes to benefit the Central Florida Animal Pantry (which was recently featured Tails Inc.) they’ve hosted food drives for Wishbones, and run book signings and yard sales for In Harmony With Nature (all local rescue organizations).

Most importantly, each year they host Pookie’s Winter RescueFest with the sole purpose of giving the smaller rescues in the area a forum to bring some of the animals they have up for adoption, and to increase awareness of the continuing problem of homeless animals. The next Winter RescueFest is scheduled for January 29, 2011. Last year, they had 20 small non-profit  rescue groups attend, and over 30 pet-related vendors. Between the raffles and food and drink sales, they were able to distribute $6,000 to the participating rescue groups to use for food and medical supplies. Plus, they had nine successful adoptions during the event!

Pookie’s is interested in getting the word out about its second location in Ocoee – an opportunity the women want to use to teach a different audience in Central Florida about pet diet and nutrition.  They have recently started “Yappy Hours” at the Ocoee location, and these are held every third Tuesday from 5-8 pm.   Each month a different rescue group is featured, and all proceeds from the event benefit that group.

Showing that they practice what they preach, the women are guardians to a wide variety of animals:

•    Sara – a ‘potcake’ rescue from the Bahamas;
•    Jack – a Boston Terrier adopted from rescue after being hit by a car;
•    Chuck – another Boston Terrier rescued from a hoarder;
•    Harlee – a Pomeranian-Yorkie mix who is seven pounds of attitude;
•    Ziggy – a 16-year-old old tuxedo cat rescued from the Fort Christmas area
•    Ethel – the store cat named for Ethel Merman because she talks a lot and is pretty loud!

Pookie’s is interested in getting the word out about its second location in Ocoee – an opportunity the women want to use to teach a different audience in Central Florida about pet diet and nutrition. They have recently started “Yappy Hours” at the Ocoee location, and these are held every third Tuesday from 5-8 pm.  Each month a different rescue group is featured, and all proceeds from the event benefit that group.

They also feed a cat named Harry, a feral cat that lived in the neighborhood for several years before they were able to catch and neuter him.  Harry refused to be tamed, so he was released but shows up at Pookie’s every night for dinner.  Obviously, a feline with great taste!

Written By:  Ellen Manning

Pookie’s Pet Nutrition-Winter Park
1980 W Fairbanks Ave
Winter Park, Fl 32789

Pookie’s Pet Nutrition-Ocoee
2462 Maguire Road
Ocoee, Fl 34761

In 2003, I was eleven and my parents decided I was finally ready to have a dog. I’d been bugging them for over a year – ever since I’d met Mickey Mullen, the woman in charge of the Bullmastiff Rescue League in Oviedo, FL. I’d been hanging around Mickey’s Bullmastiffs and had found one I knew would be mine. Her name was Eunice and she’d been rescued from a puppy mill in Miami- Dade County – starved and abandoned once she was no longer able to produce puppies at the ripe old age of three. “Don’t breed if you don’t rescue.” is Mickey’s motto – and she made sure it was ingrained in me.

Having Eunice made me realize I was responsible for another life. For the first time, I felt like I was growing up. She was my best friend and confidant, my drama partner (I rehearsed my lines with her), and my exercise buddy (I worked out and Eunice watched).

Eunice died without warning in early 2009, leaving a big hole in my life. I buried her at The C.A.R.E. Foundation, under some trees behind the tiger run – a fitting resting place and one where I can visit her when I’m at C.A.R.E.  I was 17, and would be leaving for college in a little more than a year. I decided there would be no more dogs for me until I was through college…

Then in January of 2010, a friend of my mom’s sent her some information about the “Chipley dogs” from Animal Control of West Florida, with a request that she publish their bios every week on CentralFloridaTails.Com (CFT) in hopes that they would be rescued. My mom is the Regional Publisher of CFT, and one of the dogs my mom’s friend sent info on was Arrow – a white bulldog mix with a broken tail that looked like a question mark. “What about him?” Mom asked me.  It was a question she’d posed for almost a year – every time someone sent her pictures of a dog that needed rescue.  I usually ignored her, sometimes grunted, and never did more than say “nice dog”. But this time, I looked at Arrow and thought, “maybe…”

Mom started to write and say we’d take him, when her friend wrote back that he was off the list. “Arrow was euthanized this morning,” her email read. I felt the same shock I’d felt at Eunice’s sudden death – the same sickening in the pit of my stomach. I could understand Eunice’s death – Bullmastiffs often don’t live past ten, and her life hadn’t been easy before she’d come to us.  But Arrow? He was a healthy two-year-old bully whose only problem was a crooked tail. Why did he have to die?

It’s shocking, isn’t it that here in the “greatest nation on earth” we routinely euthanize over 4.5 million dogs, cats, rabbits, guinea pigs and other animals in U.S. shelters every year. For the record, my Mom never uses the colloquialism ‘put to sleep.’ “They’re not sleeping,” she says. “They’re dead.” And while many of those dogs are mixed breeds (urban shelters estimate that a large percent of their dogs are pit mixes), it’s astonishing how many purebred animals are also euthanized annually. Mickey once told me that breed rescues have every kind of purebred dog anyone might want, but Americans still insist on going to breeders. “Don’t breed, if you don’t rescue.”

A friend of mine who’s a dog trainer in Orlando told me recently that she truly believes Americans don’t understand what happens to animals in kill shelters – she thinks they’re really convinced that most of them ‘make it out alive’ – that someone, somehow rescues them and they live happily ever after. “If they only knew,” she said. Shortly after that, I was performing the song Homeward Bound (words and music by Marta Keen and arranged by Jay Althouse) at a school competition when I found myself thinking about both Eunice and Arrow – and had an idea.

My Mom has hundreds of pictures of the animals CentralFloridaTails.Com routinely tries to help find rescue, foster, and/or adoption. Many of those pictures are of poor quality – grainy or out-of-focus. Sometimes, she learns the fates of those animals and sometimes she never does. Her work with CentralFloridaTails.Com has brought our entire family closer to the rescue network throughout the state of Florida, and made me realize that there are hundreds of volunteers – like Mickey Mullen – who work tirelessly every day basis to save the lives of thousands of animals.

Homeward Bound, the video, is the combination of all of the above – it’s a song that always makes me think of homeless pets, with pictures of those animals, dedicated to their rescuers in Florida and around the rest of this country. I need to thank Jake Teixiera, our videographer, because nothing would have happened without the countless hours he spent putting this video together.  (Jake=Superman!)

Gandhi once said, “The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.” I hope that one day we Americans will recognize the truth of those words.  So for Eunice, who came homeward bound with us, and for Arrow, who never could, here is Homeward Bound:

Written By: Deirdre Manning

We’ve all heard about dogs joining their owners on epic journeys across the US and abroad— even here at TAILS we recently wrote about Emmie the “Super-Dog,” joining her guardians on a trek across the country in order to help military families in need.

But being a cat person myself, I began to wonder… what about cats? Don’t they deserve to get in on all the sightseeing fun that comes with traveling?

This brings me to an email I recently received, which highlighted the visual story of a special cat that got the once-in-nine-lifetimes chance to do just that!

Meet Kitty…

Kitty is hiking from Miami, Florida to Ushuaia, Argentina along with her people, American travelers, Peter and Marcia Simmons.

What a purrrfect road companion!

From the pictures, it seems Kitty does more sleeping than sightseeing, but in some photos she can be seen awake and alert in Peter’s backpack or perched on his shoulder, trying to get a better view as they travel.

One thing is for sure, although Kitty doesn’t do much walking, she is definitely giving traveling-pooches a run for their money!

Check out more photos and videos from Kitty’s journey at www.turnoftheworld.com.

One of the banes of the over-population epidemic in Central Florida is the lack of free, or low-cost spay/neuter clinics – not only for pet owners, but for all the rescues who are so diligently trying to win the fight against shelter killing of unwanted pets.

The No-Kill Nation reported this week that over 5 million healthy and adoptable pets are euthanized each year in the U.S. due to over population, and while some shelters want to blame pet owners for not spaying & neutering, the problem is far more complex than that.

Many rescues are working endlessly in a reactive mode to the homeless pet epidemic, saving dozens of pets every week from high-kill shelters.  Many more, like Catnip Trails, provide financial aid, education, and networking to pet owners and other rescues. some are even providing the medical resources we all rely on to help make our goal of “No More Homeless Pets” a reality instead of just a dream.  In order to be more pro-active than reactive, pet owners and rescues need support in the way of low-cost spay & neuter options.

In February, 2010, Cindy Evers and her daughter Amber Burgess opened Planned Pethood in Pasco County, FL offering low-cost services including:  spay/neuter, vaccines, tags, micro-chipping, de-worming, and flea, tick and heart-worm preventative medications.

Although Planned Pethood does not offer full-service veterinary medical treatments, their low-cost clinic has already altered 1286 pets since their grand opening.  Considering the reproduction rate of unaltered cats and dogs, Planned Pethood has potentially stopped the needless birth of almost 1 million unwanted pets over the next two years!

“When my grandfather passed away, my mom [Cindy Evers] was determined to leave us a legacy as a tribute to her dad.  We have always been ‘Those People’ – the ones who pick up dumped animals and we’ve been pet-lovers all our lives”, said Burgess.  “The enormous number of homeless pets offered for adoption on Petfinder.com is overwhelming, and we had to do something to help.”

Burgess, a schoolteacher by day is already making a difference in the lives of children.  It’s her goal to also make a difference in the homeless pet community.  “When I leave the clinic at the end of each day, I feel like I’ve fought the good fight.” Planned Pethood is a privately owned clinic who employs veterinarians that work on a rotation schedule and offer spay/neuter surgeries on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

The best part is that customers don’t have to meet any low-income requirements, nor live in Pasco County to use their services. Planned Pethood is open Monday through Saturday from 9:30 am to 5:00 pm. Surgeries are scheduled by appointment only, and the walk-in shot clinic is open from 12:00 pm to 2:00 pm on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

People like Evers & Burgess, and their commitment to go over & above to stop the unwanted reproduction of pets gives us all hope that we will reach our goal of “No More Homeless Pets.”

Written By:  Joan Alexander
Planned Pethood
Zephyrhills, FL
813-779-7000

In 2007, a group of women in Polk County, FL decided to do something about the feral cat population in the county.  Polk is mainly a rural region, often jokingly referred to as a gathering of “rednecks.” Introducing a humane process to deal with animals often thought of as nuisances hasn’t been easy for these committed volunteers.  These women were friends, neighbors, and co-workers – unlikely professionals brought together by their love of all things feline and a burning desire to “do the right thing.” They started slow – naming their group Feral Fanciers – and since beginning, their impact has been felt throughout the county.

President Bonnie Lingard is the main trap-neuter-release (TNR) person. A chemist by profession, Lingard feeds four feral groups every day. Yolie Rodriguez works full time for the health department, is the group’s vice president, serves as the adoption coordinator for the Petco adoption program, and takes photos for all adoption candidates and posts them on Petfinder, Facebook, and the group’s website. Feral Fanciers’ secretary-treasurer is Leslie Hoover, a retired educator from Michigan who manages all financial records, writes the monthly newsletter for the website, and answers all inquiries for the organization.

In the past two years, Feral Fanciers has changed the lives of over 1500 cats found in feral colonies in Polk. Cats or kittens deemed friendly enough for adoption have been fostered and adopted through their adoption program held on weekends at the local Petco Store. But their main mission has been to trap, neuter or spay, and return feral cats to the location where they were found, assigning a caregiver to feed and watch over them on a regular basis. Hundreds of feral cats, too wild for adoption, have been helped through their efforts and now live in stable feral colonies where no unwanted reproduction occurs, helping dramatically curb the overpopulation of unwanted cats throughout the county.

Feral Fanciers contracted with local veterinarians and the SPCA for reduced rates for spaying and neutering. At first, the women paid for these expenses themselves, but they sought out regular donors and ran some effective fundraisers, ultimately giving them the ability to sustain their efforts.  Still much more money is needed to adequately expand the program throughout the entire county.  Feral Fanciers monitors their progress through a cat tracking process which lists each spay, neuter, and adoption done each month categorized under the cat colony from which it originated. They post these numbers each month, along with a graph, on the statistics page on their website www.feralfanciers.org.  The group hopes to see many more feral cat colonies sterilized through the TNR plan and assigned a caregiver. To do this, they need to enlist more volunteers to trap, transport, and care for the cats during recovery before they are released.  Other objectives include finding more cost effective means of sterilization, expanding the adoption program, recruiting more foster volunteers, locating more sources for food donations, partnering with Animal Control to deal with ferals, and expanding community education about the feral cat situation.  The group now has a voting membership of 25 people. To get involved, contact FeralFanciers.org.

Written By: Ellen Manning
(Information contributed by Leslie Hoover)