Rough! No shortage of dogs that need a home Saturday, October 10, 2009
By: Elissa Bass
TheDay.com
On a gorgeous fall morning earlier this week, Ireland and Montana looked like two dogs out for a romp at a local dog park with their owners.
Ireland, a 1?-year-old schnauzer/terrier mix, madly chases a thrown tennis ball, and Montana, a 2-year-old hound mix, madly chases Ireland. There is tackling, wrestling, and good-natured growling. When play time is over, the two panting dogs are releashed ... and brought back to their cages.
Ireland and Montana live at the Waterford chapter of the Connecticut Humane Society. Along with, right now, Foxy, Odie, Pete, Winnie, King and others.
October is National Adopt-A-Shelter-Dog Month, and there is no shortage of dogs that need homes. In addition to the Humane Society, there are local animal control facilities in nearly every town that house dogs that have been lost or abandoned.
And there are rescue groups for specific breeds, including Cathy's Rottie Rescue Rehab And Sanctuary in North Stonington (rottrsq@comcast.net) and Saint Bernard Rescue of Connecticut & Rhode Island (saintbernardrescue@snet.net). A great Web site to bring together all the animals available for adoption in a geographic area is petfinder.com.
In 2008, the Connecticut Humane Society took in approximately 8,900 animals of all species. Of those, 35 percent were dogs, totaling about 3,115. The society has an adoption rate of about 90 percent, meaning “we successfully placed over 2,800 dogs last year,” said spokeswoman Alicia Wright.
Through August of this year, 1,820 dogs were taken in and 1,638 were placed in homes, Wright said.
Meagan Pijanowski, an assistant animal behaviorist at the Waterford shelter, said often the reason these days that someone surrenders their pet is recession-related.
”And they are doing the right thing, and calling us,” she says. “We take in thousands of animals and have a high success rate for rehoming.”
For more information on adopting a dog or other pet from the Connecticut Humane Society, log onto www.cthumane.org.
