Woof!

Four shepherd mix puppies at Adopt-A-Dog's kennel in Armonk, N.Y.

The shepherd mix puppies are very gentle, all soft and ready to play. Adopt-A-Dog rescued the four puppies from Bridgeport Animal Control, CT.

Adopt-A-Dog is open every day if you want to have a look. Are  puppies not what you had in mind? There are many dogs and cats at Adopt-A-Dog.  Here are more photographs of the puppies.

Here they are with their stick.

Gavin Sokolof, 19, a volunteer, of Pleasantville, N.Y., with two puppies.

What is better, stick or ball?

A very beautiful puppy.

In the pool.

The pool is made by One Dog Bone.

Adopt-A-Dog’s Puttin’ on the Dog for-fun Dog Show and Festival is on Sunday, September 25, 2011, at Roger Sherman Baldwin Park, in Greenwich, CT. It’s a lot of fun. I go every year.

A nice place to be in a summer afternoon.

I shot this in the fall - too bad they can't open their beaches in the summer to dogs.

Animals need to be cool when the heat goes up.  Here is a slideshow from the AP for the Greenwich Time website  Cool Animals

Be careful in the heat.

I shot this in Puerto Rico of a puppy getting clean. Nice place to have a bath, huh?

Stay cool.

The last week I posted a story about the difficulty when cats and dog loose their homes when the Souris River flooded in Minot N.D.  This story is from the New York Times – same flood – but now it’s an entire zoo!  Here’s the link:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/25/us/25flood.html?_r=1

Date: 7/4/2011 11:50 AM

Research center caring for displaced pets

In this photo taken June 30, 2011, Cynthia Misner walks Dakota the dog in Minot, N.D. Dakota and hundreds of pets were chased from their homes by the swollen Souris River. Misner and dozens of other volunteers have been walking dogs daily for displaced owners. (AP Photo/James MacPherson)

JAMES MacPHERSON,Associated Press

MINOT, N.D. (AP) — Hundreds of sad-eyed dogs, slumbering cats and an assortment of other creatures displaced from their owners due to the swollen Souris River are being housed in barns-turned-temporary animal shelters on high ground a few miles south of Minot.

More than 500 pets, more than half of which are cats, are awaiting their owners’ return at the North Dakota State University Research Extension Center. They are being cared for at no charge by Souris Valley Animal Shelter workers and dozens of volunteers.

“This is hard on people and their pets,” said Kristine Seabolt, the shelter manager. “They miss their persons.”

Most of the pets’ owners visit their animals daily, and those who can’t drop by make frequent calls to the shelter, she said.

The shelter for the past few weeks has been the temporary home to not only cats and dogs, but an iguana, guinea pig, three birds and a bunny, Seabolt said.

Donations of food and kitty litter have come flooding in, and even the 3-foot-long iguana has plenty of freshly caught crickets to eat.

Drop-offs at the shelter have not let up even as the river is continued its slow retreat. Seabolt expects to house some of the animals for several months until their owners can return to their homes or find new places to live.

“We’re willing and able to hold them as long as we need to,” she said.

Cynthia Misner and her son, Levi Ward, have been making a 50-mile round-trip commute to Minot from Berthold for the past two weeks, when people had to abandon their flooded homes and make the stressful decision to put their pets in the shelter. Misner said she has walked every dog at the facility at least once.

“It’s hundreds by now,” she said.

Her own two dogs aren’t getting their normal walks at home, she said.

“I’m worn out when I get home. You can only do so much,” she said.

Ward, a 30-year-old construction worker with a bodybuilder’s physique, is given the task of walking the biggest and friskiest dogs. Ward said he has taken time off from his job to tend to the pooches for their owners who can’t.

He walked 22 dogs on Wednesday.

“What are you going to do? Somebody has to do it,” Ward said.

Veterinarians across the state have volunteered their services at the shelter, Seabolt said. Many of the animals have special needs, like a 19-year-old blind and deaf poodle.

“He needs to be watched really well because he doesn’t know where he’s at and can’t see where he’s going,” Seabolt said.

North of Minot, Sterling Kennels owner Floyd Lemere is caring for about 200 four-legged flood refuges, most of them dogs.

Lemere charges about $11 daily to house the animals, which consume more than 200 pounds of food daily.

“We give them individual attention and walk and play with them to make it as normal as possible,” he said.

Pets perk up when their owners visit, and so do the owners.

“Pets are part of the family and if they can’t have them there with them it’s pretty upsetting,” he said.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press.

Something amazing and fun…. Jose Fuentes and Carrie his dancing dog.

Tornadoes are very scary. Even here in Greenwich, the storms have been awful.  What happens when there is a tornado here? What will  happen to our pets?  Fortunately for those who have been in tornadoes, there are dedicated people who will try to rescue them.  Here is a article from the AP.

Date: 5/13/2011 1:22 PM

After dark, teams comb tornado ruins for lost pets

JAY REEVES, Associated Press

Inga Gibson, right, of Honolulu, and Mindy Gilbert, center, of Jasper, Ala., care for dogs and cats found in the Alberta City community of Tuscaloosa, Ala., Friday, May 13, 2011. Teams from the Humane Society of the United States are still searching for stray animals and lost pets amid the rubble left by last month’s killer tornadoes. More than 350 dogs, cats, birds, snakes, lizards and even a tarantula already have been found in the shattered neighborhoods of Tuscaloosa. The local animal shelter is so full it had to erect tents for additional space. (AP Photo/Dave Martin)

After a killer tornado, Lloyd Brown snakes his way through downed utility lines and over broken plywood in search of the final survivors lost amid the rubble — dogs and cats.

More than two weeks after twisters shattered the South, teams from the Humane Society of the United States are still rounding up stray animals and pets in the most heavily damaged areas. The search for human survivors in the rubble ended previously. More than 350 dogs, cats, birds, snakes, lizards and even a tarantula already have been found in the shattered neighborhoods around Tuscaloosa, and the local animal shelter is so full it had to erect tents for additional space.

Still, though, there’s life hidden in the wreckage. Once the sun sets and the rumble of heavy machinery dies down, lost pets and strays begin peeking out of their hiding spots in search of food. Humane workers set boxlike traps every night to catch them.

Humane Society worker Connie Brooks of Key West, Fla., just returned to the United States after two weeks of rounding up animals in the tsunami zone in Japan. Now, she is answering calls about all sorts of animals lost in the Southern tornado outbreak.

In a May 12, 2011 photo, Wendy Hergenraeder of Billings, Mon., sets out a trap for cats in the Alberta City community of Tuscaloosa, Ala. Teams from the Humane Society of the United States are still searching for stray animals and lost pets amid the rubble left by last month’s killer tornadoes. More than 350 dogs, cats, birds, snakes, lizards and even a tarantula already have been found in the shattered neighborhoods of Tuscaloosa. local animal shelter is so full it had to erect tents for additional space. (AP Photo/Dave Martin

“We had a bird reunited yesterday. We had a call about an iguana, and a tarantula was reunited with its owner. They found it in a tree,” she said.

During the hunt for strays Thursday night, a black cat stands atop a broken tree and meows as a pickup driven by Brown passes by; other team members shine flashlights out the window to catch the glint of little eyes in the dark. Spooked, the cat darts away when volunteers and Humane Society staffers get out of the vehicle and try to coax it toward them.

The hazard lights on the big truck flash, and Brown turns a corner, pulling to the side of the road. He gets out, walks up the concrete stairs of what used to be a house and places a wire cage on the slab. He baits the trap with smelly cat food from a can and drapes it all with a piece of carpet from the wreckage to help disguise the metal mesh.

The trapping work starts about 8 p.m. EDT and lasts until the wee hours. Friday at 7 a.m., team members went back to clear the traps and take the night’s catch back to a temporary shelter located in the parking lot of Alberta Baptist Church, which was shattered by the twister that killed more than 40 people in Tuscaloosa on April 27.

In a May 12, 2011 photo, lost but found kittens wait for owners in a parking lot in the Alberta City community of Tuscaloosa, Ala. Teams from the Humane Society of the United States are still searching for stray animals and lost pets amid the rubble left by last month’s killer tornadoes. More than 350 dogs, cats, birds, snakes, lizards and even a tarantula already have been found in the shattered neighborhoods of Tuscaloosa. local animal shelter is so full it had to erect tents for additional space. (AP Photo/Dave Martin)

The shelter is filled with animals either brought in by trapping teams or surrendered by their owners: Two boxers given up because their owners couldn’t care for them beg for attention in cages just below five puppies found in the rubble. Beside them in a cage is Sugar Bear, a friendly cat whose owner lives in the remains of her shattered apartment just across the street.

But mostly workers are looking for dogs and cats. On a pitch-black stretch of Juanita Drive, Brown’s crew drives up to the badly damaged home of John Warbington, who’s sitting on his pickup truck with a pistol shoved in the waistline of his pants. He’s keeping watch in case looters show up again.

“There’s been two arrests here already,” said Warbington, 61.

Warbington and his wife survived the twister, but both their great Dane named George and dachshund, Capt. Jack, were gone after the winds died down. A neighbor found George, but Warbington hasn’t seen his “weenie dog” since.

“Jack, Jack,” he calls into the darkness.

Brown, who is from Miami, got a call a few days ago after someone heard the cries of a dog coming from the debris beside Warbington’s house. He removed all the rubble he could but found nothing.

Now, it’s time to look for more animals. He shakes hands with Warbington and offers his best wishes.

“There’s nothing I’d like more than to be able to return your dog to you,” Brown says.

In a May 12, 2011 photo, lost but found kittens wait for owners in a parking lot in the Alberta City community of Tuscaloosa, Ala. Teams from the Humane Society of the United States are still searching for stray animals and lost pets amid the rubble left by last month’s killer tornadoes. More than 350 dogs, cats, birds, snakes, lizards and even a tarantula already have been found in the shattered neighborhoods of Tuscaloosa. local animal shelter is so full it had to erect tents for additional space. (AP Photo/Dave Martin)

Tracy Delp gets her newly purchased mule named Rosie ready for a ride at her home in Port Orchard on Thursday. Delp is going on a cross-country ride in battle agaisnt cancer. She set off on Mother's day on a 5,000 mile ride across America to honor her late mother. (MEEGAN M. REID/KITSAP SUN)

CHRIS HENRY, Kitsap Sun

PORT ORCHARD, Wash. (AP) — Lines between species are blurred for Tracy Delp, who’s been talking to animals for almost as long as she can remember.

But not talking so much as listening. Delp, 46, of Port Orchard has made her living as “Nature’s Translator,” communicating to clients the private thoughts of pets living and dead.

On Sunday, Mother’s Day, Delp sets off on a 5,000-mile horseback ride across the United States in honor of her own late mother Millie Delp and others — including animals — who have succumbed to the disease, as well as those still fighting it.”Cancer is cancer,” said Delp. “It doesn’t matter who you are or what you are.”

Delp will be accompanied by her riding partner Dan Shanafelt, 23, whom she met some years back while working for a central Cascades outfitting company. Their team includes five horses and a mule. Their route over the next eight months will take them from Ocean Shores on the Pacific Coast, through three major mountain ranges, across 13 states and the District of Columbia, on trails, gravel roads and back highways, to their destination, Cape Henlopen State Park in Delaware. There, they’ll dip their toes and hooves in the Atlantic.

While it seems everyone these days is running, walking or cycling somewhere for cancer, Delp thinks she may be the first to attempt a coast-to-coast journey on horseback for the cause.

Her trusty team includes five horses and a mule, to be rotated in and out of the action by a trailer-towing team of family and friends. Along the way, averaging 20 to 25 miles a day, the beasts will consume 480 bales of hay, including a special blend for wilderness areas so they don’t leave behind seeds of invasive plants. Their diet will be supplemented with grain, and two who are used to going “barefoot” will sport special boots instead of horseshoes to protect their feet.

The team will pass through places with names like “The Wilderness of No Return” and “The Wilderness of No Summer.” The longest they’ll be without contact from other humans is 10 days. Should they miss a resupply rendezvous, the lives of all could be in danger.

Delp has been gnawing on the idea of such an adventure ever since her mother passed three years ago. A colon cancer survivor, Millie Delp came down with pancreatic cancer. Then her insurance denied the claim.

“Your feet are kicked out from under you,” said Delp. “You don’t know what to do. You’re fighting time.”

Shanafelt, of Renton, a forestry management student at Oregon State University, also has been touched by cancer, which claimed the lives of both his grandmothers.

Delp, who lost two dogs to cancer, said the purpose of the ride is to raise awareness of the disease in both humans and animals.

“We’re animals,” she said. “If we could find a way to help animals, we could help ourselves.”

Delp has been overwhelmed by the generosity of donors since she started her nonprofit Be-Cause We Care. Besides financial donations large and small, people have given saddles, bridles and other items to make the trip possible. A woman from Sequim even loaned her two Tennessee Walkers, Angus and Andy. The horses’ long stride will make for a smoother ride and potentially better mileage.

Some people along the route have contacted Delp to open their homes, including a Western Washington resident who promises homemade soup the first night of their journey.

Donors who visit the website can select the cause of their choice. Beyond raising money to combat cancer, Delp hopes to make a statement about the power of community. No contribution — a kind word, a positive thought — is too small.

“We’re living in a time where there’s so much focus on what we can’t do, we need to start looking at what we can do,” Delp said. “This is really grass roots. It’s people helping people.

“This is the biggest leap of faith I’ve ever made in my life. You have these moments of ‘Oh, my God, what am I doing?’ I’m walking away from a lot to do this. That’s how strongly I feel about it. I know it’s all going to work out. I can’t explain it.”

Much of Delp’s life has been beyond explanation.

She said she first became aware of her Dr.-Doolittle-like gift at age 4. Delp heard a voice saying, “The dog food is really good.” Only her dog was in the room, no people. She tried the dog food. It was not as tasty as advertised.

As an adult, she honed her ability to communicate with animals, and she now consults on a variety of cases, including misbehavior, lost pets and unexplained ailments. Her skill extends to horses, birds and cats, who, in her experience, are not as complicated or contrary as everyone thinks.

Delp, who teaches workshops, believes most people have the ability to communicate with animals on a deeper level.

“I think everybody does, but we’ve convinced ourselves that we can’t,” she said. “We’ve stopped listening, and really it’s about learning to listen again.”

Tracy Delp gets her newly purchased mule named Rosie ready for a ride at her home in Port Orchard on Thursday. Delp is going on a cross-country ride in battle agaisnt cancer. She set off on Mother's day on a 5,000 mile ride across America to honor her late mother. (MEEGAN M. REID/KITSAP SUN)

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Information from: Kitsap Sun, http://www.kitsapsun.com/

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press.

The New York Times had a wonderful story and a slide show about the bomb sniffing dogs in Afghanistan.  Here is the link: bomb sniffing dogs

Below is a picture I took of Utsi, a Belgium Malinsois bomb sniffing dog that came to Parkway School in Greenwich in 2008.  He was fabulous.

Utsi, a Belgium Malinsois bomb sniffing dog for CHAMPS sits at attention at Parkway School during the presentation.