Spay Day Photo Contest

Does your pet have what it takes to win this year’s World Spay Day Pet Photo Contest? Enter now to find out! www.humanesociety.org/photocontest

When you enter, you will be asked to select which organization(s) you would like to benefit from votes for your photo. Please choose Lycoming County SPCA to benefit from your pet’s votes. Each vote your pet receives means a $1 donation to our organization, to help us spay or neuter even more pets after World Spay Day (February 28, 2012) is over.  After you enter, please take advantage of the photo contest’s easy features to share your pet's photo and story with your friends and family, and ask them to vote for your pet!

More than 100 people who enter the contest will win prizes ranging from official recognition on the World Spay Day Pet Photo Contest website to an iPad 2 and iPod! Further, the two Grand Prize winners will each win the privilege of awarding a $5,000 grant to the eligible World Spay Day event organizer of their choice. (Hint, hint—choose us!)

The earlier you enter the more time you’ll have to get votes and raise critical spay/neuter funds for our organization. Please upload a photo of your pet now at www.humanesociety.org/photocontest to get started!

Thanks for your support!

Submitted courtesy Missy Black

Peace and Calm

This is a quiet time of year for us at the SPCA as far as animal intakes are concerned.  (Our cruelty investigations never slow down.)

For the most part, animals are content to stay snug and warm at home so we don't have as large a stray population as we do in the summer time.  Plus, cats are not having kittens so that helps keeps the population down.

Now back to investigations.  There is a man who calls us constantly about his neighbor.  They leave the dog out in all kinds of weather.  Plus, when she had puppies, the puppies were out in the weather as well.

So our investigator drives by and does not see any animals outside.  Who do you believe?  The person who complains or the dog owner?

It has been said that a picture is worth a thousand words.  So the man who complains about the dog being out brings in pictures of the dog and her 5 month old pup outside in the snow.  He calls the police and the police remove the dogs and bring them to the SPCA.  The dog owner says that he was only gone 1 hour to get dinner.

Now if we took this to a judge for cruelty and neglect, the judge would ask for proof that the dogs were out for long periods of time.  Despite the fact that the neighbor has pictures, the dog owner will testify that the dogs were not out that long.   The pictures do not show how long the dogs were out so how do we prove that?  We do not have the manpower to sit outside the house and keep a log of how long the dogs were outside.  I tried to explain this to the complainant and in response I was told that the SPCA doesn't do anything!  Ouch. 

So despite the fact that we have peace and calm related to the influx of animals, we will always have conflict about cruelty investigations.  There are laws to protect animals but if we want to prosecute, we need to prove that animal cruelty was committed.  And sometimes, even when we prove it, AND the defendant is found guilty; the judge can still give the animal back.  (See post Animals have no rights in Williamsport)

Valentine Week Special

Find the four-legged love of your life at the SPCA! 

During the week of February 13 to 18, adopters will have the opportunity to choose a valentine heart.  Each heart contains a gift for their adopted pet.  Two of the hearts contain free adoptions!

What a Difference a Year Makes

Last year we made the bold move to pay for the spaying and neutering of every adopted animal.  That added up to a considerable amount of money, so we did raise our adoption fees.  However, we provided some free adoptions to Senior Citizens through Purina, and we discounted adoption fees by 50% for animals that have been at the shelter for more than 30 days.

So as of February 5, 2012 we had 147 adoptions.  Last year during the same time period we had 87 adoptions!  Wow, we more than doubled the adoptions.   I hope the trend continues.

Not Just Cats and Dogs

This is Sweet Pea.  She is a pot bellied pig that was surrendered for adoption due to the owner's health.  She is litter trained and loves snuggling on the sofa with her owner.  She is accustomed to being an indoor pet.

We have had pot bellied pigs before.  People who have had them as pets love them.  What do you think?

I don't Discriminate Against Cats

I'm sure you have noticed that many of my posts are about dogs.  It's not that I dont' like cats, I'm just allergic.  I have so many allergies it is aggravating.  I'm allergic to dogs too, but if I keep the dander down I can tolerate them.

Sometimes when we have large scale seizures, I will help with  the animals.  Usually I need to wear a mask so that I don't have an asthma attack.

Why wold someone who is allergic to animals work in an animal shelter?  For those of us who love animals,  we know the answer to that question.

Nose Work

I participated in a very interesting dog training class called Nose Work.  If you wonder what bomb sniffing dogs go through, this would be similar.

Silke Wittig taught the class.  She was offering it to the public for a reasonable fee of $120 for 6 classes.  She was unable to fill the class so she offered to teach the class to SPCA dogs and volunteers. 

You had to be there to appreciate the experience.  We had six SPCA dogs with different personalities.  But once you get one in the room and start focusing on the job they do best-smelling-that is all they could focus on.  You could see the dogs relax and get into tracking a scent.

I am not going to do justice to explaining this class.  But I have a little Chihuahua in my office.  She is totally and completely attached to me.  If I leave my office she barks non-stop. NON-STOP.  Just ask my staff.  When I walk into my office she is all over me.  Give her a little nose work to do and she completely ignores me.  I'm serious.  She went from attached at the hip to 'I don't hear you'.

It is a really cool class.  The dog is introduced to treats in a box.  The dog devours the treats.  Then the boxes with treats move around.  The dogs need to use their nose to find the treats.  It is fun to watch, and you can tell the dogs have fun too. 

You really need to observe a class to understand how fun it is for the dogs.  Visit Silke's website at Herocanineconsulting.com.  I'm sure she can do a better job of explaining it than I did.  Or better yet-observe a class.  We will be doing another class at the SPCA on Wednesday.  I bet if you watch one class you will want  to try it with your dog!