Animal Lovers From Across the Lone Star State Adopted 2,256 Cats, Kittens, Dogs and Puppies on Saturday, August 16, the Largest Ever Pet Adoption Effort in North Texas

Animal lovers from across the Lone Star State adopted 2,256 cats, kittens, dogs and puppies—and even a few pocket pets—on Saturday, August 16, during “Empty the Shelter Day,” the largest ever pet adoption effort in North Texas, sponsored in part by the ASPCA.

Shelters large and small, municipal and non-profit—33 total—literally emptied their shelters during the one-day, fee-waived adoption event.

“It was a sight to see and the best day of my 18-year career,” said Corey Price, animal services manager for the City of Irving Animal Services, an open-admission shelter. “Veterans of the animal welfare community were left speechless, and shelter workers and volunteers shed tears as they walked past empty kennels and cages.”

It was Price who set the wheels in motion in June for the multiple-shelter collaboration when she and her staff began thinking beyond the smaller scale “Empty the Shelter” event they had hosted in previous years. They pitched the idea to broadcaster NBC5/Telemundo39, which immediately got on board, and began spreading the word.

Shelters signed on like wildfire. NBC5/Telemundo39 provided PSAs and promotional coverage; the ASPCA provided funds for other local advertising and grassroots efforts.

Ann Barnes, executive director of the Humane Society of North Texas, the oldest animal welfare agency in the region, placed more animals—339—than any other single agency, said the event was “all hands on deck” for her team and, despite the Texas heat and long lines, “the community support was overwhelming.”

At Dallas Animal Services, customers waited as long as three hours to adopt but were “patient and committed,” says Rebecca Poling, a board member of the Dallas Companion Animal Project, which supplied volunteers to DAS for the event. “It was not so much about adopting a pet for free as it was about saving lives. The event really gave people the chance to be a part of something.”

“People got the message,” adds Pam Burney, vice president of community initiatives for the ASPCA and who visited several participating shelters during the event. “What’s great is all the shelters did well—even small ones.”

That’s certainly true of North Richland Hills Animal Adoption & Rescue Center, which placed 39 pets during their event. “In 2013, for the entire month of August, we placed less than that—just 34,” says Chun Mezger, humane division supervisor for the City of North Richland Hills. “Our community really supported us.”

For Chun’s staff, the event was also tinged with sadness. “We just lost one of our own—Mary Beth Chastain, a humane officer—to cancer on Wednesday,” Mezger says. “But our team did an amazing job pulling together to honor Mary Beth by ‘knocking it out of the park’ on Saturday.”

In 2013, aggregate adoptions for the same 33 participating shelters, on the same August day, was just 266, according to Price. The final count for Empty the Shelter Day increased that number nearly ten-fold.

“For the first time ever, our two shelters were nearly empty,” says James Bias, president and CEO of the SPCA of Texas, where just three dogs remained at the organization’s Jan Rees-Jones Animal Care Center in Dallas and its Russell H. Perry Animal Care Center in McKinney stood empty. “In one day, 163 animals found their forever homes—half as many as find homes in any given week.”

“We’ve never seen room after room of empty kennels,” adds Barnes, whose organization was out of its 208 dogs by 4 p.m. and by day’s end had also placed 126 cats, two rabbits and three other small mammals. “It was a real morale booster.”

By 2:30 p.m., Dallas Animal Services was out of adoptable pets and began directing clients to its Lost and Found area where they could pre-adopt animals on stray hold if they went unclaimed. “I’d never seen it empty like this since the day we opened,” says Poling. “Pod after pod, row after row. It was almost eerie. But it was a great thing.”

Despite the myth that fee-waived adoptions don’t yield good homes for cats and dogs, Barnes says her team’s experience during “Empty the Shelter” de-bunked that theory. “Our adoption applications were perfect—just what we wanted for each animal,” she says. Adds the ASPCA’s Burney: “It’s only the fee that was waived, not the criteria. In fact, some adopters visited shelters on Friday and paid fees so they could be sure to get first pick.”

In the end, says Price, the best part was not only the support from the community, but how “participating shelters embraced and ran with the concept.”

“I’m really impressed with the North Texas animal welfare community,” she says. “This is just the beginning.”

Lines of soon-to-be-adopters began at 7 a.m. at the Humane Society of North Texas in Ft. Worth.

Staff at North Richland Hills Animal Adoption & Rescue Center rallied in memory of their co-worker Mary Beth Chastain who died of cancer four days earlier. The shelter placed 39 pets during the event—more adoptions than in the entire month of August 2013.

By 4 PM, HSNT had run out of dogs (Courtesy HSNT)

Hazel Russell of Watauga, Texas adopted Chloe, a Chihuahua, at the N. Richland Hills event. (Courtesy NRHAA&RC)

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Beluga Whale In Aquarium Teases Kids In An Incredibly Human Way [Video]

A video showing a Beluga whale trying to scare kids visiting an aquarium is going viral as we file this story. The video captured by YouTube user Michelle Cotton shows two kids watching over the Beluga whales through the thick glass walls of the aquarium.

While everything looks normal for the first few seconds of the video, the really interesting part starts at the 46 second mark when one of the Beluga whales sticks his forehead to the glass- making the children laugh. A few seconds later, the whale is seen opening its mouth in a scary manner – in an attempt to mock the kids and scare them. It really does look quite scary as the whale sports a terrorizing look on its usually serene face.

The most incredible part comes at the 1:03 second mark where the Beluga Whale turns back and then scares the kids again – similar to what many humans would do. In fact, it is at that moment in the video that you would probably realize how intelligent these marine mammals are. Following this, the whale tilts its head as to curiously study the strange little creatures it sees through the glass. Enjoying the attention it is getting from the kid audience, the Beluga whale continues to do what it had been doing much to the joy of the kids before moving away.

Beluga Whales are related to dolphins and killer whales and like the aforementioned species, are known to be highly intelligent animals. Like dolphins, Beluga whales are also known to be friendly to humans. This has been once again demonstrated by folks from over at Explore.org who have this year installed underwater cameras on the bow of a boat named Zodiac to study visiting Beluga whales – in real time in the Churchill river. Beluga whales are known to swim upstream in the river during this time of the year, says a report by CBC News Canada.

According to Charles Annenberg Weingarten, the founder of Explore.org;

“They’re curious and they’re somewhat uninhibited in a way, and friendly, and so when they hear the boats they have a tendency to swing closer.”

Unfortunately, this also makes them susceptible to hunters. Around 1500 Beluga whales are killed each year in Northern America alone. The species is however not endangered.

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Are You Contributing to Your Dog's Bad Behavior?

Before you blame your dog for annoying behaviors such as excessive barking, unruliness on the leash or bolting in the other direction when you call her, first consider that there are reasons your dog behaves the way she does, and some of those reasons have to do with you and the other humans in her life.

You're not entirely responsible for how your canine acts. Factors like genetics, early environment and inadvertent learning through experiences outside of your control all contribute to her behavior, but human-related factors greatly impact a dog’s actions.

Whether we realize it, our dogs are learning every moment. Learning to behave occurs mostly outside of structured training sessions. Canines at all ages and stages can learn new behaviors through training, but most behaviors are shaped in regular, everyday moments. Even canines who have not had a single training session have been trained — albeit inadvertently — by people through day-to-day interactions and experiences. Human-directed factors, like a canine’s daily environment and routine, work together to either set up a dog for success or make her more likely to display undesirable behavior.

There are numerous things people do to stress out their dogs, usually without even realizing it. Beyond that, how you interact with your dog and the training you provide either work for you and your canine or against you.

Here are the top three human behaviors that exacerbate a lack of manners and hinder desired change.

Human behavior 1:  Focusing on eliminating behavior rather than rewarding what you want

Punishment-based interactions tend to be harmful to your relationship with your dog and ineffectual for breaking unwanted habits. Punishment is rarely done right. It’s usually doled out too late and is too broad for the animal to pinpoint what she did wrong. Dogs also become accustomed to the punishment — such as a spray from a bottle or jerk on a leash — so it must increase in frequency or intensity over time to have any effect. In addition, it risks the dog making negative associations with the punisher and objects or people they are punished around. With punishment, a behavior may be temporarily stifled, but without the dog learning what to do instead. The behavior will typically come back or be replaced with another, equally irksome behavior.

Rubbing a dog’s nose in an accident she had in the home only makes the dog averse to humans; it teaches the dog nothing. The dog does not associate the punishment with the behavior or she might learn that voiding in general is bad. The dog may become conflicted around people, whom she sees as unpredictable, and start to hide from them when she goes to the bathroom, making the habit of going in the house harder to break. She doesn't learn to do her business outdoors instead. Punishment tends to escalate negative emotions such as fear and frustration, which contribute to unwanted problems. Thus, when the emotional state is turned more negative, the unwanted behavior, while temporarily inhibited, can escalate.

Punishment has been shown to increase aggression and conflict-related behaviors in dogs. When a dog is punished for growling or barking, she can no longer give a warning signal to show she is uncomfortable . That means the dog remains highly aroused, agitated or fearful, but rather than using her innate warnings, like snarling, a dog may escalate faster into aggression and even a bite.

Parents and grandparents be warned: Children often emulate the actions of adults, even if warned not to. That means that a child will model a parent’s yelling, scolding or physical intimidation of a dog. When a child copies the punishment techniques he witnesses, there is a good chance the dog will react with aggression toward him.

Instead of punishing your dog, use reward-based training with the entire family. It takes refocusing your mind on the good and what you desire to have happen, and rewarding your dog for those behaviors. Rewards can include treats, toys, praise and a favorite activity. Train your dog to do what you want, or reward the desired behavior she already does, while also limiting her ability to make an unwanted choice or get too upset to handle the situation. Allow your dog only into situations she can handle, and in those situations, show your canine what you want and reward her for doing it. Also, look at replacement strategies for channeling natural behavior in dogs. For example, if you have a problem chewer, offer acceptable chewing alternatives such as a stuffed Kong.

Human behavior 2: Lack of consistency and clear expectations

Canines need consistent guidance from the people in their lives regarding the behavior and manners that are expected of them. It’s unfair for the dog to have the rules change from person to person. If something is OK with one person and not another, it becomes very confusing to the dog. For instance, if the man of the house is allowed to hand-wrestle with a dog, but the dog cannot put teeth on other members of the family or play roughly with them, there is trouble to be had. The dog is likely, through practice and reward in the one scenario, to act the same way in others. The more predictable a dog’s life is, with clear boundaries and rewards only for certain behaviors, the better behaved the dog will be.

By the same token, the entire family and those who interact with the dog need to be on the same page with how the dog is treated and trained. The cues or commands for the dog need to be the same among all the people in the home. The dog also needs consistent consequences for her behavior, like a reward for listening. Otherwise, the positive behavior loses strength. In addition, the management of unwanted behaviors, like pulling on the leash and jumping up, need to remain unrewarded by all people by never allowing the dog to move forward on the leash while pulling or never greeting the dog when she's jumping. If the behavior is rewarded by even one person in the dog’s life, the dog will be resistant to change. The infrequent reward increases persistence in the dog.

Unfortunately, I’ve found people within the same home will use different styles of teaching: one with intimidation-based training and others with rewards. That is extremely confusing to the dog. Expectations, consequences and structure need to be as consistent as possible among everyone in the family.

Human behavior 3:  Expecting too much of your dog without doing your part to help her

Just as a child needs schooling from preschool to high school and college, dogs also need increasing levels of training and practice to be prepared for what is expected of them. A dog needs training that progressively gets her skilled enough, through practice, to handle higher-level expectations, like responding to "Come!" in high- distraction environments. A dog may respond when the situation is low-key and minimally distracting, but in a high-intensity situation, the dog is less likely to obey. Training needs to progress to the level of what the person requires. That means preparing the dog through success at easier levels and gradually training to a more demanding level.


Unfortunately, when a dog has practiced a behavior for a while, people often give up and feel they’ve tried it all. Many times, though, the owner just needs to change small variables. As a clicker trainer, I’ve encountered people who say they already tried the clicker and it didn’t work. When I delved into what they were doing, though, their mechanics of using the clicker and rewards were off. After they relearned how to use the clicker, the problem fixed itself. Even for complex behavior problems, working with a veterinary behaviorist or veterinarian in conjunction with a positive reinforcement trainer can turn a dog’s life around, but it takes time. If a dog has just learned “leave it” with food in the hand, for instance, she cannot be expected to leave unattended chicken on the kitchen counter without further training.

Most of all, be patient with your dog. It can take nine to 12 weeks — or longer — to break a habit, even with consistent work. It’s not a quick fix, but through clear boundaries and expectations, your canine will be on her way to good behavior, largely through your dedicated guidance.


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10 Adorable Dogs Taking the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge

From a dachshund in a shower cap to a cavapoo in a raincoat

You might be at least a little sick of seeing people dump water over their heads everywhere you turn on the Internet, even if the hugely viral phenomenon is raising insane amounts of money for a worthy cause.

But the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge has now taken a cutesy turn. Here, we present some of the best canine contributions to the ever-growing collection of icy videos.

The dachshund that’s totally prepared with a cute little shower cap:




The pug that would rather just donate the damn money and have you leave it alone:




The big guy named Jet that’s pretty chill about things:




The puppy named Buttons that’s all, “can you not?”:




The corgi that actually seems excited to complete the challenge:




This chill chihuahua named Jack:

The little dude named Phineas Ernest Sander that’s rocking a fly raincoat:
Click here to see his video:
http://instagram.com/p/rurmSgF58_/?modal=true








The little cutie named Tinkerbelle that chills in protective rain gear while her human sings for some reason:

 


The dog named Boomer that realizes the challenge isn’t so bad after all:



The courageous pooch that uses an actual bucket:



Honorable mention: this cutie named Lucky that almost completed the challenge:



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Stop Puppy Mills - It Starts With YOU - Pleas Sign the Pledge!

Help stop this cycle of cruelty simply by choosing to adopt your next pet from a shelter or rescue.

Sponsored by: Humane Society of the United States

Pet stores that care about puppies don't sell them. That's because the majority of pet stores that sell puppies carry dogs from cruel and inhumane puppy mills. Puppy mills are like dog-making factories with the mother dogs spending their entire lives in cramped cages or kennels with little or no personal attention or quality of life. When the mother and father dogs can no longer breed, they are discarded or killed. Consumers who purchase puppies from pet stores or over the Internet without seeing a breeder's home firsthand are often unknowingly supporting this cruel industry.

Help stop this cycle of cruelty simply by choosing to adopt your next pet from a shelter or rescue, or by only purchasing a dog from a responsible breeder who will show you where your puppy was born and raised. And that's not all—you can do even more by refusing to buy pet supplies from any store or website that sells puppies. Where you spend your dollars makes a difference. Make a statement when you shop!

To make your pledge, click here: I Pledge

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Love Pizza? Help Raise Money for Homeward Trails Animal Rescue on August 27 Malek's Pizza Palace Between 4-9 PM - Mention HTAR and We Will Receive a Portion of the Sales!

Help raise money for Homeward Trails Animal Rescue on August 27 - it's as easy a pizza pie! Just dine it, carry out, order delivery or catering at Malek's Pizza Palace between 4-9 PM on Wednesday, August 27 and mention Homeward Trails and we will receive a portion of the sales.

Stop by and enjoy delicious greek salads, gyros, pizza, pasta and much more and help HT animals. Please support this fundraiser at a great local restaurant for a great cause and help us spread the word!

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Canine Parvovirus, A Highly Contagious Viral Disease that Can Produce a Life-Threatening Illness Usually Spread from Dog to Dog by Direct Contact

"Parvo" is a word most puppy owners learn, and learn to dread. It's short for canine parvovirus, the most common infectious dog disease in the U.S.

Even though it's a relatively new disease in the dog world, parvo's ubiquitous--present at significant levels in every environment, from home to kennel to park. In fact, trying to shield a puppy from exposure is considered completely futile in this day and age. It's a ridiculously tough virus that can survive for months on living things, and even on objects such as furniture, toys, and carpets.

It's a serious infection, too: it can kill in a matter of days, and it's 80 percent fatal. Puppies less than six months old and older dogs are the most vulnerable. Luckily, a simple vaccine is all it takes to prevent this horrible disease.

Causes
Parvo is actually a family of viruses. Many mammals have some version of it, including humans, though fortunately parvo doesn't pass from species to species--each type of animal gets its own special version. It was first isolated back in the 1960s, but a mutant form called CPV-2 appeared virtually overnight in 1978. Then a mutation of that showed up in 1979, causing a true health crisis in the canine world--an epidemic that killed thousands of pets and triggered a vaccine shortage.

Today that virus has been supplanted by a version called CPV-2b, but because of vaccination for puppies and tight health controls, there are very few cases of adult parvo; it's considered a "puppy disease." Still, it's very serious: dogs catch parvo and die from it every year. (There's some talk of other strains beginning to emerge, but they've yet to be formally identified.)

The virus itself is deceptively simple: just a single strand of DNA, without the usual sheath of fat to protect it. This, ironically, makes it harder to kill with standard disinfectants and allows it to survive outside a host body for as long as five months.

Parvo is usually spread from dog to dog by direct contact (in parks, dog shows, kennels, pet shops, and the like) or by contact with infected feces. People can contribute to the spread of the disease by tracking fecal matter on their shoes. Since the virus can survive a wide range of temperatures and live outside the animal for months, it's extremely tough to eradicate. That's why vaccination is so important.

Symptoms
It's possible for adult dogs to have a mild form of parvo and show no symptoms at all. In its acute phase, however, symptoms include:

• loss of appetite
• depression
• fever
• massive dehydration
• lethargy
• bloody diarrhea
• severe, repeated vomiting

When it's time to see a vet
The disease can kill a dog quite quickly (sometimes in a matter of days), and it may leave surviving animals with intestinal and heart damage. So if you see symptoms or even suspect parvo, get to your vet immediately. The only way to know if a dog has parvovirus is through a diagnostic test.

However, the best time to see the vet about parvo is when you get your puppy vaccinated. That's the best thing you can do to prevent this killer of puppies from ever entering your life.

When your puppy's most vulnerable
The timing of protecting your puppy can be a little tricky. The mild and temporary immunities that the mother passes on to her pups actually interfere with the vaccine's effectiveness--but exactly when those maternal antibodies fade varies from dog to dog, depending on factors such as nutrition, medical history, and even breed. It's that window of vulnerability--the time after the mother's immunity has faded, and before the vaccine has kicked in--when puppies catch this ever-present virus.

That's why puppy vaccines have to come in at least two stages, and why it's vitally important that you don't skip that second visit to the vet. It's also important to not let your dog walk on the ground where infected dogs may have been until the vaccine has fully kicked in--ask your vet when it's safe to take your pup out and about.

What's next
Treatment generally means a lengthy and expensive hospital stay, with at least five to seven days in intensive care, rehydration through an IV, lots of antibiotics, and medications to control nausea. Even then the prognosis isn't good. Many severely infected animals die, even with the best available care. Without the correct amount of properly balanced intravenous fluids, their chance of recovery is very small. Beating parvo is a difficult challenge, even for the toughest of puppies.

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Washington Humane Society Announces 2014 DC Walk for the Animals & Pet-A-Palooza, September 27

Washington, DC - The Washington Humane Society (WHS) will host its annual DC Walk for the Animals & Pet-A-Palooza on Saturday, September 27, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. WHS is excited to return to The Kingsbury Center (5000 14th Street, NW), near the Carter Barron Amphitheater in Northwest DC. This is a community event with fun for both two- and four-footed members of the family.

Individuals and teams with their canine friends will walk approximately one mile to raise awareness and much needed funding for WHS. Plus, WHS adopters will now have the chance to become the Grand Marshal of the Walk! When you register to walk at www.dclovesdcanimals.org, just enter your pup’s information for a chance to be randomly selected as our winner. The Grand Marshal and winning pup will help us to kick off the festivities for the day, and lead our Walk!

In addition, Pet-A-Palooza is a festival of games, contests and activities for kids, adults and dogs. Adopt Force One, the WHS mobile adoption unit, will be on-site with plenty of adoptable animals looking to find their forever homes on this special day.

New this year, WHS has partnered with cartoonist Brian Basset, creator of the comic strip Red and Rover, which is distributed in over 250 newspapers. Red and Rover will be offering weekly tips for pet owners to get active and engaged in the Walk fun. Learn more at www.washhumane.org/redandrover.

This fantastic event is free to attend, but WHS encourages people to register as a walker or to create a team to help raise critical funds for DC animals; registration is $20 for adults, $15 for kids (4 - 12 years old), and free for children ages three and under. Registering online at www.dclovesdcanimals.org is easy, plus you can set up your own fundraising page to motivate friends and family to get involved.

Unable to join the walk? Become a “virtual walker” to support DC animals by making an online gift. 100% of the proceeds from this event support the animals and the work of WHS. For more information and to sign up, visit www.dclovesdcanimals.org.

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