Dotty is a lovely 10 year old spayed female who lives at the Animal Rescue League in Boston. Her permanence at the ARL will hopefully be short. She is looking for a new owner. Unfourtunately, her previous dad couldn’t take care of her anymore.
I walked Dotty in the South End last weekend, during my volonteering hours at the ARL.
We took a walk along Warren Ave, where a moving sale was taking place. Dotty stopped to say hi to some of the local dogs there.

We then stopped at Polka Dog for a treat. Dotty met Laura and her three wonderful Yorkies: Sophie, Teddy and Winstor. Laura, other than three dogs, also owns six cats (all of them adopted!) and she is an exceptional activist in defending animals’ rights.

We then stopped at Peters Park, in Washington Ave. Due to legal reasons, Dottie can’t go inside of dog parks, as any other dog from the ARL. So, she can’t wait to be adopted to finally join her friends inside of the park!
For more information about Dotty and the ARL, click here.

The Animal Rescue League is a great organization that was established over 100 years ago. It is dedicated to rescuing and caring for animals. They still do it, providing an animal shelter, adoption services, an animal clinic, an emergency rescue service, behavior evaluation and training, and many more services and programs.

We met with Dr. Amy Marder, a veterinarian behaviorist and Dr Martha Smith, the director of the Veterinary Medicine division.

Among others, Dr. Marder does research on how common certain misbehaviors are in homes and, together with her staff, she has developed a program that helps animals and people to live together in harmony.

If you need advise about your pet’s behavior you can call the ARL Behavior Helpline or set up a individual appointment with Dr. Marder. Here you can find the contact info: www.arlboston.org/Main/training.aspx

Dr Martha Smith showed us around in the shelter facilities and the animal clinic. We met many cute animals, from cats and dogs to rabbits and birds. They are all waiting to be adopted. I was so lucky to be allowed to name a cute kitty, so I named it after my own cat Oscar.

Here is Oscar!

June is the National Adopt-a-Cat Month. So for the rest of this month you will be able to a adopt a cat over one year of age at a reduced adoption fee.

In the pic below Dr Martha Smith together with a Cacadu.

And here with a dog called Dirty (because of all the spots!).

A volunteer worker at the center together with the dog Murphy.

You can also become a volunteer like Silvia, one of Sniffy Girls. Just check the ARL web page on how you can get involved. You can become, for instance, a Canine Companion or an Adoption Assistant.

You can visit the Animal Rescue League at 10 Chandler Street, Boston, MA 02116 or the centers in Dedham and East Brewster.

Check out the Animal Rescue League website at http://www.arlboston.org for more information.

Tine

The yesterday Boston preview screening of the movie “Year of the dog” was less exciting than expected. Public’s murmurs at every puppy’s appearance and laughts at multiple dogs’ scenes were a sign that Mike White, at his first direction, was able to move dog owners’ hearts, but in general I expected to see more dogs in the movie.
The movie ends up to be a story about love for animals, especially animals (and people) in need to be rescued. We’ve seen a lot of rescued pigs, cows, and chickens, other than dogs. The movie keeps his strict canine identity with the “politically uncorrect” choice of not mentioning cats.

“Year of the dog” will hopefully help to increase adoption of dogs from shelters. The movie is discussing important issues for shelters, as the choice of euthanasia when a dog has serious behaviour or health problems, and he or she is unlikely to be adopted.

There are a lot of dogs in need. A few days ago we visited the City of Boston Animal Shelter (below), located in 26 Mahler Road, Roslindale.

The manager, Mark Giannangelo, showed us many homeless dogs and cats there. Pets with a sad or violent story behind are the most likely to be adopted. For example, pets who lost a leg or were hurt by their previous owners normally found a house pretty quickly.

The less popular dogs are the Pit bulls. There was a sweet puppy, Bubba (in the pic above), that is waiting for a home since 3 months, a time that is longer than average. Bubba, as all dogs there, passed the behaviour test, and he is not aggressive as many people may believe.

Some dogs visit the shelter with their owner, like the puppy below. He is there to get his licence.

If you want to help, you can check the shelter’s pet adoption list at Petfinder.
If you don’t want adopt a pet, you can contribute through gifts certificates.
You can also ask some pet shops how you can help. For example, starting in Thanksgiving, ’sPoochies boutique, located in 400 Tremont St, is collecting money and gifts for Christmas to donate to the the Animal Rescue League of Boston.