Last Chance Highway is an eight-part series on Animal Planet that focuses on the monumental mission of a dedicated handful of animal rescuers. The stakes are high for Shelly Bookwalter and Kyle Peterson and for the soon-to-be-euthanized dogs they are fighting to save.

Each week, they organize a band of volunteers to take part in a unique mobile adoption campaign. Shelly leads an effort to find homes for strays and unclaimed shelter dogs. And every week, Kyle and crew member, Lucas, climb aboard their big rig to transport more than 150 dogs thousands of miles to meet their new families. It’s an exhausting ritual but one that finds homes for more than six thousand pets every year.

Learn more about Kyle’s pet transport service at his website, and visit the pet adoption page to find out how to adopt a Last Chance Highway dog.

Pets Alive is a no-kill animal shelter, located in the foothills of the Catskill Mountains, about 1 1/2 hours from New York City. Our mission is to rescue, rehabilitate, and place animals in need. Victims of neglect, abuse, and violence, many of them have special needs and have been rejected by other organizations.

Animals at the sanctuary range from dogs and cats to farm animals, exotic birds, and many others. Many of the animals at Pets Alive are older, have special needs or require special care.

Pets Alive Animal Sanctuary is one of the oldest no-kill organizations in the United States. The mission of the sanctuary is to rescue, rehabilitate, and place animals into loving homes. Last year, Pets Alive saved more than one thousand animals. Pets Alive is recognized within the local community, nationwide and around the world, as a leader in developing alliances to end the killing of adoptable animals and promoting the humane treatment of animals.

LEARN MORE ABOUT Pets Alive

Pets Alive
363 Derby Road
Middletown, NY 10940
845-386-9738

On CBS Sunday Morning this Valentine’s Day, Ben Stein has a great message for all pet lovers and advice on the smartest thing you can do today. He shares the joy of adopting a dog and spending Valentine’s Day with “man’s best friend.” And you get to meet his beautiful dog Bridget.

Watch CBS News Videos Online

The Dumb Friends League is partnering with VCA Animal Hospitals and the CATalyst Council on a campaign to get the word out about the new program. Letters being sent dog-only homes in the VCA database are written from the dog’s perspective. It’s a request from the family dog to be like other dogs in 40 percent of American homes that have cats in their families as well.

Through the Dog-Friendly Cat Program, families can bring their dogs in to meet with potential feline friends. Cats adopted are also spayed or neutered, microchipped and given their first round of vaccinations for no additional charge.

To find out more about the Dog-Friendly Cat Program, go to www.ddfl.org/dogfriendlycats.

If you would like more information about the process of introducing a cat into your dog-friendly home, check out this story in the Spring 2010 Issue of The American Dog Magazine, “Can You Bring a Cat Home …”

October is American Humane’s Adopt-A-Dog Month. So if you have been considering adding a new member to your family this is the month to save a homeless dog from your local shelter or breed-rescue group.

There are millions of homeless dogs that have been surrendered to shelters and rescue groups that are just waiting for a hero like you. Each year during Adopt-A-Dog Month, American Humane gives shelters tools and resources to promote adoption.

You can get started on your search to find your soulmutt at Petfinder.com and Adoptapet.com.

LEARN MORE ABOUT American Humane’s Adopt-A-Dog Month.

In the four months they have been airing this segment “Bow to Wow,” all of the dogs have been adopted. For this month’s segment, they found four fabulous females: Angie, Ginger, Kelsey and Lola the adorable Yorkie.

If you’re interested in finding information on how to adopt the dogs seen on TODAY, visit the Animal Care & Control of New York City’s site at nycacc.org.

Petfinder has named August 12 “Adopt-a-Less-Adoptable-Pet Day” to help promote the adoption of the “less adoptable” pets, including big black dogs, FIV+ cats, senior pets and special-needs pets.

You can help promote “Adopt-a-Less-Adoptable-Pet Day” to help senior and special-needs pets find homes, by adding a customized search widget to your Web site.

Here are just a few reasons Petfinder gives to adopt a “Less Adoptable” pet:

* Older pets are mellower – you don’t have to worry about your lamp getting knocked over!
* Physically challenged pets are often unaffected by their handicap – but you still look like a hero!
* With “bad reputation” breeds, you get the chance to prove people wrong with your great dog!
* Dark-furred pets make it easy to accessorize – black goes with everything!
* Pets with behavioral issues allow you to form a tight bond as you overcome obstacles together!
* Big dogs are easier to find when it’s time to go to the vet!

LEARN MORE ABOUT Adopt-a-Less-Adoptable-Pet Day ]]> http://www.leavingourmark.com/blog/2009/08/12/adopt-a-less-adoptable-pet-day/feed/ 0 http://www.leavingourmark.com/blog/2009/07/31/bonnie-and-clyde-find-a-forever-home/ http://www.leavingourmark.com/blog/2009/07/31/bonnie-and-clyde-find-a-forever-home/#comments Fri, 31 Jul 2009 14:36:21 +0000 admin http://www.leavingourmark.com/blog/?p=974

Clyde is totally blind and relies on his partner and fellow collie Bonnie to guide him everywhere. When they are together five-year-old Clyde seems as capable as a fully-sighted dog, but he refuses to move unless two-year-old Bonnie is nearby to guide him.

Bonnie and Clyde were rescued after being abandoned on a street in the middle of a storm three weeks ago. They were spotted running though the rain in Blundeston, Norfolk, and when their rescuer opened her car door they jumped in.

Waveney District Council placed the dogs, who have no identifying collars or chips, with the Meadow Green Dog Rescue in Loddon, Norfolk, but no owners have come forward to claim them. Sue Cootes, 59, who runs the shelter with her daughter, said it was incredible to see how Bonnie took care of Clyde. The Cootes family took over the rescue center five years ago and now look after 45 abandoned dogs.

She said: “She’s a little darling and he just follows her everywhere. It’s just instinctive with them to help each other and it’s marvellous to see animals doing this together.”

“Without Bonnie Clyde would be lost. They can’t be separated, we need someone to take them both on.”

And someone has … Clyde, the blind collie, and his partner Bonnie, who he uses as a guide dog, have found their happy ending in the form of a new home in the country. More than 500 people responded to an appeal for them to be rehomed together, looking to adopt the dogs.

Barks of Love Animal Rescue and Placement Services is a non-profit volunteer group, established in June 2008 by Ashley Greenspan in California. Their goal is to decrease the total number of animals being euthanized in animal shelters each year by finding new, permanent homes for them.

Most of them are rescued from “Death Row” at local shelters, while others are brought to us by their owners as an alternative to the shelter, and others are just found afraid and abandoned on the streets. They do not yet have their own kennel facility, so all of the animals we take in live in “foster homes” or with their owners until they are adopted.

Barks of Love Animal Rescue and Placement Services has no paid employees and does not receive funding from any government agency.

Barks of Love is staffed entirely by volunteers and obtain funds solely from adoption donations, fund-raisers, and donations. All adoption fees go 100% directly into rescuing and caring for the dogs.

In order to ultimately reduce the number of unwanted animals killed each year, they feel it is important to educate prospective owners and the general public about pet overpopulation and enforce a very strict spay/neuter policy for all our adopted pets.

All dogs are then rehabilitated, loved and cared for, bathed, vaccinated, micro chipped, have had a vet evaluation, and are free of internal and external parasites.

LEARN MORE ABOUT Barks of Love

Hope for Paws is a 501 c-3 non-profit animal rescue organization, based in Los Angeles, California. They rescue dogs and all other animals from death and abuse, rehabilitate them both physically and mentally, and finally find them the perfect loving home. You can visit their online album and blog to read about their recent rescue missions and see the amazing photos of the animals we rescue.

“Hope for Paws” is only $9.95 and all of the money goes towards their animal rescue efforts. The book has 100 pages of full color photos and stories of some of the many rescues that have come into their lives.

The exhibit will will begin June 30, 2009 until August 9, 2009. The featured artists including: Audrey Lynne Cook, Harry Giglio, Norton Latourelle, Melinda Lerner, Genaro Molina, Sharon Montrose.