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Dog Day Care

A Pittsfield businesswoman is bringing her passion for pooches to Lee.

Despite the economically crippling coronavirus pandemic, the owner of Love Us and Leave Us in Pittsfield is opening a second dog day care facility, along Route 102. The site, in a former child care business that closed in 2013, is across the highway from Valley Veterinary Service.

Renee Dodds expects to open the Lee location in February, offering a broader range of services and pet options, as the building and 1.3 acre-site is larger than her current business on West Housatonic Street in Pittsfield.

Dodds recently bought the Lee property for $320,000, through the MacCaro Agency, according to its principal Realtor, Anthony Caropreso.

While most small businesses struggle to keep a single commercial space open during the COVID-19 pandemic, Dodds says her expansion fills a need between Great Barrington and Pittsfield.

“Lee does not have any boarding or [dog] day care nearby, and the location is close to the [Massachusetts Turnpike], so, we’ll be convenient for people traveling,” she said. “I had been eyeing the building for a few years, and I noticed it was for sale at a discounted price, and I was saving money toward expansion.”

The original asking price was $389,000.

Dodds expects to hire “at least 10 people” in Lee, while offering dog kennel suites for boarding, indoor and outdoor play areas, cat and small animal boarding, spa services, and separate areas for big and little dogs. The Pittsfield location, which Dodds owns, will remain open. It currently only takes dogs and has seven employees.

“We’ll have more room in Lee, which means we can offer more services, and I’m sure we will keep adding more stuff as we grow,” the Lanesborough native said.

Boarding animals will be on hold until the pandemic passes; when that happens, she expects that people with pets will be traveling in droves.

“I feel like we’ll get slammed with phone calls right off the bat,” she said.

Dodds’ canine care career began in northern Vermont, where, in 2003, she landed a job caring for dogs at an inn while the owners went skiing all day. She returned to the Berkshires to work for a local restaurant and hike dogs on the side before starting a home-based dog care business in 2006. Six years later, she rented space from the owner of 1525 West Housatonic St., buying the building in 2018. “I knew my passion was always to be with dogs, and I knew I could make it happen,” she said. “I have always had the vision to have two locations, and the dream is being fulfilled.”

Animal Protectors Shelter

Puppy dog tails wagged, cats meowed and the staff and volunteers of Animal Protectors of Allegheny Valley rejoiced on Thursday afternoon for the opening of its new $1.8 million animal shelter along Church Street in New Kensington.

The facility is the lower Alle-Kiski Valley’s first major, large-scale animal shelter.

In addition to medical and shelter provisions for animals, there is now space for animal training, adoption meet-and-greets, community outreach and more.

Previously, Animal Protectors operated in a small building along New Kensington’s Linden Avenue that for years was ill-equipped with proper ventilation or adequate space to care for the animals.

Efforts by the shelter’s board incoming president, Phyllis Framel, and others turned into an almost eight-year odyssey to find a new larger home.

They were turned away in Allegheny Township and Lower Burrell to locate the shelter there.

Then, in 2016, they secured the former school at 730 Church St. in the city. Shelter officials fielded the typical and atypical fundraising and construction challenges including stoppages caused by the covid-19 pandemic.

“We did it,” Framel said on Thursday. “A lot of people worked really hard, and now we have this wonderful facility for the community and surrounding area.

“We’ve been in existence for 54 years and hope to serve for another 54 years with expanded services and a healthier atmosphere for the animals,” she said.

There was little fanfare with Thursday’s ribbon cutting ceremony at the entrance of the new shelter as board members, staff, volunteers and the media turned their attention to the dogs and cats as they arrived one-by-one entering the shelter.

Kevin, Joker and Harley — all mixed breeds — were among the dogs brought in on leashes to excited shelter staff and volunteers who called their names, greeting each animal.

Predictably, the cats held on to their aloof demeanor at they arrived in carriers. They were whisked to their new home with side litter box rooms next to their cages and a bank of windows allowing sunlight to flood the room.

The facility will house the shelter’s current crop of about 16 cats and eight dogs.

The new shelter, which is about 14,000 square feet, is almost five times the size of the old shelter.

The new site also features modern kennels with glass doors, multiple medical rooms with holding areas and sophisticated ventilation to constantly refresh the air and also contain circulation in the medical rooms to prevent the spread of viruses.

“When I saw the sign outside of this new shelter today, I almost cried,” said Dr. Betsy Kennon, who volunteers professional veterinary services to the shelter.

“This is our forever home and we can do so much for these critters now,” she said.

Kennon marveled at the individual medical rooms replete with a sink and stainless steel examination tables and kennels.

“It will be nice to no longer have to examine an animal on the floor or on the counter,” she said.

The project was made possible by some hefty, six-figure bequests from area residents, along with other donations from individuals and foundation grants, Framel said.

Some of the large bequests came from volunteers, while other large individual donations were a complete surprise, she said.

“Animals are a huge part of people’s lives especially now during the pandemic,” Framel said. “People realize there is a need for stray, abused and abandoned animals to find homes and it is a mission that is dear to the hearts of some residents.”

While animals were moving into the new shelter Thursday, it will take days to completely settle in, Framel said.

Although the facility is closed to walk-in traffic, animal adoptions are ongoing but are only offered by advance appointments.

For more information, visit Animal Protectors’ website and call their offices at 724-339-7388.

Canzian/Johnston and Associates, an architectural firm in New Kensington, planned the renovated space with shelter officials. Construction work was provided by Masco Construction, Inc.

Stray Dogs In Winter

Manan Arora (28), a resident of 66 Feet Road, is winning hearts over the internet for his benevolent gesture for stray dogs. While he specialises in interior decoration, he has utilised his skills to make small shelter homes for stray dogs.

With the help of his workers, he has made nearly 300 kennels in just one month. He also appeals to residents to take these ‘little huts’ for free for stray dogs in their areas. Several people have appreciated Manan’s efforts on social media and he received over 1,000 orders within hours of posting about the same on Facebook. Owner of Sai interiors, Manan said: “The idea to build dog houses occurred to me after my pet dog Russell died in March this year. I am very fond of pet animals and seeing stray dogs struggling to survive during the winter months makes me extremely sad. Therefore, a zeal to do something for these innocent creatures, who cannot even express their miseries to us, drove me to construct these dog houses.” The months of November and December are the only two months for Manan, when he remains unoccupied from his business. Accordingly, he planned to utilise these two months in making ‘shelter homes’ for dogs. Himself a dog lover, Manan said, he had first created a kennel around three years ago, which he had kept outside his house. To make these durable, he has given them wooden and iron finishing. He says for the comfort of dogs, he also spreads dry grass inside that keeps them warm. Impressed by Arora’s kind initiative, several people applauded Arora’s gesture on social media through comments. A user wrote ‘respect’, while another wrote ‘So grateful to have people like you who actually go out to help the voiceless animals’. ‘Super proud of you, respect for you’, expressed another user. Manan said he received tremendous response and several calls after he wrote about the dog houses on social media. Such was the response that he had to ultimately switch off his phone at night. A dog lover from New Zealand even offered to sponsor his initiative for constructing more dog houses.

Hope For Veterans

E5 Therapy opened in April with a different way to help veterans in therapy.

They offer canine-assisted therapy along with talk therapy to veterans and veterans’ families in Solano County.

Owner Matthew Decker is a licensed clinical social worker in Northern California, focused on helping veterans achieve their mental health goals.

Along with his team, trained service dog Larson, who is a golden retriever and lab mix, and Maggie Mae, a black lab, Decker has worked for community mental health agencies, Veterans Affairs, the Department of Defense and the California Department of State Hospitals.

Maggie is now in retirement, working part-time as she feels like it, usually one day per week.

“The name comes from the military pay grade of sergeant, who is a working supervisor,” Decker said. “They aren’t afraid to work through the dirty stuff and therapy can be dirty.”

Decker said he believes that attaining a healthy state of mental health takes working through some nasty, dirty feelings, memories and emotions that are tough to deal with, and he is there for his clients day or night to help them become healthier mentally.

“The pain is real,” he said. “And I am not the type of person to shy away from it.”

Decker served in the U.S. Marine Corps. That is where he realized that so many soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines need therapy.

Canine-assisted therapy helps people, because dogs never judge you for crying, he said. They don’t care how many tears you shed, have no timetable and they aren’t going anywhere.

“In the long run it allows clients to take down their defenses much faster,” Decker said. “I am able to dig deeper and faster once they feel safe. This leads to success for the clients.”

Decker also offers a dog-fostering program for clients who may need to go into an in-service facility for a time and might be faced with surrendering their own dogs because of it.

“We can take them for up to 90 days and if we need to, we can hold them longer,” he said.

E5 Therapy is a small and growing nonprofit business organization so Decker said he relies on donations to help facilitate the program.

He said he needs volunteers to help with the foster program as well as other duties like IT work. Decker said he plans to expand the nonprofit in the future into a larger building with more therapists and canine companions.

“One hundred percent of the donations go to help vets who can’t afford to go to therapy or continue therapy,” Decker said.

He has worked hard during the Covid-19 pandemic to create a safe, healthy space for talk therapy. He offers sessions through the Zoom teleconference platform, in person and over the phone. He said he prefers to do sessions without masks because it is easier to read people that way.

“With Covid, I am willing to engage people where they are most comfortable,” Decker said.

The office space has gloves, a UVC air purifying machine to clear the air, hand sanitizers and a machine with UVC light to clean cellphones while clients talk.

Covid-19 is allowing people with anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder to avoid people and places. Decker said he knows that this will have a huge impact on their mental health and hopes that those who are suffering will reach out before they find themselves in a mental crisis.

Decker said he hopes those who have anxiety and depression in this time understand they don’t have to go into battle alone with mental health issues, Covid-19 anxiety and PTSD – they have a friend just a phone call away.

RCMP Police Dogs

Alberta RCMP police dogs captured over 900 suspects in 2020, and were kept busy in part due to their work tracking rural property crime suspects.

RCMP said in 2020, police dog teams responded to 2,800 calls for service which included about 650 calls involving firearms or other weapons; 570 calls for violence-related offences; 450 calls for missing people; over 700 tracking assignments that resulted in 400 captures; and over 950 calls for property crime related offences.

When it comes to rural property crime, dog teams have a primary role in locating and apprehending suspects.

Alberta RCMP Police Dog Services is comprised of 18 teams strategically placed throughout the province. Teams are trained to track, as well as search for suspects or missing persons, crime scene evidence, firearms, controlled substances and explosives.

All Alberta RCMP Police Service Dogs are purebred German shepherds.

RCMP has been breeding German shepherds since 1999, and are able to produce enough puppies to satisfy their training needs so no dogs are need to be purchased.

Generally, one in three puppies will become an RCMP working dog, or breeding female.

RCMP said dog teams will continue to respond to calls over the holidays and thanks them for working tirelessly to keep Albertans safe in 2020.

Animal Control Facility

Ville Platte’s animal control facility is at the end of a badly-damaged gravel road behind the Girls and Boys Place, next to the sewerage treatment plant. A couple of weeks ago, someone dropped off a dog at animal control when no one was there. The dog was found the next day in the treatment pool. He had to be pulled out and hosed off. There is one animal control officer, Aaron, who is responsible for the city’s dogs. The job can be overwhelming for one person, and the dogs would not get enough social interaction without the few volunteers who try to make a difference in their lives.
Melissa Gibson, one of several volunteers, made some Christmas bags for the pound’s canine residents. The bags contained treats and toys and seemed to cheer up the pooches, though they were happiest having human interaction. Gibson said she goes often to walk them and give them the attention they desperately need. Gibson is a volunteer with Desperate Dogs of Rural Louisiana, along with Mae Ledeaux, Anne Marcantel, Linette Buller, and Brenda Demourelle. They try to get dogs from rural parishes adopted, and help to take care of shelter dogs when they can. Gibson says shelter animals are a never-ending cycle in southern states because not enough people are spaying their pets. “Northern states have spay and neuter laws, so it’s hard for residents to find dogs to adopt. These states have helped rural strays by vetting and transporting our animals up north. When the dogs reach the destination crowds, they are cheering happily to receive their family pet. They have gone through many steps to assure they will be in a safe home.” The Humane Society of the United States estimates 70,000 cats and dogs are born each day in the United States. The Louisiana Animal Welfare Commission (LAWC) recommends parish and local jurisdictions mandate all pets adopted from public or private shelter be sterilized before release to the public. According to them, “It is important that the facilities charged with euthanizing the surplus are not contributing to it. The impact of the above recommendation will be to reduce animal suffering and eliminate the unnecessary euthanasia of thousands of stray and abandoned pets.” According to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA), each year, approximately 1.5 million shelter animals are euthanized (670,000 dogs and 860,000 cats).

Spay/neuter surgery can be costly. SpayNation of Lafayette offers low-cost services, and even has a special program for feral cats, which is even less expensive than the pet services. Gibson said she dreams of having such a low-cost spay service in Evangeline Parish. In the meantime, Ville Platte has to rely on rescue organizations, which are the driving force for saving animals in city pounds. Without them, the animals would be euthanized simply because there is not enough room.

As important as rescue groups are for rural pounds and shelters, Gibson said some rescue groups are turning down Ville Platte dogs because of the high rate of heartworms in the city’s animals. “Heartworms cause our animals to suffer a horrible death that could be easily prevented with a shot once or twice a year. Monthly prevention is also available.” According to the American Heartworm Society, Louisiana and Mississippi led the nation in heartworm disease.
Several months ago, Mayor Jennifer Vidrine said the city was having the dogs vetted. They have just started getting them treatment, which will help to get them into a rescue shelter. Until the city can control the heartworm problem, at least one rescue organization will not be taking the dogs.
Gibson urged everyone to give their pets heartworm preventatives because heartworms can do major damage, often ending an animal’s life early. She said once they get heartworms, the treatment costs 25 times more than using the monthly preventatives. Once a pet with heartworms has to be treated, they must be restricted in movement and may even be hospitalized.
There are currently nine dogs in the city pound. They only take in dogs. Many do not have beds, only sleeping on cold, concrete floors. Gibson said they need more volunteers to walk the dogs and help get them socialized. They also need small blankets, dogs beds, and treats. If anyone would like to volunteer or donate, they can contact Melissa Gibson at 337-224-6708, or go to the city shelter and speak with Aaron.

Police Officer And His Dog

A police officer was forced to shoot his own dog after it turned on him while on duty.

Keith Larson, a veteran officer from Massachusetts, had to kill his German Shepherd, Nico after it attacked him at a crime scene.

He was responding to an early call on Tuesday where a suspect had fled the scene.

Police Chief Michael Botieri said in a statement that Officer Larson was preparing his service dog when the incident happened. It was shared on Twitter, with the Plymouth Police Department writing to followers: “Please keep K-9 Officer Keith Larson and Nico in your thoughts.”

Helping Paw

A Girl Scout project that calls for making a lasting improvement to the community has generated a young local author and an educational children’s book that she hopes will pass on some of what she has learned.

Catherine Bezio, a high school senior who lives in Erving, has been training service dogs since she was in eighth grade. She has volunteered for the local organization Heroes, Horses and Hounds, and J.M. Animal Training and Rescue, which both train rescue dogs to become service dogs.

Bezio has trained several dogs since then. Some of the dogs she has trained now work with people with unique needs, including a veteran with PTSD. Another dog, which liked people too much to ever work as a service dog, was adopted by Bezio.

At the beginning of 2020, Bezio was up for her Gold Award — the highest award in Girl Scouts. Thinking of a concept for a project, she naturally gravitated toward her work with dogs. For her Silver Award, she had documented her training of a dog.

But the Gold Award has different requirements than the Silver Award: it emphasizes finding a lasting way to address some shortcoming or need in your community, Bezio said.

While training dogs, Bezio noticed that other people often don’t know how to respond to seeing a service dog. Many people may not know, for example, not to pet a service dog who is working.

“I have seen firsthand how little people know about them. People will come up and try to pet the dogs,” Bezio said. “They just don’t know how to respond to them.”

A book, she realized, could be the perfect way to tie the different pieces together. It would be a medium for sharing her knowledge; and, since a book can outlast its author, its impact might even continue into future generations.

Starting work on the book at the beginning of 2020, she envisioned it as an illustrated children’s book that would somehow incorporate elements of the local community.

The book, titled “Dogs — Lending a Helping Paw,” would cover service dogs, therapy dogs and comfort dogs, and explain the differences between each.

She had planned to write it in March. When the pandemic arrived, the book became a priority for her.

“I found myself with an abundance of free time. I could put a lot of effort into putting the book together,” she said.

For illustrations, she contacted local organizations like the ones she had volunteered for, requesting donations of photos. Using image editing software, she made the photos look like hand-drawn illustrations.

“I thought that would add a nice personalized touch to what the dogs do,” she said.

By midsummer, she had finished the book, including having the book reviewed for accuracy by her mentors in dog training.

She found a publishing arrangement to print individual copies of the book and sell them on Amazon. It is still available to buy.

She also bought about 15 copies of her own book and donated them to local elementary schools and libraries, including Erving Public Library and Ja’Duke preschool.

In the plan she had laid out at the beginning of the year, Bezio would have visited local elementary schools to present her book and talk about it with students. But because of the pandemic, those visits had to be canceled. Instead, she held a few virtual readings online and found other ways to publicize the book.

Now, Bezio is preparing a report of her project, which will be considered in determining whether she will be awarded the Gold Award.