All Things Dog - Aug 4, 2008

Michael Mountain, president and founding member of Best Friends Animal Society was featured on WMNF radio's Talking Animals show on July 9. I owe my blog readers an apology for not catching this sooner, but you can still hear the archived interview at Talking Animals. This is an excellent half hour program hosted by Duncan Strauss and offered the first two Wednesdays of every month from 11:30 until noon. This week the guest will be Richard Belzer, best known for his role on Law and Order, but also spokesperson for North Shore Animal League, which claims to be the world's largest no kill shelter.

The Christian Science Monitor had some interesting commentary last week about the role of Presidential dogs. In regards to the upcoming election, it seems McCain has a dog and Obama does not and that is affecting their popularity with America's pet lovers. It might be advisable for Obama's PR folks to run out to the nearest rescue shelter and give some unwanted dog a chance at a White House kind of existence. I wonder if that would be the first rescue dog to be a First Dog? If there hasn't been a rescued dog in the White House, I think it's time for one. How about a campaign to put a shelter dog in the whitehouse?

Here's a chance to tell your love story for Hill’s Second Chance For Love Contest. Hill's Pet Nutrition is sponsoring the contest as part of their campaign to help place 1 million sheltered dogs and cats in loving homes. To enter visit www.hillspet.com/secondchance, tell your story about a pet you've adopted that's given you both a second chance at love. Essays of up to 150 words or short videos are accepted online. Two grand prize winners, one cat and one dog, will get a photo shoot with a professional pet photographer, Jim Dratfield, in New York City, plus a year's worth of Science Diet pet food and $10,000 will go to the Hill's shelter of your choice. Eight second place winners will get a year’s worth of Science Diet pet food coupons and a Hill's shelter of their choice will receive $2,000. Hill's sponsors quite a few shelters in Florida. For a complete list of qualifying shelters in the state, see shelter list . Start posting those stories, people. Let's win some of that money for the overflowing shelters in Florida!

While reading and choking on an article in the Trib about how the county found $5 million dollars in extra funds after the property appraiser finished his yearly assessment ( okay, is anyone really surprised by this news?) , I noticed that the county intends to use some of the funds to fix the ventilation system at the animal shelter. Hillsborough County Animal Services director, Dennis McCullough said the county is working on a new design for the system. The cost for that project has yet to be determined. This just goes to show, that timing is everything, especially in government. Would that money have been allocated for the project at HCAS if the Trib's story about the faulty ventilation system hadn't hit the paper last week?