Orville & Wilber

Orville and Wilbur are beautiful 10 year old seniors. They must be adopted together. They are well behaved dogs whose owner had to give them up due to financial difficulties.  Please don’t let them spend their golden years in a shelter. If you can help here is the link to with all the information. Orville & Wilbur

The event will be held on Sunday, June 13th in Port Jefferson from 10 am to 3 pm rain or shine. There is a 3K dog walk. Registration is $30 and includes a free T-shirt and gift bag.

Sponsor Rudy!

There will also be live music, food, vendors and prizes. Please visit www.saveapetanimalrescue.org for more information. Dog walkers and dog owners can also create their own profile. This will not only help raise awareness of Save-A-Pet Animal Shelter, but you can join an online community in which dog lovers can share their love for animals.

You can also print out a Dog or Cat Adoption Certificate from the site. It’s so much fun. Please visit the site and get involved. Our furry friends need your help!

It has come to my attention recently that there are countless numbers of older dogs in our shelters that have little or no hope of adoption. The “lucky ones” in no kill shelters will live out the remainder of their lives in a shelter. No matter how caring the shelter staff is it can not take the place of having the comfort of home and humans to care for them. Many spend their last days lonely and frightened. The majority of senior dogs residing in kill shelters are truly on death row.

How do so many seniors end up in this situation? It is not always because of carelessness or disregard of their human caregivers. Some animals have elderly owners who have passed away or have become too ill to care for them.

Yet others are literally discarded by their owners because they decided they didn’t have enough time for them, have children with allergies, or have a new spouse or boyfriend that dislikes the dog. In more recent times foreclosures and other serious financial problems are causing people to abandon their senior animals, many who now need daily medication or other care the owners perceive as too costly.

Now I didn’t write this article to bring everyone down! I want to let you know that there are wonderful dogs out there just waiting for you. Most of us think in terms of a puppy or young dog when we think of adoption. I just wanted my readers to stop and think for a moment on how wonderful it might be to bring a senior dog into your life.

The first benefit that comes to my mind when considering adoption of a senior dog is the fact that they are already house trained. Good news for you and your new carpeting! But I ran across this article by the Senior Dog Project. It is available as a downloadable pdf file entitled the Top 10 Reasons for Adopting a Senior Dog.

And just remember…one of the best ways to help a senior dog is to call your local kill shelter and ask them if they have any senior dogs available. Many shelters don’t even bother to put them up for adoption.
Have any of you adopted a senior dog? Please tell us your story.

More resources:

• Top 10 Most Important Tips for Keeping Your Older Dog Healthy
• Old Dog Haven
• Senior Dog Rescue
• The Sactuary for Senior Dogs

A Place to Bark is a foster and adoption rescue that place animals found in high kill shelters and other dire circumstances. A Place to Bark receives no government funding and relies solely on public donations and the sale of Bernie Berlin’s artwork.

Please view this video about A Place to Bark first aired Fox Channel 6 News in Milwaukee.

Click here to view the embedded video.