Tag Archives: dog

Mar 20 2016

Prepare for upcoming intense heat

It’s the first day of spring! While some of us may be rejoicing that warmer weather will soon be here, the rest of us are not looking forward to it — especially Southerners.

After living in North Carolina and now Georgia, I’ve experienced the extreme heat and humidity. It is not fun, and it can be very dangerous.

Typically from March to September are the months to be weary. This is when you start to hear the sad news about people leaving their pets or children in their cars and they die of heat illness. You may also hear of people working outside and suffering from heat strokes. Soldiers, construction workers and many others are at a disadvantage with their uniforms and heavy gear.

I can’t stress enough the importance of preparing for the heat before it gets here. I just wrote an article for my job regarding heat safety (information provided by the Fort Benning safety office) for Soldiers and the heat mitigation tools they use: Soldiers urged to prepare for upcoming heat. This can also be put into life outside the military. Please read the article by clicking here and educate yourself on how to keep yourself and others safe.

I wrote a blog post last year about keeping pets safe in the heat: Keep pets safe in extreme heat. Again, please read this article to prepare yourself, your family and pets before the heat and humidity arrive.

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Photo source: www.uab.edu

This is a crucial and scary time of the year, and I hope you take this blog post seriously.

Oct 16 2014

Max

I’ve been all over the place lately and haven’t had much time to update my blog! As all my family and friends know, I love shelter animals. My family and I have been rescuing dogs and cats for years. All of our pets either came from a shelter or were saved from a horrible situation. As a Central New York native, I did not realize how awful the dog and cat situations down south were. There are tons of high-kill shelters where most animals only have about a week to get out safely. Unfortunately, not many do make it out.

I work very closely with a few local rescues here in North Carolina. Our main focus is saving the animals at Harnett County animal shelter in Lillington, North Carolina. While helping the animals is very rewarding, it can also be very emotional. A few months ago I fostered a dog named Max through Operation Dog Tag, a rescue that I currently volunteer for. He was a hilarious and loving dog. We had him for about two weeks and then he was off to Casper Humane Society in Casper, Wyoming to find his forever home. Howls on Wheels transport met with other fosters and myself in Spring Lake, North Carolina to pick up all the foster dogs and get them settled into the van. They made stops in Indiana, Michigan, Wyoming, and Colorado. Below are some of the photos before Max went off to Wyoming! We miss him each and every day. He was one of the hardest dogs to leave us.

My sadness quickly turned into happiness when I found out a couple weeks later that Max was adopted! We were so happy. The Casper Humane Society let me get in touch with Max’s new owner who currently resides in Casper. The family is beyond thankful and happy that they now have Max. Just knowing that I changed a life for Max and a family makes fostering so well worth it.

Anyways, you’re probably wondering how this relates to the weather. Click here to see the video I received from Max’s new owner a couple weeks ago. They have snow in Casper already… and Max LOVES it! Check out this video – he is just so great!

If you are considering adding a new pet to your family… please adopt, don’t shop! If you don’t currently volunteer or work with a local rescue or shelter, I would highly consider it. The experience is very emotional but also VERY rewarding as you work to save so many lives!