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PAW at Bethesda's Strut your Mutt!

PAW volunteers greeted visitors to our booth and showed off our beautiful dogs on a sunny day in Bethesda, Md., on May 16, 2009. In addition to offering animal rescues an opportunity to spread the word about their organizations, this annual family and pet festival raises funds for the Bethesda Chevy Chase Rescue Squad. PAW is proud to participate in this annual event.

RPO Birthday Party!

It was a very special Responsible Pet Owners presentation in Bowie on September 30 - at a birthday party! Marissa Jackson turned 12. Each year Marissa chooses a charitable cause as part of the focus of her parties, and this year, she chose PAW. We worked with Marissa and her mom Vanessa to arrange a food donation to the Prince George's County animal shelter, and they also arranged for a generous donation to PAW. Robin Tierney gave a presentation about Responsible Pet Ownership and PAW's efforts to help homeless animals, assisted by Maria Ruth, Susan Flashman, Dick Bissell and Angela Chamberlin. Angela brought several cats - Lila, Madame Pompadour, and Foxfire - and Susan and Robin brought PAW dogs Blaise, Tucker, Brady (Tucker and Brady have since been adopted!), and Robin's adopted dog, Zack.

Here are more pictures!
Marissa and friends Zack and Blaise

PAW at the Burtonsville Day Festival

PAW volunteers Takako Shimoda, Marie Walz, Mary Janicke, and Matthew Zappone, plus PAW foster dogs Blaise and Princess, greeted visitors at the Burtonsville Festival on Saturday, September 29. More pictures!
PAW volunteers and foster animals have participated in numerous events and festivities all year long, spreading the good word about dog and cat rescues and adoptions. Way to go, folks!

PAW Members Learn T Touch to Help Rescued Animals

Pamela Wanveer, a certified Tellington Touch practitioner based in Silver Spring, led a special workshop in the TTouch technique for PAW cat and dog volunteers. Some attended with live animals; others brought stuffed animals on which to practice the techniques. The TTouch uses a variety of non-habitual movements and manipulations to refocus the animal's attention, enabling the animal to respond to stimuli in new way. This serves to break the cycle of habitual responses such as automatically lunging at dogs who pass the yard. Pam demonstrated techniques such as making full circles, in a conscious manner and logical path, around the animal's body using her finger tips. We saw PAW's Simon, a shy, apprehensive but sweet hound fostered by Diane Gordon, become calmer and more trusting as Pam applied the TTouch techniques.
Check here for the whole story!

Pam and PAW foster dog Simon

PAW Volunteers Learn New Techniques

On Sunday, March 4, several PAW volunteers attended a special training session at White Flint PetSmart conducted by expert trainer George Cockrell, who runs Companions Dog/Owner Training and is a Senior Trainer with Petsmart. George explained and demonstrated invaluable tips and techniques for handling challenging dogs who came from shelters. George volunteered his time to help us improve our abilities and help our boarded dogs. George has an informative website at: hometown.aol.com/larjk9.
Shown in the photo: George Cockrell with PAW volunteer Susan Tipton and Princess.

A Special Birthday Party

About 1 year ago, a lonely, hungry and very pregnant beagle found her way down a dusty road to PAW - and immediately presented us with 7 puppies. 7 female puppies. And this month, all of the girls will be one year old and adopter George Gates contacted us about organizing a little reunion. And a wonderful party he organized - 6 of the 7 puppies and their families were there (one had since moved to Arizona and could not be there). Lucy, Ethel, Otis Ann, Madchen, Faith and Hope rejoiced together with their own special birthday cake and party favors for all. We'd like to thank all the families for coming and for adopting these girls - we love happy endings!

Ebony Walks!

Ebony As we had previously reported, Ebony is a poodle who came to PAW with badly malformed legs. Imagine our surprise when we picked her up on her last day at the shelter, only to realize that Ebony was completely unable to walk normally - instead she had to scuttle around like a crab! Both of her back hips and knees needed orthopedic surgery.

But PAW's regular medical funds were needed by the other animals in our care, and in any case we would not have enough to provide the expensive surgeries Ebony needed so that she could walk again.

Thanks to the generosity of PAW supporters and to a Beanie toy raffle held in her name, enough additional funds were raised to cover the two extensive surgeries Ebony needed. The frisky young poodle you see in the picture above no longer has to drag herself across the floor in a frog position, but can romp and play with other dogs. Even though one of her legs is still in a cast, she can already walk without difficulty. She can chase a ball and follow her "mom" around the house. Ebony's absolute joy at being able to walk again is truly wonderful to behold! As the icing on the cake, Ebony has also found a loving new home.

Ebony is living proof that miracles can happen - with a little help from a generous and caring public. We only wish that every handicapped dog was as fortunate - and as happy - as our little "Eb". Our thanks to everyone who helped achieve this priceless miracle.

To read more about how Ebony is doing today, please click here.

Last Updated: May 13, 2012 (LET) PawSupport