Marty
09-27-2005, 12:24 PM
Greenwich, CT -- Two days after arriving in Stamford from the hurricane-battered Gulf Coast, Lucky, a hound dog mix, yanked against his leash to give Al, an affectionate pitbull, a kiss. Al, tongue lolling, draped his front legs over the shoulders of his handler.
"This guy is a real people's dog," Pierre Exantus, a veterinary assistant at Rippowam Animal Hospital in Stamford, said of Al. "You wouldn't know they've been through anything unpleasant."
The dogs are two of the first four canines brought from the South by the Greenwich-based Adopt-A-Dog, after being given up by their overwhelmed owners in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, said Marsha Biggar, Adopt-A-Dog's adoption coordinator.
Another shipment of at least 10 dogs, including some homeless dogs from Mississippi, are expected in the near future, and will be put up for adoption at Adopt-A-Dog's Armonk, N.Y., shelter, Biggar said.
Biggar said there has been strong interest in adopting the displaced dogs, but those wishing to help also can take in other dogs currently up for adoption from this region.
"Many of the dogs we have are out of the New York City pounds," Biggar said. "These are not the only dogs in trouble, all the dogs are in trouble."
The southern dogs are temporarily being kenneled at the Rippowam Animal Hospital, where their health is being checked before they are put up for adoption, Biggar said.
"All these dogs were given up by their owners," Biggar said. "We have to find out their personalities to see what kind of families they would be good with."
Dr. Zimra Gordon, a veterinarian at the Rippowam Animal Hospital, said all four dogs have been checked for worms and been bathed, and seem cheerful despite their rapidly changing circumstances.
"I think they are just very happy to be in a stable spot," she said.
The other two dogs who made the journey north are females; Cami, another frisky hound dog mix with a dark brown coat, and Boyd, a svelte Labrador-pointer mix with a black coat with a white chest.
Greenwich Animal Control officials also are hoping to take in homeless pets from the disaster and put them up for adoption, Officer Allyson Halm said.
For the moment, they have received no animals.
"We're following up and we see no reason why we shouldn't offer to help," Halm said.
For more information about adopting a dog, call Adopt-A-Dog at 629-9494or the kennel at (914) 273-1674.
http://www.greenwichtime.com/news/local/scn-gt-dogs2sep27,0,1946592.story?coll=green-news-local-headlines
"This guy is a real people's dog," Pierre Exantus, a veterinary assistant at Rippowam Animal Hospital in Stamford, said of Al. "You wouldn't know they've been through anything unpleasant."
The dogs are two of the first four canines brought from the South by the Greenwich-based Adopt-A-Dog, after being given up by their overwhelmed owners in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, said Marsha Biggar, Adopt-A-Dog's adoption coordinator.
Another shipment of at least 10 dogs, including some homeless dogs from Mississippi, are expected in the near future, and will be put up for adoption at Adopt-A-Dog's Armonk, N.Y., shelter, Biggar said.
Biggar said there has been strong interest in adopting the displaced dogs, but those wishing to help also can take in other dogs currently up for adoption from this region.
"Many of the dogs we have are out of the New York City pounds," Biggar said. "These are not the only dogs in trouble, all the dogs are in trouble."
The southern dogs are temporarily being kenneled at the Rippowam Animal Hospital, where their health is being checked before they are put up for adoption, Biggar said.
"All these dogs were given up by their owners," Biggar said. "We have to find out their personalities to see what kind of families they would be good with."
Dr. Zimra Gordon, a veterinarian at the Rippowam Animal Hospital, said all four dogs have been checked for worms and been bathed, and seem cheerful despite their rapidly changing circumstances.
"I think they are just very happy to be in a stable spot," she said.
The other two dogs who made the journey north are females; Cami, another frisky hound dog mix with a dark brown coat, and Boyd, a svelte Labrador-pointer mix with a black coat with a white chest.
Greenwich Animal Control officials also are hoping to take in homeless pets from the disaster and put them up for adoption, Officer Allyson Halm said.
For the moment, they have received no animals.
"We're following up and we see no reason why we shouldn't offer to help," Halm said.
For more information about adopting a dog, call Adopt-A-Dog at 629-9494or the kennel at (914) 273-1674.
http://www.greenwichtime.com/news/local/scn-gt-dogs2sep27,0,1946592.story?coll=green-news-local-headlines