To: vannews@citytv.com
Sent: Wednesday, January 25, 2006 3:57 PM
Subject: Year of The Dog - Dogs in Our City not living the good life
To Whom it may concern:
What with the Year of the Dog starting on January 29th I'd like to suggest
that your news department does a story or a series of stories about "Dogs in
Our City", with the focus on dogs that would benefit by some publicity.
Vancouver is a city made up of a countless number of people who LOVE their
dogs (there would be no problem finding examples of all the pampered
pooches) and yet, there are still many dogs in and around Vancouver that
have not had the privilege of the "good life". One example - the senior
dogs that have been sitting at the Vancouver Animal Shelter. All of the
dogs are lovely animals, but their only real problem is that they are old.
The Vancouver Animal Shelter is a city-run establishment and their budget
does not include advertising the dogs in their shelter. Many people are not
aware that the Vancouver Animal Shelter exists and often people think that
the Vancouver SPCA and the Vancouver Animal Shelter are one and the same.
They are not! Some focus on the Vancouver Animal Shelter and what the
shelter does for the city and the dogs that end up in their care would be
GREAT!! Also, a story that focuses on the seniors at the shelter might be
exactly what is needed to get the lovely seniors a great home. Some of
these dogs have never known a kind hand until they arrived at the shelter.
These animals deserve at break!!
I have included a flyer that was made up to send out to pet stores, clinics
and Vancouver Community Centres to help advertise the seniors. (The cost of
the flyer was provided by a dog trainer - Shannon Malmberg, who constantly
directs some funding to help advertise the Vancouver Animal Shelter dogs.)
If you would be willing to do a story on the Vancouver Animal Shelter and
particularly the seniors that have been there for the last few months,
please contact Katie Ernst. Here is her contact information:
Katie Ernst
Supervisor Canine Services
City of Vancouver
Animal Control Services
1280 Raymur Avenue
Vancouver, BC V6A 3L8
Phone 604.871.6885
Fax 604.871.6862
I would also like to suggest another a couple of other dog-related stories
that need to be told:
1. A large number of young, untrained dogs end up in shelters. How? Why?
What happens to the dogs that aren't successfully adopted? What can be done
about? These high-energy young dogs become quite stressed living in a
shelter and their behaviour starts to deteriorate making them even more
difficult to adopt. Many shelters around B.C. would put these young dogs
down. The Vancouver Animal Shelter does not. (The following link is to one
such dog who has been at the Vancouver Animal Shelter for several months.)
http://www.petfinder.org/pet.cgi?action=2&pet=5293942&adTarget=&SessionID=43
d7ff3401e57ed1-app4&display=&preview=1&row=0&tmpl=&stat=
An interview with Katie Ernst at the Vancouver Animal Shelter will provide
insight on this problem as well. Also interviews with trainers who are
willing to take on the training of dogs with behaviour problems might also
be very insightful. One trainer that may also be helpful for this story is
Shannon Malmberg. Should you wish to contact her you could do so through
the following e-mail - Shannon Malmberg
[K9@zendogtraining.com] or through information on her web-site -
www.zendogtraining.com Another trainer you could also contact is Stephanie
Prewitt who has a "Bad Dog Drill Team" made up of dogs that their previous
owners had given up on. Here is her web-site.
http://www.caninetrainingacademy.net/adopt_a_pet.html
2. Do you also feel brave enough to tackle a story about dogs that live
their lives on the end of a chain or confined in a small enclosure? If so,
please contact Judy Stone at - animaladvocates@telus.net
Dogs are always provide a high-interest story - just look at the numbers of
Vancouverites that have dogs!!! By focusing on "dogs in our city" at the
start of the Year of the Dog, not only would you have a topic that would
interest many viewers, you would also be helping out some dogs that would
benefit from the attention provided by your T.V. station.
Many thanks for considering this story.
Sincerely,
Shelagh Dodd (a concerned and animal-loving citizen)