On Saturday, July 31, Animalade’s – Thrifty Dog Thrift Store hosted their annual Animal Adoption and Awareness event. The Animal Adoption and Awareness Event provided a central location for local foster organizations to adopt out their animals as well as raise awareness to their cause. All the money raised at the event went specifically to the organizations that were attending. The Thrifty Dog Thrift Store had a sale of 50% off all items in the store except clothing, 50/50 raffles, food venders, T-shirts for sale, and music at the event.
Animalade is actively involved within the community working to build relations with nonprofit organizations. This event is another way to connect the community with animal related causes. They have assisted local foster groups with animal adoptions, hosted an Adoption and Awareness Event, supplied local shelters with linens and food, and donated to Southeastern Guide Dogs.
The organizations that were present include Southeastern Guide Dogs and Caring K9s. The Hernando County animal shelter brought dogs available for adoption.
Southeastern Guide Dogs is a volunteer organization that trains dogs for veterans. Some of the programs that they offer are:
- Guide dogs – guiding veterans with vision loss
- Service dogs – mitigating symptoms of PTSD and other disabilities
- Facilitating therapy dogs – reassuring patients and families in military medical facilities
- Emotional support dogs – befriending and comforting veterans with unique needs
- Gold star family dogs – consoling military family members who have lost a loved one in service to the nation
- Military family support dogs – offering companionship in support of sacrifices made
Southeastern Guide Dogs have been helping veterans since 1982 and provide a lifetime of services nationwide, at no cost, without any government funding. They work on private donations only. Today they have over 1,000 dogs under their auspices.
You can even volunteer to be a puppy raiser for Southeastern Guide Dogs! Their info pamphlet stated, “You’ll take on one of the tiny superheroes and help them grow for just over a year. You’ll teach them basic obedience and house manners, and take the pup along on your everyday travels.” Or if you want to help raise a puppy, but know full time would be too much; they have co-raisers for the puppies! You can raise a puppy with a friend or another raiser and puppy sitters fill-in when the raisers need to travel or just need a helping hand.
The other organization attending the event was Caring K9s and they are a therapy dog organization. They were established in February 2018 and they are a Florida nonprofit 501C3 volunteer-based organization of dedicated therapy dog handlers and their dogs. The objective of this group is to join caring individuals along with their personal dogs to form a network of therapy teams with a mission of sharing kindness, comfort, and love.
What is a therapy dog? A therapy dog has been well trained to provide affection and comfort and love to anyone in need. Caring K9s’ dogs go through extensive training throughout their career as a therapy dog and have passed the required test from the AKC as well as certification from the trainer at Caring K9s. All of the training is totally volunteer-based and paid for by the owner of the dog. This includes training classes, dog testing, leashes, collars, and the dogs business cards that you can hand out at every facility used.
To learn more information about raising a Southeastern Guide Dog visit guidedogs.org/raiseapuppy. Or if you’re interested about the program you can visit GuideDogs.org.
If you’d like to sponsor a Caring K9s team or upcoming events, you can contact them at [email protected] or go to their website for more information at CaringK9s.org.
