“The many foundations that
contributed during 2015 showed
their compassion and generosity
with their gifts,” said Genevieve
Frederick, founder of Pets of the
Homeless. “These contributions
will go on to help companion pets
of the homeless everywhere. Our
sincere appreciation goes out to
all who donate to make sure no
pet is hungry or in pain.”
Frederick described a recent
example of how the contribu-
tions benefit pets of the homeless.
“A victim of domestic violence called us for help,” she said.
“She had been living in a car for
two months with three dogs at a
Walmart parking lot. They were
two Chihuahuas and a chow chow
mix. The owner planned to leave
the area, but she couldn’t because
the chow was in pain with an injured leg and the others had swollen anal sacs. She wanted them to
be well before traveling. Pets of the
Homeless paid for all three to have
exams and treatment, and updated their vaccinations.”
“I can’t believe Blu was brought
back twice—he is the perfect dog,
such a love bug, but I think his
puppy energy might have been
the challenge for the previous
families,” said Suzanne Sessums.
“We recently said goodbye to our
13-year-old corgi, Chewy, who we
adopted 10 years ago. Blu picked
us at a PetSmart store. He was es-
pecially taken with my youngest
son, Colby. Usually the dogs pair
up with me, but Blu and Colby are
great companions.”
“Adoption is about love and
creating and expanding fami-
ly–Blu joins the Sessums fami-
ly as their eighth member, and
the Sessums join our PetSmart
family of passionate people who
save lives– 6. 7 million pets since
we started our adoption services
in 1994,” said Eran Cohen, chief
customer experience officer for
Phoenix-based PetSmart.
PetSmart joins PetSmart
Charities, PetSmart Charities of
Canada and nearly 3,000 local
animal welfare organizations
across North America on a range
of powerful adoption events
in PetSmart stores. Four times
each year, PetSmart highlights
the adoption program through
National Adoption Weekends
where nearly 20,000 pets find
lifelong, loving homes in a single
weekend. Last year, through all
the combined adoption efforts at
PetSmart stores, two pets were
adopted every minute a store was
open, and about 1,400 pets’ lives
were saved every day.
PET WELFARE NEWS
PETS OF THE HOMELESS
RECEIVES $52K IN DONATIONS
Carson City, Nev.-based Pets of
the Homeless, the only national
nonprofit organization focused
on feeding and providing emergency veterinary care to pets of
homeless people, has received
more than $52,000 from more
than 20 foundations in 2015. The
donations go toward providing
pet food, emergency veterinary
care and wellness clinics for pets
of the homeless as well as sleeping crates to homeless shelters
across the U.S. and Canada.
Australian shepherd via her Face-
book network. After witnessing
what the power of social media
could do to assist needy pets, she
inspired John Paul Pet to create
the John Paul Pet PALS program
to help “Passionate Animal Lov-
ers” leverage their own social me-
dia networks on Facebook. The
state-by-state PALS Facebook
pages encourage users to “join
and share” their stories of lost and
found pets, and of pets in need of
a forever home.
The last page of the book
features a colorable tutorial
about the PALS program and its
new campaign, You Join—You
Share—We Give. For every “join”
to the PALS Facebook page, John
Paul Pet will make a $1 donation
to the Morris Animal Foundation
up to $5,000. Plus, 10 percent of
all books sold will benefit rescue
organizations and shelters across
the country.
“Absolutely no golden retrievers in the U.S. that need
our assistance that we would
ordinarily bring in to rescue will
be turned away because of this
project,” said Barbara Gale, the
founder of SCGRR. “We have a
waiting list of wonderful people
who want to adopt and love a
golden retriever. Very few rescue
golden retrievers are available in
the U.S. at this time.”
Gismo201604_3V_DGS_PPNI_3.875x9_Final.pdf 1 2/25/16 10:02 PM
Understanding that pet rescue
education requires reaching chil-
dren at an impressionable age,
John Paul Pet sought to turn Coo-
per’s story into a fun activity book
More than 400 tons of pet food
have been collected, and 12,800
pets have been treated medical-
ly through the assistance of Pets
of the Homeless. More than 375
donation and collection sites can
be found nationwide. Pets of the
Homeless also has provided more
than $330,000 in veterinary care.
PETSMART ADOPTS OUT HALF
A MILLION PETS IN ONE YEAR
Blu, a 1-year-old terrier mix, was
the 500,000th pet adopted out of a
PetSmart store in 2015, joining the
Sessums family of Haslet, Texas.
In 2015, PetSmart adopted
out nearly 517,000 pets in total,
topping the previous year’s milestone of 466,000.
APN, PET PARTNERS SUPPORT
ANIMAL-ASSISTED THERAPY
Ogden, Utah-based American Pet
Nutrition (APN), maker of Vita
Bone Biscuits and Chewy Sticks
and Supreme Source premium
grain-free dog and cat foods, has
announced a new corporate partnership with Pet Partners.
With APN’s help, Pet Partners
will continue to bring the healing
power of pets to people in need.
The nonprofit evaluates handlers
and their animals for visiting
programs in hospitals, nursing
homes, veterans’ centers, hospice
facilities, Alzheimers’ facilities,
courtrooms, schools and other settings. Last year, Pet Partners teams
made more than 1 million visits in
all 50 states to people in need.
Prior to joining the Sessums,
Blu was with the City of Fort
Worth Animal Shelter, one of
PetSmart’s local adoption partners, for several months. Blu was
adopted and brought back twice
before being adopted out of a
PetSmart store.
for kids that would drive home
the importance of pet adoption.
The book is available for $6.99
on Amazon.com. Any rescue organizations that want to purchase
the book for resale or fundraising
can do so at a discounted price via
Helping Tales.
SOCAL RETRIEVER RESCUE
SAVES 10 GOLDENS
FROM ISTANBUL
Abandoned golden retrievers
from Istanbul arrived at Los Angeles International Airport this
past Feburary as part of a rescue
mission with several golden retriever rescues in the U.S.
JOHN PAUL PET TEAMS TO
HELP HOMELESS PETS
John Paul Pet and Helping Tales
Publishers have teamed up to
launch a new coloring and activity book, “Cooper: A Rescue Dog’s
Tale,” which aims to help children
better understand pet rescue.
Gina Dial, vice president of
sales and marketing for Ventura,
Calif.-based John Paul Pet, sought
to rescue Cooper, a 1-year-old
GRR’s effort, as there are no gold-
en retrievers at risk of not being
adopted in the U.S. because of
this rescue.
At one time, golden retrievers
were a status symbol in Turkey.
When the novelty wore off, they
were abandoned in the streets.
Some live in shelters, some live on
the streets and in the forest, often
falling prey to feral dogs and cruel humans.
Southern California Golden
Retriever Rescue (SCGRR) of Los
Angeles was contacted by Adopt
a Golden in Atlanta to help save
the goldens. The National Rescue
Committee of the Golden Retriev-
