The Center has been open for three months now and life is finally starting to return to a normal cadence. Our Puppy and Pet Dog Manners classes are filling up each time and everyone that attends classes seems happy and content. We are slowly but surely developing a volunteer base to help with running the center and we have even stocked our pet boutique with some high quality and durable toys and leashes.

Now that everything is fairly under control, our Board has started to focus once again on outreach activities that fit our mission of Making Dogs a Part of our Community. In April we hosted two free community events – our Grand Opening Party and a Bow Wow Reading Dog celebration. Our publicity for the Reading Dog event has lead to requests for more Bow Wow Reading Dog teams at local libraries and schools. Now we just need to train more teams so that we can meet the demand!

Our Rescue team is going to host a meeting of all Austin area rescue groups on Friday, May 8. We have long held the belief that by working in cooperation with all rescue groups, we can achieve greater success in reducing the number of dogs (and cats) euthanized in our area shelters. We are quite delighted that the Center can be used to further the achievements of all rescue groups in our area.

So although funding is still needed and still an issue for us, we are making progress towards reaching a sustainable model that will allow us to rescue more dogs; train, place and support more pet therapy teams; and, provide more community events and activities.

The past few months have been a whirlwind, and I have never worked harder in my life. These months provided me the opportunity to work with some truly amazing and dedicated volunteers who have so much to give to our community. We are now positioned to increase our presence in the community. I feel blessed and honored everyday to be a part of this organization.

Together, we CAN make a difference.

Sincerely,

Did you know that dogs could R.E.A.D.? Well, Bentley can! He's a certified Intermountain Therapy Reading Education Assistance Dog (that's R.E.A.D. for short) and a member for the Austin Dog Alliance's Bow Wow Reading Dog team. He's also a Delta Society Pet Therapy dog. Move over Lassie!

Bentley loves having the children at Cox Elementary read to him. He's been a pet therapy dog for the last 4 years. He also loves to visit all the great people at Sagebrook Assisted Living and Ashwood Assisted Living centers. Bentley's mom, Debbie Williams says "Bentley is a true Collie, sensitive to everyone's feelings which makes him perfect for children who are feeling a little sad or left out. He has a way of knowing their feelings and noses his way into making them feel better!"

Currently, Debbie is the coordinator for all the Bow Wow reading dog teams. 

Besides the pet therapy work, Debbie runs a ministry called Bags of Hope that supplies homemade bags filled with toiletries and other special items to children in residential treatment centers who are victims severe abuse and neglect.

Debbie has found Bow Wow Buddies to be a very rewarding experience. "I learned to accept all children as they are and not put big expectations on myself or the child. It is about patience and acceptance...it is Bentley and the children who have taught me this valuable lesson!"

Bentley says it's all in a day's work. Now let's go read! Woof!

Rescue is one of the most rewarding aspects of our organization, but also one of the riskiest and most expensive.

When you go to the shelter to pick up a dog, you instantly get a feeling that the dog knows you have saved him. They look at you with almost instant adoration. These dogs are so happy to be out of the shelter that they very quickly adapt to your home and lessons in manners. Fostering is a bit like getting a new dog or puppy, that initial excitement and wonder of “what will it be like”, over and over.

The next fulfilling moment comes when a special family comes to take the dog to it’s forever home. When the match is perfect, the dog seems to know and the family gets this glow on their face. It’s a look that makes your heart sing. You know that the dog and family have chosen each other.

Fostering is like an addiction. You crave the feelings you get at rescuing and then matching a dog with a family. It’s the most wonderful natural high.

The hard part of rescue is the financial aspect. Unfortunately, since our policy is to only adopt out healthy, fully vaccinated and spayed or neutered dogs, our adoption fees don’t completely cover the cost of providing vet care. Puppies especially can be very expensive. For example, right now we have two pups in our program that must have been exposed to distemper prior to intake. They have been on several rounds of antibiotics and still, they don’t get better, but they don’t get radically sick either. Their immunizations appear to be helping them fight the virus, but it’s a long process. (Big thanks to fosters Michelle and Rhynn for caring for these special puppies.) They both also needed to be treated for thread worms, spayed and given all their vaccinations. One of the pups has a hernia and will need additional surgery when she is well enough. These pups will cost us hundreds more than our adoption fee.

Rewarding and expensive, that’s rescue.

If you would like to help with rescue, we always welcome foster homes and financial donations to our rescue program are always needed.

Together we CAN make a difference!

There are lots of classes to choose from, so come in and learn a new skill, teach your dog some much appreciated manners, or think about becoming a pet therapy team. The classes support our rescue efforts and are run by our Certified Pet Dog Trainers (CPDT), Debi and Carolyn. They make the classes lots of fun for human and canine alike!

For a complete listing, go to our website www.austindogalliance.org

Puppy Pre-School - Starts May 5th. Class runs for 6 weeks on Tuesday evenings, 6:30 to 7:30pm.

Pet Dog Manners  - Starts May 5th. Class runs for 6 weeks on Tuesday evenings, 7:30 to 8:30pm.

Pet Dog Manners (Canine Good Citizen) - Starts May 7th. Class runs for 6 weeks on Thursday evenings, 7:30 to 8:30pm.

Pet Therapy Seminar - Saturday May 9th (one day only). Class runs from 1:00 to 3:30pm.

Pet Therapy 6 Week Class - Starts May 11th. Class runs for 6 weeks on Monday evenings, 7:30 to 8:30pm.

Pet Dog Manners and Alerting - Starts June 22nd. Class runs for 8 weeks on Monday evenings, 7:30 to 8:30pm.

Tricks, Games and More Summer Camp - Ages 9 to 16. Multiple start dates beginning in June. Camp runs daily from 8:30 am to 3:00pm.

All About Dogs! Summer Camp - Ages 6 to 9. Multiple start dates beginning in July. Camp runs daily from 9am to 12pm (noon).

Check out our website for detailed information on these and other Austin Dog Alliance events!

http://www.austindogalliance.org

Paws for Alert - is an innovative after school educational program designed to bridge the communication gap between students who are deaf and their hearing peers. 

The mission of Paws for Alert is to provide opportunities for students, deaf and hearing, to come together to develop skills in socialization, responsibility, communication and community service through the training of hearing dogs.

Students pair up (deaf with hearing) and together they work on communication strategies by training service dogs. The goal is to foster shelter dogs, train them to be service dogs for the deaf, and make them available for adoption to members of the deaf community.

Here are Jana Kiefer and Madison White working with Angel (our hearing dog in training) to sit and stay.

Training sessions currently take place at one of the local schools and participation is limited to students from neighboring schools. In the fall, Paws for Alert will open its doors to students from the entire Austin community by offering training sessions at the ADA Training and Adoption Center.

Paws for Alert has two critical needs. First, students will need transportation to the ADA Training and Adoption Center from their schools. Many of the students who are deaf are not residents of the district where they attend school. They are bussed to the deaf education cluster site to receive the services they require. At this time there are no busses to provide transportation to the ADA Center.

Second, long term foster families are needed for potential hearing dogs. The program is ready to take in more dogs from shelters, but Paws for Alert must have foster families available. The commitment is about 4-6 months and foster families will have the opportunity to become partners in training with Paws for Alert.

Join us on June 6th, 2009, when we host a cocktail party/fundraiser for to launch our "Fetching Art for Dog Lovers" program at the [Audi Gallery Name] from 7 - 10 pm. The event kicks-off a dog-themed art program to raise money for the Austin Dog Alliance's community-based adoption, foster, rescue, and training programs. 

Guests will be treated to a fun evening of dog-themed art, food, drinks, raffle prizes, and other entertainment. Austin-area artists will be on hand presenting dog-themed works for a silent auction. Judges will award the top three works with prizes.

The event will be held at the [Audi Gallery Name] located at [address]. Ticket sales are now available at www.AustinDogAlliance.org [where on the site?] and at the following locations:

• Griffith Animal Hospitals  - 3407 Northland (at Balcones Dr), Austin and 2105 Cypress Creek, Cedar Park
• Dogadillo - 12912 Hill Country Blvd., Suite F-155, Austin (the Hill Country Galleria)
• Cedar Park Regional Medical Center - 1401 Medical Parkway, Cedar Park (near 1431 and 183A)
• Mud Puppies - 12233 FM 620 N., Suite 110-A, Austin (in Lake Creek Village)

We welcomes the following donations for this event: dog-themed art for the silent auction, raffle prizes, door prizes, art supplies, and dog supplies. Artists submitting dog-themed art will receive one ticket at no charge.

Contact Ryan Miller (Ryan@AustinDogAlliance.org or 512-897-8498) or Debi Krakar (mailto:Debi@AustinDogAlliance.org or 512-335-7100) for more information about this event.