Event raises funds for animals in need of forever homes

Every year thousands of homeless animals are in need of a forever home in mid-Michigan.

Sunday the "Paws in the park" event, hosted by the Capital Area Humane Society, didn't only raise money for a local shelter, but it hoped to raise awareness.

The event had little dogs, big dogs, dogs up for adoption and dogs in costumes who flooded the Cooley Law Stadium for a day of games, endless doggy treats, and a good cause.

Julia Willson, the President & CEO of the Capital Area Humane Society said these events are a fun way to attract dogs and their owners. She said, "This type of event funds our activities, including finding new homes for animals that don't have homes, spay and neuter services and providing a wide range of care for the animals in our community."

And in the community here in mid-Michigan, Willson said she cares for hundreds of animals on any given day at the shelter. She told News 10 this major issue is not just a local one but extends on a much larger scale. "It's really a national problem, I think many communities experience the fact that many animals don't have a home," Willson said.

With a lot of animals living in shelters, owners at the event said they suggest people look at shelters before purchasing their pet from anywhere else.

Marilyn Jackson, a rescued dog owner, got her dog Miles from a family that could no longer care for him. "There are so many loving dogs that are great with family and kids who need homes, and its best sometimes to adopt and not shop," Jackson said.

Sarah Dobbrastine is another dog owner who is also no stranger to having her own rescued dogs, "There are always going to be animals looking for homes."

Dobbrastine has welcomed 10 huskies into her home, all of which she rescued or were given to her from people who know she likes that breed.

She told News 10, "more than half of mine have been abused or abandoned so that's how they came to be, or just people who gave them to me because they knew I dog sledded." She said she loves huskies for their personalities and comforting quality.

Sunday was a walk for animals in need, a walk animals took one paw at a time.

Do you know how wonderful dogs are

We purchase vehicles based on how comfortable and safe they are for our dogs. We sleep on the very edge of our beds and do not get up to pee because we do not want to wake our sleeping dogs. We exercise them, we spend thousands of hours socializing and training them, and we design our vacations around where they want to go. We spend billions of dollars developing medicines and veterinary procedures to make animal lives better, and spend huge sums of money each year on toys and luxury items for pets.

They take their dogs to the vet far more often than they go to the doctor, purchase houses they think will make their dogs happy, and then remodel them with flooring better suited to their dogs comfort. We build ponds and pools and agility fields. No question, dogs are wonderful, and so are most dog owners. In addition to denigrating humans, many of these quotes seem to assign to animals some sort of idealized spiritual status—that they are kinder, gentler, less aggressive, more tolerant, and just all around more wonderful creatures than evil, detestable human beings. I hate to burst the sweet Disney bubble, but animals can be and often are every bit as selfish, hostile, aggressive and cruel as man. They are dogs!




　　"We give dogs time we can spare, space we can spare and love we can spare. And in return, dogs give us their all. It’s the best deal man has ever made…"

Dog lovers often adorn their emails, websites, and social networking pages with sweet quotations like this one. In general, these quotes are intended to illustrate how much we love dogs, not to be considered seriously. At first glance these quotes are generally sweet and illustrate how wonderful dogs are—how generous, forgiving, and loving.
However, in an effort to exalt dogs, many of these quotes are inaccurate and unintentionally send troublesome messages that have serious negative consequences.  They kill each other for fun, they fight, they eat crap, they eat their own babies, etc. It is great to appreciate and value the wonderful traits of animals, but sentimentalizing these traits and imagining that animals are all wise, benevolent, and enlightened beings is simply not true.
A society that is passing more and more laws to protect sweet, wonderful, innocent animals from the evil of being associated with man. Many lawmakers and average Americans have become persuaded that interaction with humans is BAD for animals. That surely these wonderful creatures deserve a life away from the exploitation and cruelty of humans. They have forgotten how much good we do for our animals, and we need to be very careful that we are not instantiating this skewed perception, and in fact that our statements reinforce what we know to be true.