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Send a card to a critter
By Denise Dick
YOUNGSTOWN
A single relationship status doesn’t mean you can’t have a valentine.
There are lots of other singles waiting on the city’s West Side, just hoping for a heart-shaped greeting.
They’re kind of short. And hairy. And they have big ears.
But they’re great kissers, and you can’t find a better foot warmer.
For the third year, Friends of Fido, a group of volunteers who work with dogs at the Mahoning County Dog Pound, is asking people to send Valentine’s Day cards with a $1 donation enclosed to the pound pups through Feb. 14. Pound dogs may be viewed at www.petfinder.com/shelters/OH599.html and through the organization’s website, www.friendsoffidomahoning.org.
“The first year, we raised $7,000,” said Trish Collins, Friends of Fido president. “Last year, we raised about $4,000.”
The group pays for veterinary care and provides toys, treats and beds for the animals in addition to walking the dogs and covering the fees paid to the dog pound by rescue groups.
“We’ve had teachers getting their classes involved – Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts,” Collins said. “It’s a lot of fun.”
Last year, the group spent about $51,000 on veterinary care for pound dogs.
What Friends of Fido provides for both the dogs and the pound, though, is priceless, said Dianne Fry, Mahoning County dog warden.
“Our euthanasia rate would be much higher without Friends of Fido,” she said.
The pound is a government agency with limited funding and can’t provide the services the organization does.
The pound puts dogs to sleep only if they’re deemed aggressive, sick or injured to a point they can’t be saved or if it’s requested by an owner.
Clay and Daisy are two of the recent pound pups who came in with significant injuries but received care through Friends of Fido.
Clay, a brown and white, freckle-faced pit bull, came in with a leg injury.
“Originally, they thought he had been hit by a car,” Collins said.
X-rays found no broken bones, but the injury dug down to Clay’s tendon, requiring stitches and medication.
He’s fine now, sniffing the ground outside the pound, stretching on his leash to check out visitors.
“He’s a cuddle bug,” Collins said.
His vet bill totaled about $200.
“He was always sweet, but when he came in, he couldn’t walk on his back leg,” said Rick Tunison, kennel manager and a veterinary technician.
Daisy, a brindle pit bull, came into the pound with cigarette burns covering her face. Friends of Fido took her to the vet, who prescribed antibiotics and treated the wounds.
Daisy has recovered, and she doesn’t seem to bear any grudges. She’s eager for attention and sits and gives her paw to shake with a stranger.
The group also has helped dogs that have come in emaciated, sick or neglected.
“A lot of these dogs – the best thing that could have happened to them was coming to the pound,” Collins said.
Some who send in valentines for the dogs donate more than $1, and checks may be made to Friends of Fido, contributions to which are tax-deductible.
The organization conducts many fundraisers throughout the year, including a Feb. 5 beer taste and basket raffle with Animal Charity at the Magic Tree Pub and Eatery, South Avenue, Boardman.
The Valentine’s Day fundraiser has the added advantage of not requiring a lot of legwork by group members who are all volunteers, most with full-time jobs.
Collins said volunteers do the work because they care about the animals. “Someone has to do it,” she said.