Fond Farewell from WOOF! SLC

To all of my wonderful WOOF! clients, past and present,

First of all, I want to wish each and every one of you and your dogs (and cats) a Happy Holiday season, and wonderful New Year!

Secondly, I have to tell you that as of January 1st, I will no longer be accepting client work with WOOF! SLC. It's not because I don't absolutely love caring for your wonderful pets...I have been offered my dream job!

Many of you know that animal rescue has been very close to my heart for a number of years. I have worked especially hard during the last year with several programs, including the development and implementation of the Salt Lake County Pit Crew program. This program is a partnership between Salt Lake County Animal Services and Best Friends Animal Society out of Kanab, UT which is the largest no kill animal sanctuary in the country, and the subject of the National Geographic channel show Dogtown. Many of you also know that I travel regularly down south to work with the animals there.

I have been offered a full time position working with Best Friends on one of their four national campaigns. The campaign I will be working on focuses on helping one of the most maligned dogs in our country, short haired, muscular mutts also known as pit bulls. The campaign is called Pit Bulls: Saving America's Dog. I will be positioned out of Salt Lake City, but will travel both to Kanab and around the country working with rescues and shelters everywhere, working with the media, helping communities to improve their dangerous dog laws to focus on irresponsible ownership rather than targeting or banning a specific breed or group of dogs, etc. It is going to be a huge and exciting challenge, and one that I cannot wait to jump into.

You can read more about Best Friends and all of the animals they help here: http://www.bestfriends.org/ and more about the Pit Bulls Campaign here: http://network.bestfriends.org/campaigns/pitbulls/default.aspx

It's been a wonderful experience working with all of you and your pets. If you have service already booked with me through the end of the year, have no fear! I will fulfill all of those commitments. No new service will be booked for now. In order to make sure you have some contacts of other petsitters and dog exercisers I know and recommend, please take a look at the following services:

Roggy Rai Care, http://www.roggyraicare.com/- Rai is a good friend and a great doggy companion!

Heather Beck with K-9 Lifeline for boarding and training, http://k9lifeline.net/ -Heather is also a wonderful friend and colleague

Mountain Mutts, http://www.mountain-mutts.com/

Dog Mode, http://dogmode.com/

Thank you all so much again for a wonderful year and the opportunity to care for you pets!

Sincerely,

Melissa and WOOF! SLC

Pits and Perception Art Show

Please join one of Best Friend's founding members and wonderful artist, Cyrus Mejia for a reception and art show entitled Pits and Perceptions running from 12/18-1/30/10.

This is an incredible collection of paintings featuring some of the Vic(k)tory Dogs and other pitties from the Sanctuary. You can visit Cyrus' website here:

http://cyrusmejia.com/art/pits-and-perception

This show has traveled the country and is finally stopping in Salt Lake! Please come to the reception and be sure to stop by while the exhibit is up!

I am truly honored to have a digital display of my photography featuring some of my favorite dogs at the Sanctuary that will be up during the exhibit. Please come to the opening and support the show, the dogs, and me!

I <3 Otis

Here at WOOF! SLC, we never play favorites. Each and every client dog brings something unique and special to the table and puts a smile on my face.

But, when it comes to rescued pittie bulls, WOOF! might just have a soft spot. You see, I have three of my own rescued pitties. Two of them are mixes, Tiggs and Winnie (with who knows what!), and the third, Honey, is a little pink nosed American Pit Bull Terrier.

Because WOOF! spends a LOT of time volunteering in rescue for SLCOAS, Best Friends, and No More Homeless Pets, I have witnessed first hand the disproportionate number of pitties in our shelter system, which sadly also means a disproportionate euthanasia rate. I have recently helped start the SLCoAS Pit Crew program which aims to place more adoptable pitties and pittie mixes in foster and adoptive homes, along with free spay/neuter county wide for these amazing dogs, along with free AKC Canine Good Citizen training. I am hoping we have a sea change in the way these beautiful, misunderstood dogs are perceived. To know a pittie is to love a pittie. Plain and simple.

That brings me to Otis. I just love a story when someone tells me they went to the shelter set on one particular kind of dog, then they met a pittie, and well, the rest is history. Otis's family loves him to pieces, for good reason. He's a lap dog, happy-go-lucky kind of guy, whose name fits him just perfectly. Mr. Spunkmeyer if you will. Otis's mom recently had a baby, and Otis's dad travels alot. So, they wanted to make sure their little man was getting his regular exercise. WOOF! is happy to oblige :)

Titan and Pursella

WOOF! SLC is temporarily becoming MEOW! SLC also, with the care of Miss Kitty Pursella and her fabulous big brother, Titan, a giant Bernese Mountain dog.

I think Titan's paws are bigger than my 3 dogs combined, and wow, what a lover and silly big goofball this guy is. Every day, he brings me the paper, and will not give it to me until I lavish him with love and treats. Fair enough. He is also a wonderful communicator, bringing me his bowl when he is hungry...naturally, this is quite often since he's a big guy, weighing in quite a bit more than myself! But, for his size, he is a gentle giant, very easy to walk, and always looking at me with the most warm, flirty eyes and hugest smile!

This is one great canine/kitty friendship, and I'm enjoying my time caring for them both very much. It should be noted: WOOF! SLC is slightly deathly allergic to kitties, so multiple drugs are necessary to safely love on kitties :) SHHH, Pursella doesn't know this, so please don't tell her...we wouldn't want her to worry!

Ziggy and Roxy

Ziggy and Roxy are a sweet, Dynamic Duo that live near the 9th and 9th neighborhood. It's hard to believe that Ziggy (the black and white dog) is 13! He loves his toys, his favorite during our weekend together was a rubber foot, that looked eerily real! He loved to play fetch, which gets young Roxy, the cute little boxer, very happy, and she starts to chase him. They are great friends and "doggie siblings" and you can tell that Roxy keeps Ziggs young. They love to take walks together and have cushion parties...Well, that's what Roxy loves anyways, she likes to take all of the cushions off of the furniture when I leave and then laugh while I put them all back on. Great dogs!

Ellie Mae

Ellie Mae's mom is a PA who can work some long days. She called WOOF! to help make sure that Ellie was having a little fun and getting exercised so she wouldn't have to feel to bad about working so hard. Ellie has enjoyed a trip to Tanner and some neighborhood strolls while enjoying the beautiful views overlooking the city from her neighborhood. Ellie is a wonderful girl, she's so happy go lucky, and has some of the best leash manners around. She's great about looking over and flashing a huge grin while giving you the best flirty eye contact- what a great dog!

Meet Morgan

Morgan is a sweet senior girl whose parents gave us a call when they found out dogs can't go to National Parks, poor pups! What fun is a vacation when you can't take your best friends along? Well, good thing WOOF! is here, because we make sure that your pups are having a great time while you are away, so you can relax and know that they are in good hands. Morgan is a sweet love, and we walked three times a day and ate alot of good homeade doggie treats that her mom and dad left. When Morgan sees her leash, she does the cutest little happy dance and smiles. Even though Morgan probably wishes she could have gone with her mom and dad, we hope that she had as much fun with WOOF! as we had with her!