In December, 2011, longtime friends Carolyn Evans of phoDOGrapher and Ulrich Wuebker of flexi USA, shook hands and agreed to do something together that would give back to the homeless animals of Greater Cincinnati. Just before the holidays, Carolyn approached Ulrich with the idea of hosting an adoption event in Cincinnati. Knowing the struggles of local rescue groups and shelters to continually find ways, resources and venues to showcase their adoptable animals, she knew they could benefit greatly from having someone else taking on the task of organizing an event, allowing them to focus on doing what they do best – rescue animals and find them loving homes.

With the agreement of financial support from Ulrich and Carolyn’s project management, My Furry Valentine was born. Six weeks later, we opened our doors to 350 animals and 1,700 visitors, with 266 animals finding their new homes as a result of the event!

This year, you’ll see that My Furry Valentine has grown. We’ve doubled the space of the event, making participation available to even more groups and animals. And many generous sponsors have stepped forward to help support our efforts and enhance the overall experience for our participants and visitors. Our skeletal team has grown to a solid core group of volunteers that have helped pave the way for an even bigger and better event, and a volunteer corps more than 100-strong to help things run as smoothly as possible at the Main Event. Please take part in the many activities the event has to offer. Thank our volunteers and sponsors. Meet the participating groups and their animals. Find a way to make a difference for the homeless animals in our community.

If you are here to adopt, we thank you! We’ve rolled out the Red Carpet and are eagerly awaiting your arrival to commemorate the day with your very first family photo of you and your new furry valentine.

But even if you cannot adopt today, know that there are still so many ways that you can make a difference in the lives of homeless animals. If you can’t adopt, then consider fostering. If you can’t foster, find a group and volunteer. If you can’t volunteer, then please remember that all the rescues are volunteer-run and our shelters run on shoe-string budgets. They can always use your financial support to help them continue their important work.

Mark your calendars, because we are already planning ahead for My Furry Valentine 2014! February 15-16th will be our 3rd annual event and we have committed, as we will in for all future events, to hosting a well-publicized, well-attended Super Adoption community event, where all rescues, shelters and the public are welcome to participate free of charge.

We hope you enjoy your time with us today and we look forward to some record-breaking adoption numbers this weekend!

Sincerely,

Ulrich Wuebker Event Host, flexi USA	Carolyn Evans Event Host, phoDOGrapher & Event Chair

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Shelters typically do not have the space and resources to care for newborn puppies. They and their mother must be kept together for 8 weeks before the puppies are old enough to be weened and can be made available for adoption. Given the constant rotation of animals in and out of valuable kennel space, keeping a litter of puppies for two months in a run where other adoptable dogs should be housed throws a wrench in the whole system. Foster families and rescue groups are generally the only way out of the shelter for a pregnant mom and her babies. So hearing that a rescue group was pulling puppies – puppies that were not ready for adoption at the time but would be by the time My Furry Valentine rolled around – puppies that they otherwise would not have taken into their rescue because they could not commit to fostering another litter without the knowledge of an upcoming BIG opportunity to find homes for a lot of animals – literally meant that those puppies were saved because of My Furry Valentine.  

That news made my heart sing.

So when I got another message, this one stating specifically, “Sarge is alive because of My Furry Valentine”, you’d think I’d be doing cartwheels. And I was, initially, until I heard the back story. You see, Sargent is a mixed breed dog with the misfortunate of “looking” like a ”pit bull type” dog in a rural county shelter. Not that I have anything against pit bulls, mind you. That couldn’t be further from the truth. Pit Bulls are amongst my favorite breeds because of their loyalty, smarts, trainability, energy, sociability and willingness to please. And I’ve got a soft spot for them, too, as one of my beloved childhood dogs was “Moose the Pit Bull” – long before we even knew what a “pit bull” was.

But these days, a lot of people have do something against pit bulls. And being a “pit bull looking dog” in a county shelter is just about the most dire situation a dog can find himself in. Pit bulls are amongst the most misunderstood and maligned breeds around. And while “pit bulls” are currently the number one bred dog in the United States, it is ironic that they are also one of the hardest breeds to find homes for, with only 1 in 600 successfully finding a “forever” home.

Sadly, for every 1 “pit bull” placed in a loving home, 599 are killed.

Meet Sargent, currently at the Pike County Dog Pound in Waverly, Ohio. He is one such dog facing these unsurmountable odds. In his county, he is not easily adoptable as would be a “non-pit bull dog”. Special circumstances would need to be arranged and approved, and he cannot be listed on their shelter’s webpage. In their experience, there are lot of people coming in to the shelter with the wrong intentions and they just aren’t equipped to do the necessary home visits and adopter screenings, so his chances of leaving the shelter are  greatly diminished. For most homeless pit bulls around the country, the death sentence is almost always automatic. Thankfully, Sarge has some advocates in Pike County. Shelter staff have quickly come to love this boy and have described Sarge one of their “all-time favorite pound dogs”. So they decided to do something about it. Enter Pike Pet Pals. PPP is an approved 501(c)(3) organization that assists getting dogs out of the Pike County Dog Pound. They provide vaccinations, vet care, cleaning supplies, dog food and other supplies for the pound and transport dogs all over Ohio to approved rescues. Pike Pet Pals is participating in My Furry Valentine this weekend and will be bringing some of the shelter dogs with them. Including Sarge.

But here’s the catch. ”Sarge is alive because of My Furry Valentine”. But if he doesn’t get adopted or transferred to a rescue group this weekend, there will be no welcome mat waiting for Sarge upon his return as a shelter dog. He is not eligible for adoption through the shelter, without jumping through some major hoops. My Furry Valentine is his best hope of getting out of the shelter system alive.

“Saving just one animal won’t change the world. But surely the world will change for that one animal.”  ~ Author Unknown

Please come out to meet Sarge at My Furry Valentine. He’ll be there on Saturday with Pikes Pet Pals at Booth #38. They are participating just one day so he won’t be there on Sunday. We are just hoping that Sarge leaves the building on Saturday in a different car than which he came. We imagine him waking up on Sunday morning in the arms of someone who will love him and give him the life he deserves. Please share his story to help make this dream a reality.

What will you do to change the world for Sarge?

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phoDOGrapher is a Cincinnati-based pet photography studio specializing in candid portraits of pets and their people. Carolyn has had the pleasure of photographing Cincinnati’s furry friends for more than a decade – that’s 53 in dog years! When she isn’t behind the lens, she devotes much of her time to helping animals. She is an advocate for every animal and their welfare. She is on the Board of the United Coalition for Animals, and an ardent supporter of the No-Kill Movement, and an active member of HeARTsSpeak, a united group of artists that aim to break down the myth that animals from rescues and shelters are inferior. Carolyn utilizes the power of photography to capture the spirit of animals in an effort to tell their story. She is passionate about animals, photography, and her non-profit efforts to help homeless animals. She tends to make connections with those who share a similar passion, and many of her clients are brought into her circle of work directed at saving animals in our community. Many of her clients, now friends, are amongst the core team of volunteers helping out with My Furry Valentine, (including me!).

Carolyn is the creator, Host and Event Chair of the My Furry Valentine Super Adoption in Cincinnati. Every adopted animal will be scheduled for a My Furry Valentine mini-session and go home with a coupon for a discounted photography session with phoDOGrapher!

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Thanks goes out to our generous sponsor, The Pet Stop/Wags Park, for bringing the Main Stage to you this year.

Alison Cremeans (flexi USA) & her dad, Steve

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The Enquirer and Cincinnati.com reach 8 out of 10 adults in the Tri-State area, with nearly 1 in 2 local adults reading the Sunday Enquirer. What better source for your pet news? The Enquirer and Cincinnati.com feature stories and information about pets in the community as well as helpful advice on training and caring for your pet, including winter weather precautions and other timely tips.

Chances are, you’re interested in My Furry Valentine because you’re looking for a new furry family member. But if you don’t find one this weekend, take a look at our Classifieds to find a local rescue. In addition, Cincinnati.com’s calendar features many adoption events around the Tri-State. And don’t forget the money-saving coupons in the Sunday Enquirer, which will help make sure that your rescue pet has everything he or she needs – without breaking the bank!

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Currently we are working on becoming a local and national resource and support organization for the smaller ‘mom-and-pop’ ACSOs. UPF is working to become a Nonprofit ACSO-Member Services Organization that will provide basic business services needed by all nonprofits to become successful. Eventually, with the economic advantage that comes with having large numbers of members, it will allow us to offer access to discounted business services for our members, including, but not limited to, products and services that are needed by all nonprofit animal service and care organizations: Legal and Accounting, Insurance, Public Relations, IT services, Credit/Financing Services, Pet Products (including food and health supplies), Webinar-based training in non-profit leadership and management skills, as well as Animal Behavior and Health needs. The list can go on, but we have place to start!

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This year alone, some four million dogs and cats will be die in our nation’s shelters. The vast majority can and should be placed into loving homes or should never enter shelters in the first place.

There is Hope

Because the data shows that every year, there are six times more people looking to acquire an animal than there are animals being killed in shelters.

Communities all across the US are achieving unprecedented results, saving upwards of 95% of all impounded animals in open admission animal control facilities. They are doing so because of their commitment to reject the kill-oriented failures of the past and putting in place the infrastructure to save lives. No community has ever achieved a “No Kill“ status without rigorous implementation of the “No Kill Equation.” We are proud to say that all elements of that model are represented at My Furry Valentine.

1. Spay/Neuter: No- and low-cost, high-volume spay/neuter reduces the number of animals entering the shelter system.
2. Rescue Groups: Transfer of animals to a rescue group frees up scarce cage and kennel space, reduces expenses for feeding, cleaning, and killing, and improves a community’s rate of lifesaving.
3. Foster Care: Volunteer foster care is a low-cost, and often no-cost way of increasing a shelter’s capacity, caring for sick and injured or behaviorally challenged animals, and thus saving more lives.
4. Comprehensive Adoption Programs: If shelters better promoted their animals and had adoption programs responsive to community needs, including public access hours for working people, offsite adoptions, adoption incentives, and effective marketing, they could increase the number of homes available and replace killing with adoptions. Participation in My Furry Valentine is a great start!
5. Pet Retention: Saving animals requires innovative strategies for keeping people and their companion animals together.
6. Medical & Behavior Problems: Shelter must put in place comprehensive vaccination, handling, cleaning, socialization, and care policies before animals get sick.
7. Public Relations/Community Development: Increasing adoptions, maximizing donations, recruiting volunteers and partnering with community agencies comes down to increasing the shelter’s public exposure.
8. Volunteers: Volunteers are a dedicated “army of compassion” and the backbone of a successful No Kill effort. There is never enough staff, never enough dollars to hire more staff, and always more needs than paid human resources. That is where volunteers make the difference between success and failure and, for the animals, life and death.
9. Proactive Redemptions: One of the most overlooked areas for reducing killing in animal control shelters are lost animal reclaims.
10. TNR: Trap-Neuter-Release (TNR) programs for free-living cats allow shelters to reduce death rates.
11. Leadership: Hard working, compassionate animal control or shelter directors not content to hide behind the myth of “too many animals, not enough homes.” Find out if your own county’s shelters support the No Kill philosophy.

If a community wants success, this is the only way to go: nothing else has succeeded. This approach provides the only model that has ever achieved No Kill communities. By working with people, implementing lifesaving programs, and treating each life as precious, a shelter can transform a community. For more information, visit the No Kill Advocacy Center.

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Whether you are looking for quality, service, convenience, selection, knowledge or experience, Family Pet Center will exceed your expectations.

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