When we leave Oscar home alone, we always try to leave the radio on…I would say that the purpose is two-fold.  First, we want him to be calm and relaxed, but we also want to drown out the city noises so that every truck going by and person ranting incoherently doesn’t drive him crazy.

Or at least those are the reasons that I leave the radio on for Oscar.  I normally leave the radio on low-volume and tuned to some easy-listening station.  But somehow it always manages to get cranked up and turned to the classic rock station…okay, it’s not a mystery how it happens - my husband says that Oscar “likes rocking out to the Classics”.  Of course, once again…I’m proven right (by a vetrinary neurologist, no less).  According to Susan Wagner, dogs are calmed by music with slower tempos, fewer instruments and simpler melodies.  Maybe it doesn’t seem like rocket science, but this article from the Worcester Telegram is all the evidence I need to make my case.  

Apparently many animal hospitals and shelters have been reaping the benefits of music therapy to calm the animals in their care.  The Telegram article specifically mentions our very own ASPCA, as well as two county shelters in California that installed a continuous Muzak system.

Continuing on the music in shelters theme, a recent article from the Downtown Express talks about how music is used at two different shelters in downtown Manhattan - Animal Haven & Pet-I-Care.   While I’m very familiar with Animal Haven from meet-ups and training classes we’ve attended there, I don’t know very much about Pet-I-Care.  I love that they provide free lifetime surgery to all animals adopted from their shelter, but maybe they need to rethink their music selection…

Join TIME’S UP for a dog-friendly bike ride starting in Union Square next Saturday, May 17th!

The Doggie Pedal Parade is a bike ride that highlights green transportation with animal companions and animal rescue and adoption.  The ride route features animal rescue shelters and animal friendly locations, as well as several East Village community gardens.

 Check out the TIME’S UP website for more details.

I think we would need more than a week to get Oscar bike-ready…I tried to put him in the special dog-friendly shopping cart basket in Bed, Bath and Beyond and he totally freaked and jumped out.  However, now that Oscar has mastered canoeing, maybe we should tackle biking next!

Staten Island Advance reported that a recent “Senior Pet Adoption Month” campaign was a success with 17 dogs and cats (ages 5 years & up) adopted by residents of Staten Island in March.  The adoption campaign was run by the Animal Care & Control (AC&C) of NY.

I also found a really great article called 10 Reasons to Adopt an Adult Dog.  They are selling themselves short because they really give 11 reasons…bonus!! 

Puppies are so cute that it’s easy to forget how much trouble they are!  Now it’s true that Oscar was ridiculously frickin’ cute when he was a puppy, but he was also quite a handful.  I didn’t sleep for days after we brought him home…he cried all night if we left him alone, he wasn’t house-broken so we couldn’t let him sleep in bed - I finally ended up sleeping on the floor with him.  The house-breaking seemed to take forever…there was chewing, biting and even poop eating….ugh.

So, anyway…kudos to all of the people who don’t get swept up in puppy-mania and realize the benefits of adopting older pets.  We hope all of the newly adopted pets in Staten Island are enjoying their new families!!

What a great idea - celebrate Be Kind to Animals Week with your children at the Animal Haven shelter in SOHO!

We’d like to draw your attention to two fun events in support of Animal Haven shelter in SOHO that are happening in the next two weekends.  For more details, check out our NYC Dog Events Calendar or visit the Animal Haven website and click on “Events”.

In light of some disturbing accounts of the treatment of dogs in war-torn areas of the world by US troops, it’s refreshing to hear some inspiring stories about soldiers rescuing dogs and bringing them back to the US to live with their families.

A friend forwarded me this story about Nubs, a German Shepherd/Border Collie mix, being reunited with the marine who rescued him.  Incredibly, when the Marine’s unit was relocated, Nubs somehow tracked them to their new location 70 miles away!!

The SPCA (Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) International is one organization that raises money to rescue dogs around the world.   The group says it gets several requests a day to help rescue dogs that soldiers befriend in both Iraq and Afghanistan.   wcbstv.com ran an article a few weeks ago about two of the dogs that have been rescued with the financial support of SPCA International.  Here’s a picture of the rescued pups, K-Pot & Liberty:

We wish these wonderful dogs all the best in their new lives!

Did you know that Animal Haven recently opened a new shelter in SOHO? The shelter officially opened in late 2006, but the retail boutique just opened up earlier this year.

Start-up costs for the 7,000 sq ft center were provided by a grant from the Mayor’s Alliance as part of its strategic plan towards turning NYC into a “no kill” city. A high-end pet boutique helps generate revenues to maintain the shelter’s ongoing operation. 2000 square feet on the 2nd floor are used for training, agility, parties, and numerous other pet- themed events that also generate revenue for the shelter.

We first visited Animal Haven when we attended a Brussels Griffon meet-up (which we learned about on meetup.com). We had a blast! And all proceeds from the event went to support the shelter. Check out this video of some Brussels-Griffon crazy time in the Animal Haven space! (You might recognize the instigator as our very monkey-faced trouble maker!)

Check out our Dog Events in New York tab for some other cool events at Animal Haven.

Animal Haven also partnered with Andrea Arden Dog Training to offer puppy training, adult dog training, behavior problem solving, tricks, Canine Good Citizen and therapy dog training as well as Agility classes. We started taking a Beginner level Agility class just before Thanksgiving and we’re hooked! More about our adventures in agility later, but for now I’ll just leave you with one word…hilarious!