In Plainfield, Homecoming is a community event. Since the autumn of 1952, students, alumni, and the entire town have attended the annual celebration. HSP has been a part of the Homecoming tradition since 2001, participating in the Homecoming parade. This year we will be marching as usual with available HSP animals, inviting HSP Alumni dogs and their owners to march in the parade and we're going to do our best to have a float again!
 
Homecoming is on Saturday October 2. The parade is at 9:00 am through downtown Plainfield. If you participate, you'll need to arrive in the staging area no later than 8:30. If you would like to participate, preliminary details are as follows.
-         RSVP by emailing to chasmat@sbcglobal.net .This is important because we need to track how many will participate so we know how many HSP dogs we can bring to and march in the parade. We also have a need for banner carriers (kids are great for that) and help moving the dogs to and from the parade.
-         Let us know if you'll be marching with your HSP alumni dog or you'd like to walk one of our current HSP available dogs. We'll do our best to provide a HSP dog for additional marchers, although we never know exactly what dogs we'll have until the day of the parade. Children participating need to be capable of controlling a dog and adult supervision is required.
-          The theme of Homecoming is "Plainfield Salutes the Olympics". Our float theme will be "Furever Friends" a variation on the Olympic theme song for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Creative costumes, signs, or accessories on you or your dog are encouraged.
-         Details about staging are typically not available until the week before the parade, however we need to start planning our participation now. So if you'd like to participate, let us know as soon as possible, and we'll keep you in our communication loop as we get more information.
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Email with questions, RSVP to chasmat@sbcglobal.net

Every Saturday in October from 11am-2pm, Help Save Pets will be  at Dollinger Family Farms  in Channahon.  Help Save Pets will be showing some of our rescue animals up for adoption, accepting donations and offering information on our organization.

Dollinger Farms is not your typical pumpkin patch, they have many other attractions such as a Corn Maze, Steam Engine Rides, Horse Drawn Hayrides, Petting Zoo and a playground for your younger children. Another quite popular attraction is the Abyss Haunted House.
 
Asides from coming to see our Help Save Pets animals in October, there are other great activites at Dollinger Family Farms.

On the weekend of October 16-17 the Dollinger Family Farm will  be hosting Civil War shows and battles. There will be a Civil War camp, on location with people dressed in Civil War costume. It's a great learning experience, they will answer any questions about that period of time. 
 
Dollinger Farms is located at 7502 E. Hansel Rd. It's just west of Ridge road off Route 6. Once you get on Route 6, you will see signs posted on how to get there.

We hope to see you in October!

815-609-6200   DuPage, Will, Kendall

 

Nitro (previously Cubby) joined our family back in March 2009. The last year and a half with him has been a joy. He has become a member of the family that puts a smile on everyone's face. He is loving, playful, and an amazing cuddle buddy. He also has gained two new pals, Mickey and Dakota, our two other dogs. Even though the other two dogs are bigger, Nitro definitely isn't shy to play with them and they have become lifelong friends. Nitro enjoys walks and always thinks he can catch the bunnies running around the neighborhood. He is a quick learner and never barks, which is a nice change compared to the other dogs. He has gone on our family vacations and has truly left paw prints on all of our hearts.

In Addition to Nitro (mentioned above), Mickey was also adopted from Help Save Pets about 3 years ago. He is one of the big boys and is a bed hog but is one you can easily move over and cuddle with. He makes little grunts when you hug or cuddle with him, which we like to call his dog purr. He loves to run outside in our fenced backyard and play with the the other dogs or just lay in the grass. He likes to "speak" every time he hears the phone ring, which we think is funny since he doesn't mind the doorbell. Although he doesn't give kisses (we don't think he knows how, every time he tries he bites your nose, which we think is funny and cute! ) he loves getting kisses and putting his paws on your shoulders for hugs.

Both of these dogs have become members of the family that will remain in our hearts forever. Thank you these amazing additions to our family.

The Mehrbrodt Family

 
Help Save Pets would like to share with you a personal story about being a temporary care provider with our rescue organization.

Abraham is a senior dog that came to Help Save Pets several weeks ago from a pound in Kentucky.  He's a sweet, loving dog but he wasn't doing very well in the kennel environment, and it was becoming clear to the volunteers and kennel staff in our organization that poor Abraham was suffering from depression.  He needed a little more special attention to help him come out of his shell.

It was Abraham's lucky day, he was picked by a dedicated Animal Care Center employee, Jennifer Ceasario, to go and be shown at the Petco in Romeoville.  Many people enjoyed Abraham's presence at the Petco, but one such visitor wanted to do more for him, and offer him a home to recover in, while he's on his way to being adopted.

Here's Abraham's latest update!

"Just wanted to send you an update on Abraham.  Here he is sleeping happily by our fireplace!
 
This big sweet boy is  ALREADY coming along great!  The family companionship,  lots of love,  and petting, petting, petting has made him more confident...he wags his tail all the time and lifts his head now!  We found just the right healthy food combo for him and by Saturday night he was eating with gusto.  With 3x a day meals he has already regained the spark in his eye and his pace has picked up quite a bit!  We can't wait to see him get better every day!  And neither can Sequoia (pictured below) who tries SO HARD to get him to "play".    
      
 Now that he's feeling better he actually follows us around when we're home and even comes upstairs!!  So he's been dozing at the foot of several beds :)  He is just such a beautiful dog!!

This morning he and Sequoia spotted a rabbit under our willow tree and I got to feel what it would be like to lead a dog sled team as they BOTH trotted off after it...trailing me leash in each hand!  But it was good to see him sprint!!


~Lois


You can download the application form HERE.

Please contact tempcare@helpsavepets.orgto help!

In addition, we frequently need homes for moms with puppies or kittens. This is hard work, but VERY rewarding.

· We provide puppy pens, bedding, all medical care and food if you'd like to use our stock.
· Advise on how to house, feed and manage the mom and babies is available from experienced volunteers.
· The commitment is until the pups or kittens reach 8 weeks of age.
· Relief for weekends or vacations is available.


You can read about the details of foster parenting by clicking on the link below.

Being a Temporary Care Provider

In addition, we frequently need homes for moms with puppies or kittens throughout the spring and summer.

If you can't help right now, please feel free to forward this to others who might be able to help.

Becoming a temporary care provider can be a rewarding experience.  Help Save Pets would like to share

 
Nebulizers - Do you have one in a spare closet?

Puppies are encouraged and taught by their mother to not mess in their bed. This is the foundation for housebreaking.

You just need to teach the puppy/dog that your entire inside house is their "bed" and the place to go and relieve themselves is outside.

Start by restricting puppy to a specific area of the house where you spend time (so he's not alone all the time). As he learns that he's not to mess in this area you can expand his world to include more of your house.

Puppies figure out quickly once they are old enough to go outside that it's a good and fun place to relieve themselves and it coincides with their understanding not to mess their immediate living area.

Take advantage of this when housebreaking by consistently taking puppy out at consistent intervals and especially after eating and napping.

If puppy doesn't relieve himself outside, return him to his bed/crate. Wait a half hour and try again. He'll begin to figure it out.

Offer lots of praise for a job well done.

If a puppy does mess in the house, give negative vocal feedback to the puppy at the site of their "mess" and take it outside. It may not go at that point, but if it does, it offers the opportunity for you to contrast the negative feedback that puppy got in the house, with positive feedback outside for a job well done.

If there is an accident, never let puppy see you clean up. They are accustomed to seeing their mother clean up after them and once they see you cleaning up, the association may make housebreaking more difficult.

 

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