Organizer says the dogs know they're going somewhere better than they were, with access to a nice warm bed, food, love and companionship.
THUNDER BAY — Over a dozen puppies were in the spotlight at a meet and greet this weekend.
Paws for Love Dog Rescue in Thunder Bay held the event at the Pet Value on Dawson Road on Saturday.
It featured around eight puppies, a few roughly four months old and some older dogs.
Susan Martin, a member of the board of directors with Paws for Love, said the event exceeded her expectations.
“Sometimes the fairs can be quiet, but it looks like we have a lot of people out. Kids are still home for the holidays and maybe people are, now that the holiday rush is over, looking to add a new member to the family,” said Martin.
She explained that the rescue likes to hold these meet and greets ‘as much as possible.’
“It’s a chance for people to come out and see our dogs. We have dogs here of all ages,” said Martin.
“It’s an opportunity for you to meet the dog. It’s a great opportunity to see what you’re looking for in a dog, too. We have dogs that are shy dogs — that are playful — and it’s just to reach out to the community to find these dogs’ homes.”
She described the ultimate purpose behind the event as finding loving, good and caring homes for their dogs.
“The purpose is to get the dogs adopted, have people come and meet them, see what we do. Dogs will come in from up north. We will fly them in. We have a lot of partners in the communities that will alert us to dogs in need and we’ll bring them in with many of our air partners at our cost and try to do our best to find them homes,” said Martin.
Although the rescue can have up to 30 or 40 dogs at any given time in its care, Martin said these dogs are only adopted out after they reach 8 weeks old.
However, the rescue keeps none of these dogs in kennels or cages. She said they ensure that before bringing in dogs from communities, they have a foster to place them.
“We do have some adult dogs that we will rehome for people just for trying to find a new home for them to live,” said Martin.
“We vet all of our prospective adopters. We have a series of questions to ensure the dogs are going to loving homes with people who will have the time and the means to care for them and we ensure that every prospective adopter has access to a vet.”
Christine Morellato was fostering Snow, a 7-month-old female lab mix, for the meet and greet. She said Snow is ’a lovely dog.’
“She enjoys playing with other dogs. She gets along well with myself and my partner. And then also she gets along well with other family members and she loves to play with my dog and she loves being outside and she’s a really excellent dog for her family,” said Morellato.
She said Snow is ‘full of energy’ for those looking to adopt.
Bernard Pedersen and his daughter Natali also attended the meet and greet to look around at the puppies.
“We already adopted one before from here, so we have one at home already. We’d like to come and look at them,” said Pedersen.
Natali agreed they’re all ‘really cute’ and likes to look at them.
“Although these are rescue dogs, the best comment we get back (from adopters) is the dogs rescue them. They have so much love to give,” said Martin.
