Come out to Ledo Pizza in Falls Church (Tysons Station) on December 9 between 5-10 PM and help raise money for the Homeward Trails medical funds – specifically to help puppies suffering from deadly parvovirus.
All you have to do is dine at Ledo Pizza on December 9 and HT will receive a donation equal to 20% of you check. The 20% donation also applies to carry orders that mention Homeward Trails and we receive 10% of any catering orders that mention Homeward Trails that day.
Monday, December 9
5:00-10:00 PM
Ledo Pizza
4510 Leesburg Pike
Falls Church, VA 22043
(703) 847-5336
Please help spread the work and make this event a huge success.
Enjoy a relaxing yoga session surrounded by puppies, and feel your stresses melt away. Adoptable Homeward Trails puppies who will be running around, doing puppy things, or just sleeping during your class. Feel free to participate in the yoga class, or just spend your time playing with the puppies. Whatever you feel like. A portion of each registration will go to support Homeward Trails.
Class is lead by a licensed yoga instructor and is appropriate for beginners to advanced practitioners. Please bring your own yoga mat and blocks, as these will not be provided on site. Please be prepared for puppies to act like puppies…they bark and go potty like cute puppies do! Class will start on time, so feel free to arrive a few minutes early. Class will last 30 minutes with the final 15 minutes for you to play with the pups (45 minutes total).
Preregistration is required. All sales are final and non-refundable unless the class is canceled. You may transfer your registration to an alternative participant. All participant must sign an exercise waiver at the event.
Parking: Please park on the street and not in the Caring Hands Animal Hospital parking spots. The Caring Hands Animal Hospital spots are reserved for dog and cat patients. We are grateful to Caring Hands for allowing us to use their facility.
Please email doodlebugdogwalker@gmail.com if you have a party of 4 or more people for a discount code.
To get your tickets click here
Puppy Yoga
Caring Hands Animal Hospital,
2601-A Wilson Blvd – A
Arlington, VA 22201
Wed, Dec 4th 2019 – 6pm & 7pm sessions
It is an important and exciting time for us at Homeward Trails and our Puerto Rico-based GuaniCARES program. On Wednesday, September 11, 2019 HT officially signed a contract with the Guanica Mayor’s office to take over operations for animal control. This is a truly amazing opportunity that we hope will give more dogs in Guanica life-saving outcomes. This has been several years in the making.
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?
There are hundreds (likely thousands) of dogs and puppies living in the streets, the forests, on the beaches of Guanica. We see them every day as we drive through the area. We see puppies, ranging from newborns to older. We see friendly dogs. We see feral dogs. We see dogs cared for by the community and dogs that are horribly neglected. We see gravely injured dogs and dead dogs in the streets. It is a very, very, very difficult environment for dogs here.
To date, when the community was faced with “nuisance” dogs they called the Mayor’s office and “dog catchers” from a nearby jurisdiction would come to to town and round them up to be taken to a shelter and killed. With few resources, these catchers were most likely rounding up the friendliest and easiest dogs to catch. And these dogs stood no chance at life.
For four years now we have been working in Guanica. Since 2017 we have taken 633 dogs and puppies from Puerto Rico and brought them to the US for adoption. We have also provided Trap/Neuter/Return services for almost 500 cats. And we have provided more than $15,000 in supplies including food, traps and other animal supplies, thanks to our amazing donors.
We currently have one full-time staff person. So our accomplishments to date have been remarkable on the little resources we have.
We know that rescue is not a long-term solution to the dire situation of homeless animals anywhere. Especially here. We must have government involvement and support. We must have community involvement and support. And we must have the support of our loyal followers and donors.
Puerto Rico faces tremendous challenges and while there are so many people here who care about animals they simply do not have the information and resources to help. We want to change that.
https://www.mightycause.com/story/Guanicareslaunchofficial
With this contract we hope to achieve three major things:
1. To provide more dogs in the community with life-saving outcomes. This will mean adoption in the US or TrapNeuterReturn (TNR) to the community. Our TNR efforts will stop the reproduction of puppies, minimize aggressive behaviors of dogs towards other dogs and people, aim to eliminate the poisoning of dogs as a means to control the population and allow the dogs to live in the community safely and under the watch of community care givers. TNR will be used when the dogs are not deemed potential candidates for adoption due to a lack of socialization
2. To engage community members to join our efforts by helping us to identify priority dogs, fostering puppies, sharing our efforts to stop poisoning and other harmful methods currently used and recruiting and training volunteers to assist with TNR. We have our first community meeting this Sunday.
3. To hire individuals from the emergency response division and the police department, many of whom have had their hours cut by 50% due to budgetary issues, to work as GuaniCARES Animal Resource Officers (AROs). These people will be trained to go into the field to trap animals, respond to community calls and further our outreach and education efforts.
We are already overwhelmed but energized by the opportunities this partnership will bring to save more lives and make what is a huge community problem a community collaboration for life saving.
In the 3 days we have been here this week we have trapped 8 puppies living in the woods, taken in 4 dogs abandoned in Guanica recently and neutered 3 additional community dogs. In addition to caring for the dogs in our care, which takes an average of 4 hours daily.
This new partnership will have its challenges for many reasons. But we will endure for the animals and remain positive and committed. And we will share each step with you in hopes you will be a part of it. We would not be where we are today without your support.
The contract comes with a $2,300 annual payment. Yes, you read that correctly. $2,300. So we cannot be successful without our donors.
Our goal for Year One is to raise $20,000 for the following:
Hiring of two part-time AROs asap. $10,000
Secure additional large traps and trapping supplies $5,000
Print materials for community distribution $750
Training for youth outreach interns $500
Vetting costs for TNR dogs $3,750
We hope you will consider supporting this worthwhile project and helping GuaniCARES become a MODEL PROJECT for other areas. Long-term solutions are our goal.
Please stay tuned for photos and updates of our activities in live time this week as we are out in the field.
We recognize the TREMENDOUS support and partnership of the following people who have gotten us here today and will play integral roles as we move forward.
Clínica Veterinaria, La Suiza who vets our animals, boards them while
they recover and has provided countless hours of veterinary support and guidance for our efforts. Without them we would have no program here.
Ricardo Guzmán our San Juan-based attorney and CPA who meticulously guided us through the very detailed 24 documents and filings with 7 departments that were required in order to sign the contract. And for his tremendous help writing and negotiating this contract.
Lynn Descoteau who started our involvement here in Guanica by reaching out to ask for help for the dogs she saw everyday during her 10 years on he island. He care and concern and efforts are what brought us here.
Animal Welfare Institute who so generously donated our transport van. Without it, none of our transport to/from the vet and to/from San Juan airport would be possible.
Barks of Hope and Leo the BOH Director here in PR who we are lucky to partner with and have her amazing support. Collaboration truly does save more lives.
Doris Draeger and Bonita Stoudt who continue to help us engage community members and support our efforts every day.
And so many more people who we know only by phone. And to all of our donors, fosters and adopters. These animals would not have a chance without you.
Get started here: https://www.mightycause.com/story/Guanicareslaunchofficial
In May, HT took its first group trip to Guanica, Puerto Rico where we have been operating since 2015. Thanks to the tremendous outpouring of support on World Spay Day with over $7,000 raised, we ventured to Guanica with staff and volunteers to provide Trap Neuter Release (TNR) to 100 cats. It was an intense week with long days and busy nights, but in such a short amount of time we were able to save SO many lives!
This trip was the official launch of our GuaniCARES program – (Guanica CompanionAnimalRescueEducationSterilization)! It was a week of 17 hour days but we left having achieved even more than we set out to thanks to our dedicated volunteers, staff, veterinarians and you!
Our goal for the week was to TNR 100 cats. Months in advance we set up plans with three local veterinary clinics, our GuaniCARES staff and our wonderful on-the-ground cat lovers, Eliana and Tonito. You might remember our story about Eliana and Tonito from our earlier visit this year. They are an elderly couple who feed and care for more than 100 community cats every evening, spending their retirement money every month on the cats. Their dedication is endless and it was amazing to work side by side with them each evening to fan out in their neighborhood and watch the kitties come running as they arrived in their broken van to feed. We would quickly set our traps and sit back, allowing the kitties to explore and investigate what was going on. Eliana was crucial in our efforts, helping to identify kitties that we trapped who were nursing and thus, needed to be released and trapped at later dates.
Our days started at 5 am with volunteers headed out to set traps for kitties that feed in the morning to supplement those we trapped the evening before. We then would go in all directions, taking them to the vet and then arriving back late each morning to prepare for that night’s trapping and to head into the field to care for the homeless dogs and puppies we would find.
We ventured into fields where we treated and fed dogs with mange. We visited homes of locals who had asked us for food or supplies. We handed out our GuaniCARES dog collars that we brought along to encourage community members to put them on their dogs to identify them as “owned”. We visited our vets to drop off and pick up not only the cats we brought them but injured and sick animals we found each day needing immediate assistance.
We ended up keeping a group of 6 kittens and one friendly mom who had no care takers. One of the kittens had been hit by a car and had a broken leg – a common peril of being a street animal in Puerto Rico. These adorable kitties will arrive in the DC area soon for adoption!
Our days would normally end around 11 pm with us all dirty, exhausted but invigorated by the progress we made each day. And then we would rise again to do the same the next day!
Support our rescue efforts in Puerto Rico
A location of 25 cats… all of whom we neutered. YAY!
Our trapped kitties resting post surgery and awaiting their release.
Roger, a local neighbor who helped us catch a family of kittens to neuter. After their return, he gave them lots of cuddles!
Volunteer Meagan with some of the adorable puppies we rescued
The team heading out for an evening of trapping
Volunteer Jay with pup Stanley. He found Stanley right when we arrived in town and will be fostering him when he comes to DC next week.
This poor kitty was suffering from a massive infected wound. After neutering him, he was provided with medication.
Eliana and Tonito, hosting us before we head out to feed and trap.
Releasing cats who were sterilized the day before
