Kudos to Pet Valu for hosting a Pet Adoption Weekend!

I love offsite pet adoption events!  Whats not to love?   They are a great way to reach out to potential first time adopters!   Even better, kind hearts have a chance to dip their toes in the water with a 'sneak preview' before actually jumping in with an application!   Best of all of course is that the adorable adoptables are the very best ambassadors ... and can do a wonderful job of selling themselves when folks can meet them 'in furson'!
This weekend, at three Pet Valus around the province, local rescues are having offsite adoption events:

• SHAID is at the Bridgewater store, promoting the value of TNR and spay neuter ... with some of their purrfect pals,
• East Coast German Shepherd Rescue is at the store in Dartmouth and
• CAPS is at the Greenwood Mall.

It is a well known fact that me and my trifocals aren't going into the city anytime in the next millennium... but the Greenwood mall is actually only three km away!  This morning I went down and was pleased to see such great support for CAPS from the store!
What a nice display!    Nice clean crates with beautiful cats were softened up with colorful blankets, cat toys and name tags!   All sorts of very cool .. and affordable fundraising bits!  (Even if one wasn't thinking of adopting, the homemade cat and dog toys would be well worth making the trip for!)
With over a hundred cats in care on any given day, there would be no way to bring them all into the store.    Instead there was a nice rolling display of slide shows set up on a laptop for visitors to peruse.
Casual visitors could lend their support simply by buying tickets on the beautiful rug .. pictured above.  
Last but not least, there were all sorts of informative little pamphlets .. on everything from CAPS sponsorship program to their Humane Education Program.  To be perfectly honest, even I did not know that their President .. who is also a retired school teacher... had made time in her busy schedule to set this up!
For anyone in the Greenwood area .. CAPS will be back at the store tomorrow ... as will ECGSR in the Dartmouth store and SHAID in Bridgewater store.   All month long, all three stores are selling pawprints for donations for the rescues ... with all proceeds this month going to the rescues featured this weekend.
It takes a lot of work to organize the level of support that CAPS has developed.  It is more than the sum of all the pamphlets and programs!   It is a group effort that sustains such support that long after people leave the area, they are still knitting mice and mailing cat toys back here.
What time is it?  It is time to remember that these events also represent a great opportunity for anyone interested in fostering or transporting or helping with admin work to talk to the folks with the rescue first!

No doubt about it ... CAPS volunteers are living proof that nice guys don't have to finish last!

Charley reminds me of my own handsome Clive ... and he is just as affectionate!

This beauty made such an impression that a family was putting in an application on her while I was in the store :)

Bubba and Buddy

Morrisette thinks that thes cookbooks would make great stocking stuffers ... and that they are a steal at five bucks!

What a great idea .... battery operated reflectors for Fido's collar for walking at night instead of the throwaway ones.  Here in Nova Scotia, for six months of the year anyone walking their dogs after supper could use one of these :)

Tickets are available for the Annual CAPS May Dinner and Silent Auction

CAPS supporters may sometimes be posted away, but keep sending toys from as far away as Manitoba :)

Anyone with a dog knows how useful these are :)

This is the CAPS pawprint display in Greenwood .... ECGSR supporters can buy these at Pet Valu in Dartmouth and SHAID supporters in Bridgewater.    Isn't this so much nicer to see pet stores helping rescue instead of creating problems for rescues to clean up?