HALO has been very busy recently also. They have moved their office and meeting location to Egyptian Stationers in Belleville. Egyptian is graciously allowing HALO to store our belongings and have all of our meetings at their store at 107 West Main Street. The location is dog-friendly, so sometimes I can go to meetings. (My new brother has been going mostly ’cause Mom says if she leaves him at home he misbehaves.) Anyway, if you wish to join me at any HALO meetings, remember the new location is 107 West Main in Belleville at Egyptian Stationers.

Our 4th Annual Wine and Howl was on 10-10-10 and was a huge success. I have to thank Paulo Pacheco at Paulo’s at the Mansion for hosting the event and serving such fantastic food. Jason Garm provided the music, and our vendors were all great. HALO’s volunteers are the heart of everything we do, and this event was no exception.  We had a very successful silent auction and there were lots of friendly dogs in attendance. We have reports of four dogs being adopted that day! We love to hear about adoptions since there are so many homeless pets. HALO has decided that the proceeds from this event will be divided between ARRF, Four Hearts, Gateway Pet Guardians, and Spencer Rescue. All of these organizations work hard to reduce the homeless pet population, and we can’t wait to share our money with them.

HALO also hosted our very first Urban Golf Challenge on October 24th. We had a good group of players and they all had an exceptional time. Thanks to our bars and sponsors, Paylater Auto Sales, Cutter’s Bar, Tim and Joes, Crehan’s, Vespers, Fischer’s Restaurant, Shenanigans, The Acropolis, and the Cigar Inn.   Fischer’s won the trophy for the best hole, but Cigar Inn ran a close second!

We are planning to walk in the Santa Day Parade again this year with Gateway Pet Guardians’ foster dogs. Please look for us there, and join us if you want to walk the parade route.

Our calendar of events is on our website, so stay tuned for upcoming events. We hope to see you soon!

Happy Trails from Wrangler, the Official HALO Honorary Reporter

Wrangler
Honorary HALO reporter

Wrangler here, writing again after a little time off for knee surgery.  I’m still under the influence of tranquilizers, but doing much better.  I am writing to remind you about this year’s Santa Parade in Belleville, Illinois on November 27th.  This year HALO will be walking dogs with Gateway Pet Guardians.  If you go back through the older posts, you will see my story about last year’s Santa Parade.  We had a great deal of fun and many dogs were adopted due to this event – so we are doing it again this year to try to help other dogs get adopted.  Please come out to see the parade and be sure to wave at the HALO Group and Gateway Pet Guardians.  We will be the ones handing out candy canes and doggy treats!

Many pets die each year in the sweltering heat of parked cars while faithfully waiting for their owners.  The temperatures rise drastically above those outside in a matter of moments.   More importantly,  partially opened windows make an insignificant difference in the inside temperatures.    Take a look at this website to see the relationship between outside temps and the temperature inside a car with the windows cracked open.  It is alarming.  A desert tortoise couldn’t survive that heat!  http://woofreport.list-manage.com/track/click?u=001b20a97f83f1cc2b038f0a9&id=41a44377d7&e=f48a35dd9b

As a dog, I know I love to go along with you and I will even beg at the door when you leave, regardless of the heat.  But I don’t expect that I’m not going into the store or the dry cleaners with you on your errands.  I can’t think that far ahead.  So please ignore my sad looks and leave me at home if you are going to be out of the car at all on those hot, dog days of summer.

Thanks, and enjoy the dog days! 

Wrangler, Official Honorary HALO Reporter

For more info, please go to www.mydogiscool.com

This past weekend the HALO Group did something wonderful for pets.  They donated pet oxygen masks to the Belleville Fire Department.  The fire department was given four sets of masks, in small, medium and large to be used on pets that have suffered smoke inhalation in house fires.  Each fire house will have a set, so all of Belleville will be covered. 

Traditionally, when firefighters come upon a pet that is struggling for oxygen following a house fire, they have used human oxygen masks to try to assist the pet’s breathing.  Since the masks are shaped for human faces they don’t usually fit us dogs (or cats) very well.  The firefighters are left trying to do the best they can to hold the mask onto the animal’s nose area to get it oxygen.  Pet oxygen masks are made to fit pets.  They are longer and cone-shaped.  They have a rubber seal at the wide end and are much more efficient in getting oxygenated air to the animal.

The Belleville Fire Department was very excited to receive these masks.  They said that they rescue animals at least four times a year or more.  HALO will also be donating masks to O’Fallon, Shiloh, Freeburg, Millstadt, and East St. Louis Fire Departments.

If your community doesn’t have pet oxygen masks for their fire department, have the fire chief contact HALO.  The HALO Group would like to see all fire departments have masks, and will work with the chief to help the department obtain them.

Stay Safe,

Wrangler

As all dogs are, I am always up for a trip in the car.  If you’re planning a trip and you are going to be taking your furry friend with you, there are some things you need to know about traveling with us.

1.)  Not all dogs/cats are used to automobile travel.  If you’re going to be taking one of us on a long car ride, get us prepared by taking us on shorter trips first.  We’ll all be a whole lot happier if we practice car rides before we take off on a long one.

2.)  Don’t forget to pack our water bowl and some fresh water for us.  You can always go through a drive-through and pick up a soda, but we won’t be happy without water.

3.)  If you’re using a crate, don’t forget to remove the leash once you’ve gotten us safely inside the crate.  You know how we can squirm sometimes.  A leash can get caught on things and choke us while we are in the crate.

4.)  Before you go, check to make certain that the hotel, airlines, and campgrounds you may be visiting will allow your furry friend to be with you.  Even if you’re just going to visit a friend or relative, check with them ahead of time.  Not all people and places love animals as much as you do.

5.)  Hey – don’t forget my health records!  I can’t prove that I’ve had a rabies shot and good medical care without your help.

6.)  This one’s really important!  Take a recent picture of me along with you and be able to describe me accurately in case one of us would get lost or seperated from you.  I don’t really want to consider it, but it happens.  If your furry friend were to be lost away from home, could you do your best to help find him or her? 

7.)  Along the same lines as the last one, don’t forget to make sure my ID tag is recently updated and attached securely to my collar.   Better yet, have us micro-chipped by your veterinarian or local humane society.  We can sometimes lose our tags and even our entire collar, but if we have that micro-chip implanted, we are forever linked to you.  Even if someone were to steal us, no shelter or experimental lab will mistake us for a stray or unwanted animal.  They will always be able to help us find our way home if we have a micro-chip.

8.)  If your furry friend rides politely in a crate or in your car, please don’t feel the need to sedate him or her.  Some of those meds can make us sick.  It’s no fun to travel with equilibrium or respiratory problems.  Those meds can trigger some strange reactions, so be sure to consult your veterinarian.

9.)  And, last but not least, please be sure that our shots are up to date.  Just like you, when we are in new environments we may be susceptible to viruses and infections that are not quite so common in our home environment.  Making certain our innoculations are updated will help us have a happy and healthy vacation experience.

We all look forward to travel and seeing new places and people.  If you follow these few suggestions our trips together will be fun for everyone.  Happy trails!

Wrangler here, reporting to you that Spring has sprung.  I don’t want to sound like a broken record, but Mom has seen alot of heartworm positive dogs at the local shelters lately.  That really annoys me and makes me sad, because heartworm is a devastating condition for dogs like me, and it is absolutely preventable. 

If you have a dog, PLEASE, please, please, protect it from heartworm with a simple monthly heartworm treatment.  Now is the time to start.  You can get it at your vet’s office.  I don’t even mind taking mine because they are meat flavored.  It is so much cheaper to give your furry friend a heartworm preventative than trying to treat heartworm after your pet has it.  It can cost hundreds of dollars to treat, and it is a killer if left untreated.  OKAY?  Nuff said about heartworm.

Check out Halo’s calendar.  Halo is going to have a booth at Bark’s Pawfestival.  It is coming up on May 30th at Melvin Price Memorial Park in Swansea, IL.  Bring your pet with you, and drop by the HALO booth to see what’s happening.  You can buy a HALO T-shirt for yourself, and a HALO bandana for your furry friend.  Maybe I’ll see you there!

The holidays have passed, and the decorations are slowly coming down at my house.  We had a wonderful holiday at my new home.  For the first time in my life Santa left presents for me under the Christmas tree.  It was great to be part of a real family at the holidays and to be inside the house to share in the festivities.  Not all pets are so lucky.  Some pets live outside year round. 

Living outside can create serious problems for pets.  The HALO group is receiving many requests for monetary assistance with heartworm treatments.  Heartworms are contracted during the warm weather months and are passed by the bite of a mosquito carrying the heartworm larvae.  It seems that many of the dogs that are homeless at this time of year must have been outdoor dogs during the warm summer months, because many of them are suffering from heartworm.  Heartworms invade the heart and lungs of pets, and cause serious damage and even death.  It is a treatable medical condition, but the treatment is expensive and requires the animal have a calm, quiet place to recover for several months.   Even though they would love to be able to help all of the pets suffering from heartworm, it is beyond HALO’s mission statement.  The worst part of this sad and serious problem is that it is totally preventable.

Even dogs that live indoors most of the time can be bitten by a mosquito and contract heartworms.  It’s very important that you talk with your veterinarian about heartworm preventative medicine.  I take a chewable tablet once a month to keep me safe from heartworm.  The tablet even tastes good, so I never complain about taking it.  My family says that the cost of preventing heartworms is much more affordable than trying to treat a pet once it has heartworm, not to mention the damage it could do to the pet’s heart and lungs.

Please ask your veterinarian about heartworm preventative medication.  Many lives could be saved if all dogs could have heartworm preventative treatment.  It is a small price to pay to protect your pet from a killer. In this case, an ounce of prevention is truly worth a pound of cure.

I hope you all had a good holiday.  I’ll write again soon.

Wrangler, HALO’s honorary reporter

My family put up the Christmas decorations this weekend.  I watched with great interest, as I have never seen such glittery, exciting things in a house.  The decorations are beautiful and hold much intrigue – especially to dogs and cats.  So, I’m writing to remind you that as beautiful as the Christmas decorations are, they can also be very dangerous for your pets.

Ribbons and wrappings can be ingested by your pets, causing stomach irritations and blockage.  Pointsettias can make your pets ill if they eat the leaves.  And candy….ooh candy.  It is so delicious, but chocolate can cause the kidneys of dogs and cats to fail. 

And what guest doesn’t want to sneak a little treat to the host pets?  While the Christmas party is going on, Fido and Boots may be getting little extra bites of the buffet.   Did you know that grapes and raisins can make dogs and cats very ill?  And, of course, we will beg for them just the same .

I’m asking you to please police your house for dangers to your family pets.  Christmas season is beautiful and fun, but a veterinary tragedy can spoil it for everyone.  If you want to make your pets feel special, keep dangerous decorations out of their reach, and spoil them with pet treats rather than human foods.

Have a safe and happy holiday,

Wrangler

The HALO Group and all of their volunteers gathered early at the Belleville Area Humane Society.  All of the shelter dogs had been fed early so they could walk in the parade in hopes of finding a home for the holidays.  J.J., the shelter worker brought out one dog after another, introducing them and handing them off to volunteers to leave for the parade route.  There were so many volunteers, they nearly emptied the shelter.  There were dogs of every size and breed.  Volunteers transported the dogs in their own vehicles to the designated area along the parade route.  HALO was number 53 in the parade.  As they waited for the parade to begin each of the dogs was adorned with a green Humane Society bandana and a red Christmas ribbon around its neck.  Every one of them looked fantastic!

HALO had a truck pulling a hayride wagon that was beautifully decorated – thanks to Candy and Eric.  The tired dogs and children could take a break and ride in the wagon if needed.  Volunteers passed out candy canes to the children and milk bones to the dogs that were watching along the parade route.  Little children ran out into the street to pet the dogs, and there were lots of “oohs” and “aahs” and “Look at that one!” heard as the dogs passed the crowds of people.  All of the dogs were very well-behaved.

It seemed like no time at all until the parade came to an end.  The Humane Society came to pick up most of the dogs.  Volunteers drove the rest of the dogs back to the shelter – all of the dogs but one that is.  A little dog named Bozo found his forever home on the parade route.  His volunteer fell in love before she ever got back to the shelter with him.  He used his “saddest eyes” look and slept in her arms for most of the parade.  He was so happy and relaxed to be out of the shelter that she just couldn’t take him back.  He was lucky enough to go home with her.  Bozo found his home-for-the-holidays.  Just like me, he has been renamed.  I know he has much to be thankful for this holiday season.

Remember, there are alot of great dogs and cats living in shelters all over the country.  They are just waiting for a home and owners that will love them.  If you are considering getting a new pet for the holidays, please go visit the pets at your area shelter.  Help save a life.  Adopt a pet.  And don’t forget the HALO slogan – Killing is not the answer.  “Fix” the problem.  Spay, neuter, and adopt! 

Bye for now, and I’ll write again soon.

Wrangler, the Official Honorary Reporter