A dog named Johnny Justice could not be happier. He not only has a forever home, but new friends too. He stopped by Best Friends Animal Society’s booth at a recent trainers’ conference in Oakland, Calif., just to say hello.
Best Friends trainers participating in the recent Association of Pet Dog Trainers conference welcomed the pit bull with open arms. After all, Johnny Justice came from the same place as the 22 Victory dogs with whom each trainer has spent serious one-on-one time since they were handed over by a judge in January 2008 to Best Friends’ Dogtown. They’re practically family to Johnny Justice.
That point was not missed by Best Friends’ trainer Jennifer Severud, who says, “It was wonderful to meet him. Johnny is a fabulous ambassador for the breed, and what a testament to the resilience of dogs. He is wonderfully social; he showed off the tricks he’s learned.”
And that’s a large part of what trainers are all about, helping people and their pets forge new and lasting relationships, “growing our team, sharing resources and helping each other save more animals,” as Best Friends’ animal behavior consultant Sherry Woodard sums it up.
And what better place to do that than at a national conference for a thousand fellow trainers. Woodard gave a 1-1/2-hour speech during the final session, while trainers Pat Whitacre and Severud attended seminars plus helped man an informational booth, along with K-9 handler Sam Wike and volunteers from Purr ‘n Pooch boarding facility in New Jersey.
For Mike Harmon, it was an opportunity to interact and talk about a program geared to saving more animals. Harmon, coordinator for Best Friends’ Community Training Partners program, says reaching out to trainers in different communities is what his program is all about — being a resource for local shelters and rescue groups and creating a network of trainers.
Community Training Partners is designed to reduce the number of animals relinquished to municipal shelters by building a resource network of trainers to increase the retention rate in homes, raise adoption rates and decrease euthanasia in shelters. The program has identified six target cities, including Las Vegas.
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(l-r), Mike Harmon, Roseanne Wike, Sherry Woodard, Vicky Durnye, Sam Wike and Pat Whitacre. |
In that vein, in early December, APDT communications director Mychelle Blake and trainer Deb Manheim, both of whom live in Las Vegas and who attended the APDT conference, will travel to the Best Friends sanctuary to explore avenues to help pets and their people in the Las Vegas Valley as well as in other communities.
“There are many ways that our two organizations can work together to promote dog-friendly training and keep dogs in homes,” Blake says.
Woodard agrees that that’s the key — working together. “I think it’s the only way we’re going to be able to build this amazing team of people — cat people, dog people, wildlife people, all types of animal people,” she says. “If we embrace all of them, we’re going to get there.”
And a big way to do that, she says, is through the Best Friends Network site. At the conference information booth, “We encouraged people to join our Network, become members and help in the communities they live in,” she says. “They now have a place to send people — to our Network. It’s a valuable tool for people to find each other and stay connected.”
Through Blake and the APDT, a plan is in the works to connect its trainer site with the Best Friends Network to reach out to even more people. “It’s about getting connected and staying connected,” Woodard says. “When I spoke at the end of the conference, I really tried to encourage [attendees] to do more, so we can have more connections and save lives.”
Harmon echoes those sentiments. “The only way we’re going to solve these problems is if we all work together. We don’t have the resources to tackle these problems by ourselves,” he says.
That’s Blake’s goal too, keeping pets out of shelters toward a day when there are No More Homeless Pets. “Ultimately, as a former shelter staff person and volunteer,” Blake says, “I can say that much of the reason we have homeless pets is due to a lack of understanding and communication between humans and animals.”
“The more educated trainers are,” she explains, “the more likely we are to help keep more dogs in homes and educate the public who seek to adopt, so that their new pets become permanent residents instead of being bounced back to the shelters.”
Working together — the APDT and Best Friends — Blake says, “is a win-win situation for everyone involved — the shelters, the adopters, the trainers and the communities.”
And it helps pets like Johnny Justice, who recently graduated from training classes. At the conference, after he visited the Best Friends booth, Johnny Justice went on his way with his new person, who recently adopted him.
“It was really heartwarming to see the bond between Johnny and his dad,” Severud says. “He is a happy dog and very tuned into his new dad.”
Get connected with other animal advocates to help in your community by joining the Best Friends Network.
Written by Cathy Scott
Photos courtesy of APDT trainers
As part of Best Friends’ 25th anniversary in 2009, our goal is to double our membership, so we can double our efforts to bring about a time when all companion animals have a forever home. What can you do to help? Give the Gift of a Best Friends membership to family and friends.
