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Special Thanks to the Petco Foundation

Thu, 30 May 2013 02:58:24 +0100

New Mexico Pets Alive! Receives $7,500 Petco Foundation Grant to Support Animal Welfare Efforts in Bernalillo County.

Albuquerque, NM ( 5/22/2013 ) — New Mexico Pets Alive! based in Albuquerque, NM, today announced it has been awarded a $7,500 grant from the Petco Foundation to help fund building improvements to deliver P.A.S.S. (Positive Alternatives to Shelter Surrender) programming for people and pets in the Albuquerque area. New Mexico Pets Alive! is a nonprofit organization working to help reduce the influx of lost and homeless pets arriving in New Mexico animal control depts and shelters while simultaneously helping to increase the health and live release rates of those companion animals.

The Petco Foundation grant will be used to to help prevent owner surrenders of cats and dogs to municipal shelters. The P.A.S.S. program was created by Austin Pets Alive! and will be launched here in New Mexico with the added component of a Training and Behavior Dept. to deliver targeted services for both people and pets in need. .

“The building we will be occupying requires repairs in order to make ready for our use to deliver much needed programming to help more people and pets. This grant from the Petco Foundation is an important next step in helping our organization to meet more of those needs for the community.” said Melissa Roberts, Executive Director of New Mexico Pets Alive!.

The Petco Foundation has served as a voice for companion animals across the country since 1999. Today, with more than 9,500 local animal-welfare partners across the country, the Petco Foundation donates approximately $15 million a year to make a difference in the lives of millions of animals. The organization is funded through donations raised during fundraisers conducted in Petco’s more than 1,200 stores across the country, as well as from Petco associates, vendors and corporate contributions. Money raised helps fund animal-welfare organizations, spay and neuter efforts, animal-assisted therapy programs and humane education. The majority of the funds raised remain in the communities where they were raised, and the Petco Foundation is also involved in many national animal-welfare efforts.

In 2012, the Petco Foundation surpassed $100 million in funds raised for companion animals since the organization was created. To learn more, visit www.petcofoundation.org

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About New Mexico Pets Alive! (NMPA!)
The mission of New Mexico Pets Alive! is to help reduce the influx of lost and homeless pets arriving in New Mexico animal control depts. and shelters while simultaneously helping to increase the health and live release rates of those companion animals. We wish our state of New Mexico to achieve the same companion animal welfare success of the now more than 300 cities across America, saving 90% - 98% of their lost and homeless pets. NMPA! seeks out the most successful companion animal life-saving programming being implemented across the United States and we then promote and work to deliver that programming here within our state of New Mexico for the benefit of our people and our pets. To learn more, please visit http://www.newmexicopetsalive.org

About Petco and the Petco Foundation
Petco is a leading pet specialty retailer that provides the products, services and advice that make it easier for our customers to be great pet parents. Everything we do is guided by our vision for Healthier Pets. Happier People. Better World. We operate more than 1,200 stores nationwide and in Puerto Rico, including more than 50 Unleashed by Petco locations, a smaller format neighborhood shop, and www.petco.com. The Petco Foundation, an independent nonprofit organization, has raised more than $110 million since it was created in 1999 to help promote and improve the welfare of companion animals. In conjunction with the Foundation, we work with and support thousands of local animal welfare groups across the country and, through in-store adoption events, help find homes for more than 350,000 animals every year.

Fundraiser for Betsy Boo - $35 donation receives a DVD copy of Beyond the Myth!

Tue, 11 Dec 2012 19:01:28 +0100

Betsy Boo is waiting for a forever home but we still need to raise the remainder of her $2500 vet bill - we still have $1300 more to raise. She did not have a happy past but ever since we welcomed her into our NMPA!/ABQPA! shelter pet rescue program, our Betsy Boo has nothing to offer but the BIGGEST smiles and kisses for everyone she meets. She deserves a great home!! We have not found a potential adopter with the ability to adopt a dog that comes with a $1300 outstanding vet bill so we're calling on fellow pittie lovers to join with us in raising the final amount to help Betsy take the next step on the road to her forever home.

DONATE $35 and RECEIVE a DVD COPY of the film BEYOND THE MYTH

"Unfairly known as violent killers, Pit Bulls have suffered from the stigma of negative media coverage that has lead to city-wide bans across the country. This breed-specific legislation has torn pets away from families, and killed thousands of innocent dogs in cities like Denver, Miami, Cincinnati, and San Francisco.

The film investigates the myths associated with these breeds, challenges the idea that they are inherently vicious, and presents eye-opening research regarding the media’s role in influencing people’s opinion on dog attacks.

Stripping away the preconceptions to show the loving companions they can be, Beyond the Myth is an important, must see film for all dog lovers."

View the movie trailer:

Long and Winding Road to No Kill Niagara

Tue, 28 Aug 2012 17:17:29 +0100

INSPIRATION!! “Sgt. Karl Bailey, a police officer, took over an animal control shelter in Seagoville, Texas. He had no formal experience. He was not familiar with the No Kill movement. He started as the new boss of Seagoville Animal Services in January 2011… One minute later, he abolished the gas chamber. His second minute on the job: he ordered the killing to come to an end. When someone asks you how long it should take to achieve No Kill, tell them about Sgt. Bailey. And then tell them: 120 seconds.” http://www.niagarafallsreporter.com/Stories/2012/Aug28/MorganStory.html

Saving Shelter Dogs in New Mexico

Mon, 18 Jun 2012 21:46:13 +0100

Saving Shelter Dogs in New Mexico

by: Melissa Roberts, Co-Founder and President, New Mexico Pets Alive!

April 6, 2012 – Albuquerque, New Mexico – After decades of slow momentum in quality of life improvements and unnecessary loss of life for many of New Mexico’s companion animals, the week of March 26 – 31, 2012 marked the beginnings of a shift toward maximum life-saving for New Mexico’s shelter dogs. Through the proven programming success (97% live release rate) of Aimee Sadler, Executive Director of Behavior and Training at both open admission shelters of Longmont Humane Society and the Southampton Animal Shelter Foundation, and the generosity of Animal Farm Foundation (AFF), New Mexico Pets Alive! (NMPA!) was able to propose and help deliver the beginnings of a transformation in New Mexico animal welfare for our shelter dogs.

NMPA! requested assistance from AFF to help bring about Aimee Sadler's visits to the municipal shelter facilities in both Raton, NM and Albuquerque, NM to deliver both a seminar presentation along with physical demonstrations and training for staff and volunteers to help them learn how to duplicate her program’s success within the context of their existing resources. Premier Pet Products generously provided each shelter location with a large complimentary delivery of pet supplies which came in very handy during the visits.

ROCKSTAR Taz and Springer - Raton, NM

The week began in Raton, NM with Aimee Sadler, her assistant, Mike Kaviani, Director of Behavior and Training for the Southampton Animal Shelter Foundation and me. I was ecstatic and nervous. From everything I had heard, I knew the seminar presentation was going to be phenomenal but the fact that we might be putting a large group of dogs together who had never likely interacted before honestly had me wondering and a little nervous.

The seminar and training in Raton, NM took place at the Raton Animal Shelter which for the past 30 years has been operated by The Raton Humane Society. The Society began 30 years ago when two sisters found 2 dogs frozen to death in freezing temperatures at their local animal control facility. They made a quick, bold decision to break into the facility and free the remaining animals with hopes that they might find adequate shelter somewhere and live through the night. They then turned to each other and asked, “Now what do we do?” Barbara Bonahoom, now President of the Raton Humane Society, remembers saying, “Well, I don’t know” and the next day, The Raton Humane Society was born. They have made vast improvements for their community’s homeless pets over the years but as we all know, when it comes to increasing the quality of life and maximizing life saving for our shelter pets, there is always room for improvement. The Raton Humane Society, their local animal services dept. and visitors welcomed us with an eagerness to learn about Aimee Sadler’s programming: Playing for Life.

Taz shows the pups at the Raton Animal Shelter how it’s done! At the end of the Raton’s first playgroup session, this blond colored “pit bull” type dog mix, named Taz, was dubbed the ROCKSTAR of the group for his confidence, tolerance, friendliness and ability to help both the pups and the other more nervous adult dogs feel welcome in playgroup.

Aimee Sadler’s informative power point presentation and Q+A session lasted more than 2 hours and then everyone was off to the shelter to get down to the physical playgroup demonstrations and training. (After Aimee and Mike left New Mexico, I readily admitted to them that I was beyond frightened by the aspect of standing in a big yard with who knows how many dogs at one time.) I was nervous but in for a pleasant surprise. First the adult dogs began coming in one by one after approval from either Aimee or Mike. Most poignant was the moment a dog named Taz, who was referred to as a pit bull mix dog, came into the yard and everyone outside of the fence observing seemed to be very concerned about what he would do and how he would react. Most seemed fearful of him so he wasn’t getting a lot of attention or walks. (Unfortunately, this shelter has very few volunteers and they could use many more so if you’re in the Raton area, please contact the shelter and offer a little of your time.) To everyone’s delight, after about 15 minutes of play, Taz began to show his true colors and turned out to be one diamond in the ruff! I almost shed some tears when everyone began to realize that if it weren’t for this experience, they may have never known how great this dog was. I’m happy to report that Taz has since found his forever family and is doing just fine.

Dogs showing their true colors, gifts and talents seemed to be a recurring theme during both the Raton and Albuquerque shelter visits. One by one, young and old, the dogs and pups of Raton played their hearts out, many for the first time ever interacting with another dog there. It was dogs helping dogs smooth out their nerves, tensions and fears and it was a beautiful sight to behold. Some dogs took longer than others to smooth out and some just didn’t like all the ‘hubbub’ but after our two day stay, I would guess that it benefited more than 95% of the dogs at the shelter.

Aimee Sadler, Mike Kaviani holding Springer and me with the bossy pup

Aimee Sadler demonstrating loose leash walking with Barker

Loose Leash walking the big brothers – great dogs + great people. THANK YOU RATON!

The people attending those play group sessions benefited as well. They observed transformations in dogs they never would have expected, learn the true value of dogs helping dogs and many also participated in loose leash walking and dog handling exercises. I personally learned a tremendous amount and I will always be thankful for the water bottle squirt correction kindly given to me by Mike Kaviani when I failed to drop the leash of one of the dogs entering playgroup. I was too concerned with remembering to pay attention to my footwork when letting dogs enter and exit the playgroup area that I somehow couldn’t hear the chorus of ‘DROP THE LEASH!’ being shouted behind me. Lesson learned among many others during that visit to Raton.

Albuquerque city shelter dogs having fun in playgroup!

There was a repeat of excitement and enthusiasm for Aimee Sadler’s visit to both Albuquerque Animal Welfare Dept shelters. We had been told that the volunteers had not been allowed to run playgroups at the two shelter locations so our hopes were high that after this visit, things might change and that the dogs there might start being able to benefit from this type of shelter enrichment programming.

The power point presentation was packed with guests from around the Albuquerque community. Again, Aimee Sadler delivered a very informative and insightful presentation and her assistant Mike Kaviani helped lend his perspective as well, followed by a Q+A session.

Then after lunch we headed to the Albuquerque Westside Shelter location where they were housing over 200 dogs at that time. The race was on to get as many of the dogs out and into playgroup opportunities as possible all while helping to instruct volunteers and staff on how to best manage the program. We did have one situation between 2 dogs who had been playing well in playgroup prior to the incident that resulted in a few surface bites. It was an opportunity to show the staff and volunteers the risks involved and how to best handle the situation. Everyone expressed their thoughts about how they were happy that Aimee and Mike were there to demonstrate how to best handle a dog to dog conflict outside of the basic tools used: water spray bottle, shake cans and air horns. If everything goes too smoothly during these sessions, there can be a false sense that dogs never get on each other nerves and that’s just not realistic. Just as people have conflict, dogs can and will too. The important thing is to begin to recognize what the dogs are trying to tell you and each other so that you as playgroup leaders can act and respond accordingly. In the beginning when you are working with dogs who have not had adequate exercise and dog to dog interaction, it sometimes takes some dogs longer to smooth out than others. And again, there will always be dogs who just won’t have the desire to participate.

The next day we took the programming to the Albuquerque Eastside shelter location where we seemed to have experienced a much broader range of dog personalities. We had shy dogs all the way to dogs which needed to begin playgroup muzzled until it was deemed safe to remove the muzzle. Nonetheless, even the dogs who started off muzzled were so ecstatic to be running free with other dogs that they didn’t even seem to notice the muzzle after just a couple of minutes.

Aimee and Mike were extremely generous with their time and stayed late to help staff and volunteers work on their dog handling and loose leash training skills. It was a great sight to see how quickly people and dogs were working so well together. I think Mike Kaviani ended up with the dog who may have been most resistant to walking on leash. He demonstrated how to best work with a dog like this and we all learned a deal from both he and Aimee.

Again, the same recurring experience took place. We saw dogs come out of their shell and play, most for the first time. They began to show their true colors and by that time I was personally convinced that no shelter in New Mexico should be without this shelter dog enrichment program. No wonder Aimee Sadler’s two open admission shelters had such high adoptability rates for their dogs! I would like our organization to help every shelter in New Mexico receive this enrichment programming knowledge for the dogs in their care. Any shelter director reading this is welcomed to contact New Mexico Pets Alive! by sending an email to mail@newmexicopetsalive.org to request assistance in bringing this programming to your shelter. Likewise, any potential sponsors out there reading this who may wish to help sponsor the delivery of this life saving program for shelter dogs in New Mexico, please contact us.

A few of the many positive responses we received after Aimee Sadler’s visit follow:

"I am a long time member of the Raton Humane Society and wanted to say how much I enjoyed the seminar in Raton. I could only get off work the first day but sure thought it was informative and loved the morning videos and afternoon playgroups with the pets equally. Thanks for coming to Raton."

"I thought it was wonderful. I really appreciated that she had information from studies but also visual clips of the dogs to support the research and claims. I certainly appreciate all she did for the dogs at the Westside and Eastside and would love if she could continue to follow up and help train staff to make the transition to allowing playgroups. I enjoyed both days and hope directors and staff at both shelters will begin to make the changes to accommodate this new philosophy."

"I greatly enjoyed her presentation and found it well done and displaying a real understanding of the unique challenges, of working with animals in the shelter environment. The playgroups and the necessary knowledge and skills needed to run them, were excellently explained and demonstrated to attendees. I personally feel that my training tool box has been expanded and I feel confident that I now have the skills to assist in the running of playgroups. I am personally grateful to Aimee, for opening this door for us and most importantly for the dogs that will benefit enormously from this enriching activity."

"Thanks for putting on this seminar with Aimee and Mike. I found it very helpful - thorough, well presented, and containing new ideas that I'll be able to use."

"Thank you the class was great I learned so much in that short time and I know our shelter dog will benefit so much from play groups we have a long way to go but with you and Aimee helping the New Mexico shelters we can get there."

Thank you again to Aimee Sadler, Mike Kaviani, the Raton Humane Society/Shelter, the Albuquerque Animal Welfare Dept., the volunteers and staff. And a very special thanks to Animal Farm Foundation for making this all possible!

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New Mexico Pets Alive! (NMPA!) is a registered 501-c-3 non-profit organization in the State of NM. Its mission is to reduce the influx of lost and homeless pets arriving in New Mexico shelters while simultaneously increasing the health and live release rates of those companion animals ending up in our animal control and shelter systems. This is achieved through seeking out the most successful life-saving programming being implemented across the United States then promoting and delivering that programming here in our state of New Mexico for the benefit of our people and our pets. Contact us: NMPA, PO Box 25661, Albuquerque, NM 87125 mail@newmexicopetsalive.org

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Change is in the Air - June 11th Marked the Safest Day for Shelter Pets and One of the Largest ...

Sat, 16 Jun 2012 16:31:20 +0100

(We preface this post with our thanks to those 23 New Mexico agencies and organizations who took the Just One Day pledge for June 11, 2012.)

Nathan Winograd, Mike Fry, Beth Nelson, Debi Day and all those with the No Kill Advocacy Center, Animal Ark and No Kill Nation who have helped lead the way to the safest day for shelter pets in US history never cease to amaze me. Their passion for and commitment toward working tirelessly for progress for our homeless pets, all while helping the rest of us in our own local communities and states (and now even beyond the United States) be uplifted, supported, advised and assisted serves as a constant inspiration to me personally. It should serve as inspiration for you too. There are now hundreds of thousands of us all across America actively working toward ensuring that our local animal control depts and shelters rigorously and comprehensively implement the only model which has help communities across the country save more than 90% of their community's homeless pets, month after month after month: the No Kill Equation. About 6 months after we started beating the drum to rally everyone to learn the truth about No Kill, Animal Humane New Mexico, co-opted (lifted) Nathan Winograd's No Kill Equation, tweaked a few words (very few words), renamed it the 'Humane Equation' and placed it on their website as their own. At least they are acknowledging it but all the while they are reportedly telling their volunteers that No Kill is not possible. We'll see you on the No Kill bus when you're ready, Animal Humane New Mexico. Likewise for the Albuquerque Animal Welfare Dept. Helping animals is not about power, brands, positions or paychecks. It's about the animals. Period.

We are on the road toward No Kill here in New Mexico and while it's a very long road ahead, no matter the odds stacked against progress and the perpetual excuses laid at our feet daily or why it can't happen here, it will happen. 71% of America recently polled said they do not want shelters to kill savable animals. That's a very healthy majority. When readily available alternatives to the killing is available, the excuses are no longer accepted.

We know why No Kill is not currently happening here in NM and after 12 months of learning, mentorship, training and encouragement, we know how to change the tide toward real progress for homeless pets in New Mexico. The approximately 100,000 not making it out alive of our shelter systems every year can be a thing of the past. Everyone who wishes to work toward real progress for our homeless pets is most welcomed on the bus. Join us today and we'll be one step closer to creating a No Kill state of NM, where every healthy and treatable homeless pet finds a loving forever home.

Thank you to everyone doing their part,
Melissa Roberts, Executive Director
New Mexico Pets Alive!
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Aimee Sadler departs Longmont Humane Society to serve shelters nationally

Thu, 07 Jun 2012 10:31:30 +0100

For many years Aimee Sadler had been working double and triple-time as Executive Director of 2 open admission shelter Behavior and Training programs for shelter dogs on top of helping shelters nationwide. Shelters across the country will now have expanded access to her services and the life of many more shelter dogs is about to get much sweeter. We're THRILLED about what's in store for shelter dogs across America!!

FWD...

News Release/For immediate Release

Contact: Aimee Sadler

303-775-5491

aimee@sasfinc.org

AIMEE SADLER ASSISTS SHELTERS NATION WIDE

After creating and implementing successful life-saving behavior programs at Longmont Humane society and Southampton Animal Shelter, Aimee Sadler prepares to support other shelters in need.

LONGMONT, CO & SOUTHAMPTON, NY – May 29, 2012 – Aimee Sadler has formally announced that she is now available to shelters across the country to assist with the implementation of measured enrichment, training and behavior programs that will support substantially reducing the euthanasia of companion animals in shelters nationwide.

Aimee has been employed by a private party to work with shelter animals since 1999. In this time she has developed comprehensive training & behavior programs that feature play groups as the foundation for happier and healthier sheltered dogs at the Southampton Animal Shelter and at the Longmont Humane Society. Since the implementation of these programs, euthanasia has decreased dramatically. Both open admission shelters maintain a Canine Live Release Rate exceeding 95% and have become national leaders in shelter canine behavior and adoption follow-up programs under Aimee’s professional guidance since 2005.

As a result of these successful models, Aimee’s work is consistently presented at Animal Welfare and Professional Dog Training Conferences, such as HSUS Animal Expo, No More Homeless Pets Conference, International Association of Canine Professionals Conference, Masters in Behavior Conference and the No Kill Conference and she is one of the honored recipients of the Henry Bergh Leadership Award for 2012. Her efforts have been recognized by leaders in the field such as Dr. Pamela Reid, PhD, CAAB, Vice President of the ASPCA Behavior Center, “Aimee Sadler’s behavior program at the Longmont Humane Society is one of the most progressive programs I’ve seen in shelters…Aimee takes behavioral knowledge and creates new applications”.

Numerous shelters have reached out to Aimee for training and behavior assistance resulting in her team traveling the country to teach shelters how to implement daily canine play groups. There has been increased demand for her behavioral expertise and unique ability to assess current policies and operational protocols that can be modified to increase life-saving as well enhance the quality of life for sheltered dogs.

While Aimee has been deployed to LHS and SASF in recent years, her donor has recognized the expanded value of her efforts and wants to extend Aimee’s expertise to shelters nationwide as she continues her industry leading work at the Southampton Animal Shelter in New York.

One of the Many Reasons, We Need More Ryan Clinton's in the World

Mon, 21 May 2012 22:19:34 +0100

Here is another article of almost sheer perfection in explanation by Ryan Clinton writing in O is For Onward.

"The number of cliches one uses to describe America’s pet-killing habit is inversely proportional to one’s knowledge of the solutions to such killing: the more cliches one uses, the less he or she understands the subject." Read the entire post at: http://oisforonward.com/2012/05/sadly-there-are-too-many-cliches

Do the Right Thing

Sat, 19 May 2012 19:58:20 +0100

"Reaching out, and doing the right thing, will invite criticism. There are always going to be people who want to see you fail and would rather see you fail than actually be a part of the solution. You have to do the right thing, even if it invites criticism." http://btoellner.typepad.com/kcdogblog/2012/05/no-kill-is-a-journey-not-a-destination-and-what-we-can-learn-from-austins-news-this-week.html

There is no magic number of years to attain a No-Kill community - it happens as quickly as your ...

Tue, 08 May 2012 19:01:48 +0100

"The truth is it doesn’t take five years to implement alternatives to killing. It doesn’t take five years to set up a foster program, to recruit volunteers, or to set up offsite adoption venues. All of these things can be done in a matter of days, weeks, months, whatever needs dictate to prevent killing. No Kill requires action, not endless planning and five years of fundraising. In fact, the communities across the country that have ended the killing of healthy and treatable animals, saving well in excess of 90% of all intakes, did so virtually overnight; as new leadership took over the shelter and did what the former refused to do: comprehensively implement alternatives to killing." http://www.nathanwinograd.com/?p=9198

Because rigorous and comprehensive implementation of the No Kill Equation is not being conducted across our New Mexico shelter system, New Mexico Pets Alive! (NMPA!) is involved in both directly creating supplemental necessary programming in order to fill current gaps as well as providing informational and other support services to others because the lives of animals cannot wait, nor should they have to. Please visit: http://www.newmexicopetsalive.org/no-kill-progress-in-new-mexico.php to connect with the effort to maximize life-saving efforts of the lost and homeless pets in your local community. If you do not see an effort indicated for your local community, email us to request help to launch an effort in your community or complete a volunteer application and once an effort is launched in your local community, you will be contacted.

With thanks for caring and ACTING TODAY to make a difference,
Melissa Roberts, Executive Director
NMPA!

Welcome America's 35th No-Kill community: Midland County, Michigan! Another high kill, rural ...

Mon, 07 May 2012 17:20:32 +0100

"classic story today of a county that used to be high kill but turned around under new management and immediately went no kill. They didn’t need a 3-year or 5-year or 10-year plan — they just did it. That county is Midland, in the state of Michigan, and here’s their story." http://www.no-killnews.com/?p=4614

No-Kill update for New Mexico: We are in the process of submitting the Town of Edgewood and City of Santa Fe for review for No-Kill status feedback as "communities to watch". Publicly accessible stats (typically published on a city or county's website) is a requirement that must be met before a community can be confirmed as No-Kill. (The Village of Corrales is listed as a 'communities in progress' at http://www.no-killnews.com/ but they still have not made their statistics publicly available - we hope they do soon so they can been officially documented.) Please remember that individual no-kill shelters do not make a community No-Kill. That can only be accomplished when all animal control/services depts. and shelters in a city, town, village or county have achieved a minimum save/live release rate of 90% (As we've stated many times before, 90% is only a minimum benchmark. When it comes to our community's animals, no one is satisfied with minimum success. We all want to achieve maximum save/live release rates of 97% - 98% as only 2% - 3% of animals entering the system are truly vicious or irredeemably suffering. The rest are healthy or treatable and can find a loving home with adequate programming in place.) If you'd like to have your city, town, village or county submitted for No-Kill status review, please send an email to mail@newmexicopetsalive.org with data on your current lost, feral cat and homeless pet intake and save rates for 2011.
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