Another holiday, already? Haven’t we just packed up those gaudy decorations and gotten back to our sensible routines? And now here’s another call to celebration, a not-very-subtle cultural command that we get all romantic and shower our sweethearts with love. Yes – bah, humbug! – but we can vow to make it meaningful.
We decided to dedicate this Valentine’s issue to topics beyond the typical heart-on-your-sleeve kind of sentiment. Love is, after all, more than some sappy sentence on a greeting card. It’s a complex and vastly rewarding experience involving a multitude of hormones and sensations, blood markers and brain changes – and according to recent research on the subject, our dogs feel it, too.
So in these pages we bring you canine love in action by spotlighting local people and groups who express their deep devotion to dogs by saving and improving canine lives. The Bay Area is home to a host of top-notch rescue groups, animal shelters, and humane organizations – all worthy of our gratitude and support. We wish we could have included them all in this issue. Impossible, of course, so we spotlight just some of the great ones.
In the Nose for News column, learn about a number of creative local programs aimed at saving dogs. There’s also a shout-out in there for Pet Food Express, whose great charitable works on behalf of animals has (again) been nationally recognized.
Learn about a fabulous program at Muttville called Seniors for Seniors, which pairs older dogs in need of homes with older people in need of companionship – to the everlasting benefit of all.Next, a dedicated dog lover shares her ingenious way of helping out the homeless dogs at her local shelter, Animal Care & Control in San Francisco. You, too, can throw a Valentine’s Day party that’s a fundraiser in disguise.
There are so many ways to let our love for dogs take flight – and sometimes they actually involve airplanes. We profile two organizations run by pilots who offer rescue animal transport, delivering dogs and other critters from overcrowded shelters to locations where the animals are in greater demand for adoption. Very cool.
No doubt you know which little things most delight your dog and you provide them in abundance, but have you covered all the big, important stuff? Click on the A-Z list and consider it a blueprint for really showing how much you care.
Good health, in people and in animals, is the essential foundation for all good things. That’s why enhancing your pup’s wellness is an important expression of your love. Check out for a holistic veterinarian’s suggestions for key canine nutritional supplements. And don’t neglect to safeguard your four-legged Valentines by keeping human tokens of love like chocolates and bouquets out of their reach.
Thanks to a whole lot of dog lovers, including Governor Jerry Brown, our furry companions are more welcome than ever at California dining establishments – just in time for Valentine’s Day. A new law that went into effect on January 1 removed regulatory obstacles for restaurants willing to serve you and your dog. This exciting legislation makes a five-week training class currently offered at The SPCA for Monterey County especially timely. Called Dining with your Dog, it teaches canines to be good patrons at eating establishments.
There’s so much Cupid-approved content in this issue that I couldn’t cover it all in this column. So just relax, read, and enjoy. Hopefully something on our website will move you to put your own canine love into action.
Next month we bring you the winners of our 2015 Beast of the Bay Awards contest, in which Bay Woof readers have voted for their favorite dog-centric people, places, and things. Don’t miss it!
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