UP AND COMING

Fashion Paws to counter alleged dog, cat blacklist

The seventh Paws on the Runway fundraiser for Central Arkansas Rescue Effort for Animals is coming up May 1 at the Governor’s Mansion, and in a profile of event chairman Ashley Younger in Soiree this month, the theme “Rescue Is the New Black” was chosen, she says, “to raise awareness of the low adoption and high euthanasia rates of black cats and dogs in shelters.” That’s not the reason stated in a news release last month with Younger’s name at the top. “Rescue is the new black” because “it” - rescue - “looks great on everyone and never goes out of style!” So, it would seem “Rescue is the new black” is kind of a gray area.

“Actually, it’s both,” says CARE executive director Jon Garrison.

CARE is an interesting outfit.It’s not a pet shelter but a “shelter rescue” - a nonprofit that delivers shelter animals slated for euthanasia to foster homes while it aggressively tries to place those animals with permanent families and owners. If there’s a group familiar with the vagaries of human pet choices, it’s CARE.

Younger is not only the event chairman but a longtime “case manager.”“I’m always surprised what people are looking for in a dog.”

“All case workers kind of find their niche,” she added, “[and] I do designer dogs. They will fly out of CARE. A purebred Yorkie? That may be gone in a week. It comes down to how picky I am.”

That’s right. With designer dogs, Younger can be picky who gets it.

“I could have a dog with such a better disposition, really a much nicer dog, but it’s a larger dog like a large Lab mix, and we can have that dog six months.”

So, back to the low adoption-high kill rate of black dogs and cats in shelters. It’s often called Black Dog Syndrome, and while it has its own Wikipedia page, there’s some debate over whether the bias is real, or anecdotal and media-generated. But recently the shelter came into care of a litter of lab-cocker spaniel puppies they dubbed the Seven Dwarves - “sometimes it’s hard coming up with names,” Garrison says - and the lightest ones adopted out first.

One of the Paws dogs is Buster, a black Lab mix that came to the shelter in August and was ultimately adopted by a retired couple, New York Yankees fans who renamed him Jeter.

“The day we live in, most people will get their dogs from pictures online, and you really can’t capture a black dog’s personality in a photo,” Garrison says.

Basically, black dogs seem less expressive in photos. They seem less like the focal point of the pictures, more like the cutout.

Another speculation is that a preponderance of dogs that attack humans in movies and television are black. Then, of course, there’s the superstition that black cats are harbingers of evil and misfortune.

In Buster’s case, CARE thought he’d move quickly despite their simple photo just because he’s “such a great dog,” Garrison says. He didn’t. So the rescue enlisted Sync Weekly staff photographer Arshia Khan.

“Having great photos of our adoptable pets makes a world of a difference,” says programs coordinator Anna Beall, who first spotted Khan’s talent when she saw pictures of a kitten Khan had temporarily adopted.

After her photos of Buster were posted, the dog was adopted within days.

Paws on the Runway begins at 6 p.m. May 1 at the Governor’s Mansion. Beall, Garrison, Jeter (nee Buster) and of course Younger will be there. For more information, call (501) 603-2273, or visit CAREForAnimals.org.

HEALING HEARTS

I marvel at how much fun kids can have. Paul Rudd’s character in the movie Knocked Up watches his kids play with bubbles and says, “I wish I liked anything as much as my kids like bubbles.”

Part of it is the novelty of almost anything; the world is so fresh for tadpoles. Part of it is the energy kids bring to bear on everything. Still another part is that they are not in the habit of considering sadness in the face of gladness.

Death has the profundity to change that, and that’s why Methodist Family Health founded its Camp Healing Hearts about 12 years ago. It’s a free, 24-hour camp for children (and a family member) who have experienced the death of someone close. It’s fairly small - 40 kids and their adult guardians - and is an extension of Methodist’s Kaleidoscope Grief Center (which is not free).

The dates are May 16-17 at Camp Aldersgate in Little Rock, but the registration deadline is May 1. You can find out more by calling (501) 537-3991, or emailing Katherine Gipson at kgipson@methodistfamily.org.

Let me understand, a free stay at Camp Aldersgate, with the swimming and the fishing and the exploring and the games and fun? Why isn’t this bigger than a few dozen kids?

“It can be intimidating to come to camp if it’s for your grief,” says Janet Breen, a counselor and director of Kaleidoscope. “A lot of time, when you’re grieving, your self-esteem isn’t where it usually is; your follow-up isn’t good.

“We’re trying to reach people who haven’t had any services. We have to break that barrier to let them know, this is a caring environment.”

Nancy Thomas of North Little Rock has a master’s in social work and volunteered at Healing Hearts for two years before she lost her father in 2012.

“Certainly, when I was volunteering, I never thought I’d be a participant. My father passed away, and one of the first things I did [was sign up] because I knew the benefit of it.”

She and her two daughters, now 10 and 8, went twice.

“What everyone finds at the end of that weekend is you can have fun again. You can laugh again, and that’s OK, because after the loss of a loved one sometimes you feel like it’s not OK.” Pass along event news or trends you’ve noticed among charities, (501) 378-3574, or bampezzan@arkansasonline.com

High Profile, Pages 35 on 04/20/2014

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