Anya is a young and beautiful Siamese and Tortoise mix kitty looking for a loving home!

After opting not to subject our shelter pets to the "Dog Days of Summer" at the Sharp and Fulton County Fairs, the drop in temperatures makes it easier for our staff, volunteers, and animals to meet the community on August 30th at Choctaw Center.

We will be to the right of the entrance (look for the green canopies) while the Lions Club will have their carnival at the other end of the center. Joining us in participating in our adoption efforts is MPS Photography, a new professional photography studio in the center. Anyone donating a bag of dog or cat food, cat litter, or collars/leashes will receive a 20% off coupon for a professional photo session. This will come in really handy just prior to the holiday season!

We are always in need of volunteers to help out at the shelter as well and we're hoping now that school has started that some stay-at-home moms will want to spend a few hours a week helping out with the animals!

The Fourth of July weekend was a great weekend for us: we got all of our shelter pets on petfinder.com! Since then, we have seen an increase in adoptions and inquiries and are building great relationships with pet lovers nationwide! If you would like to check out what pets we have up for adoption, please go to www.petfinder.com/shelters/AR211.html .

One of the things we are really concerned about at our shelter, and we have found it to be a nationwide "epidemic": Black Dog Symptom! We had heard that black coated animals, cats and dogs alike, are the last to be adopted and it appears we're now suffering from the same symptom: We have an abundance of purebred and mixed Black Labrador Retrievers mostly, Rottweiler-Blue Heeler mixes and some other breeds as well.

One of our volunteers, Chuck Walker, has started training some of our dogs in basic commands, leash training, etc. to help make them more adoptable to members of our community.

We encourage all of you to come out and have a look, donate food and/or supplies, or volunteer a few hours of your time!

Thank you, folks!