Posts tagged "Shelters"

Name: Jan Folk

Title: Founder, Orange Dog and Freedom Flights

Jan Folk not only owns the Orange Dog, a Canadian online boutique specializing in high-end products for dogs and humans, but she uses those profits to run Freedom Flights, a charity that takes dogs at risk of being euthanized in California and delivers them to a no-kill shelter in Canada to find new homes.

The charity, which works through an agreement with private airline Global Exec Aviation, has made headlines recently thanks to an endorsement from Kevin Costner, who recently flew with Folk on one of the flights.

Why did you start Orange Dog?
When my business partner and I sold our company, I thought it was a little early in my life to retire, so I began wondering what I was going to do next. In 2009, a friend came to see me and said that you're obviously a fanatic about dogs, and you live in Orange County part-time, (my other home is in Edmonton Alberta), why don't you start a store and call it Orange Dog? Later on we found out that it is the universal color for animal rescue, but that was a lucky coincidence; we had no idea at the time. We decided to start a web-based company. I'm very proud of the fact that 100 percent of the store's profits go to help the dogs.

How did Freedom Flights begin?
I sit on the board of the local Humane Society in Edmonton, and one day when I was speaking with the executive director, she said what would really help is if I could find a plane they could have access to and bring in dogs so they could get them adopted. I thought that was a good idea, not even really thinking it through, of course.

I had a marketing company put together a media plan, and we called them the Freedom Flights. The first flight we did was in June 2009, and we brought up 60 dogs. We bring them to Canada is because in California, the shelters always have an overabundance of dogs. Always. The shelters there unfortunately have to euthanize animals. That's why we take them to our Humane Society. As long as the animal is healthy, they aren't euthanized.

Tell me about your first Freedom Flight and how that motivated you to keep working.
It was absolutely amazing. The dogs were on this Gulfstream III, riding in the lap of luxury. I swear they acted like they knew they were going somewhere safe. When we got to Canada, the Humane Society was there to meet us, the media went crazy and everyone was happy. They took the dogs to the Humane Society, and within two to three weeks maximum, every one was adopted! This continues to happen time and again.

Even better, every time the California dogs come in, the adoptions of other dogs and cats also increase dramatically. It's a real bonus, and helps get a home for dogs that might not have been adopted.

Belgium is getting crowded. The country is home to 11 million people, and 1.7 million cats, the Guardian U.K. reports. Some 37,000 of those animals are strays that wind up in shelters and, often, are put down.

Enter the Multi-Annual Cat Plan 2011-2016. Over the next five years, the Belgian government plans to fix nearly all of the country's kitties, notes the Guardian U.K. The first part of the plan is that all shelter cats will be spayed or neutered. Later, cat sellers will have to comply with the new law. And you can forget about the "Kittens for Sale" ads on the street corner. Selling kittens through small ads or bulletin-board notices will be banned.

In the last phase of the plan, all cat owners will be required to register and sterilize their cats. Breeders and owners of pedigreed pets like Siamese will be exempt from sterilization, however, the Guardian reports.

Most animal welfare groups in Belgium are optimistic about the new law, but others are skeptical. "Pet owners will rebel and refuse to do it," Marleen Meerssemean, who helps run a rescue service for injured wild animals, told the Guardian. "And this wouldn't be Belgium if people did not find a back door."

But with so many felines prowling the country's town squares -- and overrunning the shelters -- it's clear that something needs to be done.

"We are confronted with a dramatic situation," Jan Eyckmans of the Belgian health ministry told the Guardian. The plan, he says, is Belgium's best chance "to halt the increase in the numbers of strays and cats collected in shelters."

What do you think? Should spaying and neutering cats be mandatory?

How does anyone find a dog? Impulse? Research? Trial and error? Blind luck? Fate?

My fiancée Anna and I are looking to adopt a dog. We currently share a postage stamp-sized one-bedroom walk-up in the NYC border town of Hoboken, New Jersey with Nora, a cuddly, who-you-callin'-obese, 10-year-old tuxedo cat. (She and I have the same birthday, May 29.)

Over the next few months, we will navigate some serious life changes and first time experiences, starting with our wedding. Then we plan to add to the drama by expanding our little family to include a dog or a puppy, which may well necessitate expanding our domicile.

From a canine perspective, we come from opposite backgrounds. Anna always had dogs growing up -- a Springer Spaniel, a Westie, a mutt and an English Bulldog -- while I never had house pets (my mom said she was allergic). Both of us feel ready and capable of caring for a dog, but what will be the best breed for us, and how will we find him or her?

By visiting shelters and breeders and speaking with friends and experts, we offer ourselves up as guinea pigs in this process, deconstructing and reporting the ups and downs of our quest for man's best friend. Every week I'll report back with stories about our search.

This week, the basics: Anna wants a smart, well-behaved pup who's good around kids, while I'm hoping for a friendly, small bugger who is not hyperactive or prone to barking.

Then again, who knows? We may just meet a puppy personality that's extraordinary enough to make us toss our preconceived ideas into the trash.

In any case, we'd love your input. How did you go about finding your dog, and was it a successful match?