Posts tagged "stray dogs"

A reality TV show about stray dogs in Detroit, canceled after officials denied the Discovery Channel permission to film, may still help the Motor City's needy canines.

In frustration at the decision by Mayor David Bing's film office, two of the filmmakers have continued the fight -- online, on the airwaves and onto the streets of Detroit.

Executive producer Monica Martino and location scout Dan Carlisle -- a local rapper known as Hush -- began by posting a short but shocking video about the problem on YouTube on Jan. 31, shortly after the city's refusal to grant the permit.

The four-minute film has since drawn more than 70,000 hits and the pair claim to have received more than $7,000 in donations to their newly created animal rescue charity, Detroit Dog Rescue.

Martino, who appeared on MSNBC to highlight the issue earlier this month, has quit her producing job to spearhead the cause alongside Hush. The pair held their first town hall meeting in Detroit on Feb. 27 and are now aiming to raise $50,000 to build a no-kill animal shelter in the city.

They're unlikely friends, but when a 90 lbs. Rottweiler became stranded in the middle of a dark Ohio road, her tiny best friend, a 9 lbs. poodle, refused to leave her side.

Veterinary assistant Jody Wetzig was working Monday night at the Lorain County Animal Emergency Center when she received a phone call from a woman who had spotted two dogs sitting in the middle of the dark, two-lane road. One was a Rottweiler whose leg appeared to be injured. The other was a small, black poodle who was sitting right next to her bigger friend. The woman didn't know what to do.

"Normally, we don't take in strays," Wetzig explains to Paw Nation. "But if they're injured, we'll try to help, so we told the lady to bring the Rottweiler in."

When the woman arrived with the dogs, she had a touching story to tell. "The woman said that the poodle would not leave the Rottweiler's side," Wetzig recounts. The little dog stayed close as the woman and a passerby eased the Rottweiler onto a blanket. When they loaded the dog into the car, the poodle jumped in too.