Post Punk Kitchen Forum

My boyfriend and I are looking to adopt a dog, and I figured since a few people here like animals, maybe I could get a recommendation on where to start. We've been to a few different animal shelters in three boroughs, but it can be hard to determine which ones are really and truly awesome, and which ones are less reputable. (Our search is more difficult now that we've been told there's a ridiculously low size limit of 10 pounds for dogs in our building, which we're prepared to break, but not by a whole lot.) Any suggestions would be appreciated! We're also interested in fostering dogs in the future, so the awesomer the better.

I've heard good things about BARC in Williamsburg: http://www.barcshelter.org/

I am very biased because I volunteer with Ollies Place which is the cat adoption center for Mighty Mutts.

Here is our website http://www.MightyMutts.org but better yet our dogs are at Union Square in Manhattan every Saturday (weather permitting), and you can come and meet them for yourself.

However I can tell you that we almost never have dogs under 10 lbs. which I know is a problem because many buildings do have weight limits.

Right now I know they are trying to find a permanent home for this little guy http://www.franticforfosters.com/dogs.php ----who is adorable but I still think he weighs more than 10 lbs.

However the Mayors Alliance also has adoption events all over NYC almost every weekend. The dogs and cats come from rescues, shelters and Animal Control . You can check out their events schedule here http://www.AnimalAllianceNYC.org/events/adoption.htm.

Hope some of this helps.

Oh yeah, I've heard of BARC—I'll check them out. Thanks!



I emailed about him, weight limit be damned. And we'll probably check out some adoption events over the weekend too. Thanks for your help!

If you're looking to foster, I fostered for Pets for Life and helped some lovely cats until their owner could get her forever home and take them back



They are also a great resource because they have behaviourists who can help you work out almost any solution - for example, you might think that the dog from Mighty Mutts won't work for you because she has some separation anxiety/barking issues, but they might be able to help you find ways to manage that.

Otherwise, I would definitely look at www.petfinder.com.

Good luck and post pictures of your new furkid!

Sean Casey Animal Rescue off the Fort Hamilton Parkway F train stop in Windsor Terrace, Brooklyn is pretty awesome. They often have adoption days and on any given day of the week you can just go in and ask if there are any dogs who need to be walked (I often do this as my current living situation doesn't allow for any live-in furry friends). It's not the most convenient place to get to if you're coming from Manhattan/Queens/North Brooklyn, but I'd highly recommend checking them out.

Here's the website:
http://www.nyanimalrescue.org/

Hope that's helpful!

Sean Casey Animal Rescue is where we got three of our gerbils! They are awesome, I agree...everyone was very helpful and nice. It is pretty far out of the way, but we've been there a couple times to walk some dogs.

And coincidentally, I just started volunteering for the Pets for Life hotline a couple weeks ago. I wasn't thinking of it as a way to find a dog, but over the weekend I heard about a dog that they rescued over the summer who needs a home, so I volunteered for that too. Assuming he doesn't try to eat the gerbils, this could be the end of our dog search!

I appreciate all the recommendations. It's nice to hear about people's good experiences with animal rescues!

I adopted from Animal Care & Control - I only default to it (both in action & recommendation) because it's a kill-center. They euthanize after 2 weeks traditionally where other shelters tend to be no-kill. They also have a low cost weekly (or bi-weekly?) mobile vet service. :) The Brooklyn AC&C is out at the end of the 3 train, Manhattan is up in the low 100's.

You know this is a good point that I think sometimes gets a little lost.

As much as I want to see all of the cats and dogs that volunteer with find good homes- and as much as I want to see all of the cats and dogs in no-kill rescues everywhere find forever and loving homes ...the truth is that the dogs and cats sitting in Animal Control are just as deserving, just as loveable and unlike our "rescues" the clock is ticking for them.

While I am partial to several of my "special babies" where I volunteer, the truth is that really the "best" place to go if you really want you help get an animal off of "death row" is your local Animal Control or a shelter with a high euthanasia rate.

There is really no difference between our cats and the ones who you will find at Animal Control except that ours got luckier and happened to wind up in a safe place where they are well cared for and will not be put down.

And yes, as soon as one is adopted and out the door- the next thing that we do is pay a visit to Animal Control to go save another one .

And while there ARE advantages to going to a no-kill shelter or rescue (-mostly having to do with how well we know all of our animals in terms of their personalities etc. we can do a good job playing match-maker and take other steps to make sure the adoption is successful) , the most direct route for anyone looking to save an animal in danger of being put down is your to go to your local animal control.

Yeah, this is a good point. I used to think it was imperative to support no-kill shelters and let them rescue pets from kill shelters, but ever since my orientation at Pets for Life, I can see both sides. They're partnered with AC&C, and they explained how the pets there are just as deserving and the people who work there are just as dedicated—it's just that they're required to accept every pet, so there isn't room in the city shelters for everyone. It's great that there are so many options for potential adopters, and if some people are more interested in finding the right personality and other people are more interested in saving a life ASAP, they can all get what they want somewhere.

Incidentally, we stopped by the Manhattan AC&C today, and an incredibly sweet pit bull licked my hand and tugged at my heartstrings. Damn weight restrictions....

Aw :( I hate that weight limits exist - if you feel you find a dog that exceeds it that you think belongs with you I'd talk with your landlord, my lease said no dogs & when I explained it was an old shelter dog that wouldn't bark my landlord was okay with it even though she was between 25 & 35 pounds. Apartments that aren't in complexes seem to have more lenient landlords.

We were featured in Best Friends New York City!

http://network.bestfriends.org/golocal/ ... /news.aspx

Two of our kitties are "getting married" -(its kind of a long story).

We are actually celebrating this Thursday night (Jan 20) at Dan & Eddy’s 1643 First Avenue (between 86th & 85th Streets) if any of you New York animal lovers would like to attend.

Even if you can't make it please read the article to learn about Solomon and Bruno's "special relationship".

UPDATE: Event was rescheduled for next Thursday (1/27/11) night if anyone wants the details please PM me.

Solomon and Bruno! I want to go! I had to stop volunteering there because I could no longer work a morning shift but I still get emails.

I work with another rescue too-zani's furry friends. I am fostering three cats for them right now. I take care of all the group foster homes when the people are away and do home visits and reference checks. That's why I wanted to volunteer at Ollie's Place-except when someone is away all the volunteer work is dealing with people. I'm only fostering because of an emergency-I have five cats of my own. Though I might end up keeping one of the fosters: http://www.petfinder.com/petdetail/17775449?rvp=1 No one wants to adopt the special needs kitties.

If you want to adopt a small dog though you will almost definitely have to go through a rescue/no kill shelter. They pretty much all get pulled by rescues before they ever make it to the adoption floor. And there is a high demand for small breed dogss.

10 pounds is a stupidly low weight limit. I have cats that weigh more than that!

Ludo! http://www.petfinder.com/petdetail/15970101 He's only 6 pounds!

Also Social Tees. They often have small dogs.Though I'm not sure why only four are listed on Petfinder-they're on east 4th street between 1st and 2nd., The guy who runs it is a bit strange.They don't open until 4. They had a beagle mix over the summer I wanted to adopt SO BAD.

I read about the cat wedding on Twitter. Awesome!

SDS, Blondie and everyone here are the details if you would like to come

Solomon and Bruno are off on their honeymoon and wont be able to attend (but I'll be there :) )

Bruno and Solomon
at 1643 1st Ave # 1 in NY, NY
7:00PM-9:30PM on 01/27/2011
[PLEASE NOTE THE UPDATED EVENT DATE OF 1/27]

Please join us as we celebrate the union of Solomon and Bruno. They have dedicated their lives to love and protect each other. Now, Ollie's Place will see they are never separated.

How can you show your support?

* Make a CASH or GIFT Donation at our official REGISTRY!
* Tell EVERYONE you know!
* Help us with media promotions!
* Just SHOW UP to the January 20th Event!

ETA : OOOOOPS I the date is the 27th NOT 20th

i volunteer for pets for life, too! i also help with a tnr/cat rescue project loosely affiliated with neighborhood cats.

I am going to pimp this event one final time with a very funny write up from something called scrape tv.

http://tinyurl.com/45mq4mt

If you are in the area-please stop by tomorrow night!

Do you think people able to accept donations will be hanging out past 9:30?

I know that one of the volunteers who was instrumental in putting the event together lives within 2 blocks or so.

I am sure that if he knew a donation was definitely coming he would stick around (just some background about why the event was postponed and how dedicated he is- its because his wife's mother died early last week. We would have been happy to postpone the event for another week or two but he and his wife REALLY wanted to be sure that that things didn't lose momentum.)

How much past 9:30 would you be talking about?

Update: Mike says he will be there till 2AM

Damn! I definitely won't be THAT late. I'm still not sure what's up; I may have to go to Brooklyn right after work which would make going all the way uptown a total pain. We shall see. Thanks for the info!

One last bump - here is the wedding video.

http://www.vimeo.com/19419057

Please pass on to anyone in the NY area who you think might enjoy or possibly even have interest in adopting Solomon and Bruno.

They are incredibly sweet senior kitties- who since they have been web now MUST be adopted together.