Kim's K9 Korner

Writen by Guest Blogger
 Kim Ortega, Executive Director of Colorado Puppy Rescue

I know I’m getting older, but really, where did March and April go? 

I’ve lived in Colorado since I was 10 years old.  The saying “April showers, bring May flowers” has always been wrong here.  My experience is that we get wind in March and April and big storms in May.  Along with the storms comes the thunder and lightning.  My dog Raisin is terrified of loud noises to the point that I wonder if her head will explode.  She is now 14 years old and there isn’t much I haven’t tried to make her more comfortable.  Recently, I noticed that PetCo carries a new item called ThunderShirt.  The packaging says that it’s the best solution for dog anxiety.  I’ve decided to give it a try.  I’ll let you know how it goes.

Speaking of wind, I have been worried about the volunteers and fosters that come to my house for intake.  Last year my husband hired a tree trimming service that was doing a lot of work in our neighborhood.  They seemed to do good work till it came to our house.  The end of the story is that they left a large hand saw very high up in our tree.  I have always worried about that saw falling out and seriously injuring someone.  Today, we hired a company that finished the job.  Our tree looks bare but I feel so much better knowing that we wont have limbs crashing through our roof or a saw decapitating  our friends.

A few weeks ago CPR launched a new credit card system.  It’s the type that plugs into your cell phone and swipes the card.  It’s awesome!  We no longer have to pay for an internet service, or have a dedicated printer (with the expense of ink & paper), or a laptop dedicated to the job.  It seems to be a bit more expensive for the merchant account but the ease and mobility is nice.  I think that in the long run, we will be saving money.

We are down to our last couple of bags of puppy food.  I know, how could that happen?  But, every year about this time we have an issue.  I understand that we have made an appeal to the PetCo foundation for a donation and I am hoping to hear a positive result soon.  It may not come soon enough.  So… if we need to make the expenditure of puppy food we are looking at other ways to make up the difference.  One way is that Pfizer a manufacture of vaccines and animal health products has a shelter program that we are trying to qualify for.  If we are accepted, we can purchase our vaccines for a much reduced price.  Also, we qualify for a Colorado sales tax exemption.  I am working on our exemption so that when we do have to make purchases, we can save on the sales tax. 

Our travel expenses have increased also.  Really? You say.  I know our fosters and volunteers are feeling the burden also.  We have some outstanding volunteers that have had to cut back or discontinue working with us because of the costs.  Last month, Volunteer Regina submitted for a grant from PetCo that would fund transportation expenses.  They asked for new and innovative ideas from organizations.  We think that in these hard times and expensive fuel prices, supporting the costs of volunteers and fosters travel expenses would be a great service.  We shall see if they are interested in supporting our efforts.  Thank you Regina.

Last year Volunteer Rhonda was instrumental in helping us acquire a large donation of pet supplies.  Collars, leashes, etc.  Now, we need to make that donation work for us.  Please let me know if you have contacts for garage sales or flea markets that we can attend to sell these items.  I’m open to all suggestions.

I understand that Volunteer Christy has been hard at work updating our data base.  It won’t be long now that we can launch our empty plate dinner fundraiser.  In the past the empty plate dinner has been a great source of donations for the rescue.  This year I would like to see those funds used to replace both our plastic travel crates and our black wire crates.  As your know they are well used and the harsh cleansers that we have to use have taken there toll.  Thank you Christy.

Finally, I would like to thank everyone for a great year so far.  Everyone of you are such a great joy in my life.  It was a year ago this week on the 28th that we lost one of our dear friends Linda Griess.  Many of you remember her, as I do.  Please know that you are a part of something important.  You are wanted and needed.  You have a purpose and by being a part of Colorado Puppy Rescue you are making a difference.

Spidy School

To Infinity and Beyond!

My four year old son wears a costume nearly every day. He started out dressing like a fireman all of the time. R loved that costume so much that he'd wear it in the tub if he could. The thing was really starting to smell. I'm not sure which costume came next but I encouraged it because it gave me a chance to sneak the fire coat into the wash.

Sir R of Train Park guarding
his castle.

It's two years and 20 costumes later. (I'm not exaggerating.) R's favorite is Spiderman. I don't mind that he dresses up. It gives him the confidence he needs to be social. His security blanket. It's the ultimate icebreaker. If anyone says "Hi" he shoots them with his spidy webs. That's considered an acceptable response. At the park the game is automatically implied. The playground turns into Spidy's secret lair, Count Dracula's cave, Captain Hook's ship, Darth Vader's deathstar. The other kids know their rolls and want to play with him. It makes me so proud.

Spidy School

When preschool time came I sat R down and discussed school etiquette including: No costumes. Boy was not happy. When we went to "meet the teacher day" the only question R had was "Why can't I wear a costume?" The teacher smiled grandly, pointed to a big box and said "Not only can you wear a costume but you can wear one of ours if you'd like." And so it started.

On the first day of school, when the teacher called his name during roll, he stood up and announced that his real name was Spider Man. I thought that as soon as R saw that the other kids didn't wear costumes that he'd feel silly and stop. The whole peer pressure thing. Nope, R proved that he doesn't care that he's different.  As time went on all of the kids wanted to sit by him, talk to him, hug him when class was over. He became the most popular kid.

Calling all cars...

When we meet adults the general reaction is playful curiosity. Sometimes they'll humor him with something like "I sure feel safe with a policeman around." Sometimes they react just like the kids do by shouting "You'll never catch me Batman!" followed by maniacal laughter while running out the door at Starbucks.

Even cowboys need cupcakes.

That's why I was FLOORED by the reaction of the parents at school. I quickly noticed that other parents did not want to be paired with me while chaperoning the field trips. I overheard one mother pointing me out to her husband as "that lady who lets her kid wear anything." As if he's running around in his underwear. One mother approached my son while I was standing there and said "Doesn't your mommy do laundry Honey?" I'm ashamed to say that I was too shocked to come up with a witty response. I ended up laughing as I walked away.

I'm still clueless as to what the problem is. Is it that they feel R's a bad influence on their kids? That one can become addicted to costuming and next thing you know there will be princesses, heroes, and villains everywhere? It would almost be like living in a comic book.

There are a few parents who don't mind. They'll talk to me and to R like we don't carry the plague. But overall the parents are not welcoming. But what do I care about what the other parents think of me? Right?

Changing Things Up A Bit

That's a pic of the web design before our current one.

Vacation. For one whole month CPR is on vacation. We don't have any puppies in our system and it's a much needed break for our staff, volunteers, and fosters. Not me. I'm redesigning our website. It's been a while since I've updated our look and information. We need to stay ahead of the game.
 I asked for some suggestions on FB and came away with lots of ideas and contacts for graphic designers. Now to figure our my direction.
*New logo (maybe) I like the logo we have because it has the cutsy, mom and pop look that I think describes our company the best. But, I'd like to look at new colors and something more professional looking. A few of the volunteers made a good point about "brand recognition."
*New website look- I'm looking at new colors and cleaner pages
*Updated information

My deadline is February 22nd. I hope to have everything together by then. But one of the best things about being the boss is the flexible deadlines. ;)

I'm open to suggestions. Feel free to write me.