Annabel is a bichon frise who lives in Arlington with us, her owners, Harold and Alice.  She has a coal-black nose and eyes, and pure white hair.  While she is a senior dog who just turned 17, she is very spry.  Annabel loves to go with Harold in his kick scooter in good weather, and you will see them on the bike path scooting along.   Annabel loves to walk in Robbins Farm Park and when she gets excited, she runs around in circles at top speed.  She is a cheerful, happy, outgoing dog who loves people.   

 

She is small for her breed, about 10 pounds. Her outgoing personality, and the fact that she often seems to be smiling, draws people to her.   When we're out walking with Annabel, people often ask how old our puppy is!   She is a beloved member of our family. 

 

 

  

Arlington is a town with a vibrant volunteer spirit and many of us want to know how we can help our ACO do her work on behalf of all of us who love animals.  Important ways to help include A-DOG's ongoing collaboration with Amanda on educational programs, dog licensing efforts, and meet-and-greet events with park user communities.  Another way A-DOG and our individual members can help is to donate small equipment and supplies, as suggested in her wish list, to facilitate Arlington's Animal Control efforts.  Shortly after the Arlington ACO wish list was publicized last December, A-DOG member Monica Bernstein immediately stepped up to donate a crate.  Our board of directors was delighted to vote for A-DOG's organizational donation of additional crates.  (The photo above shows Amanda picking up the crates donated by A-DOG.)  One of these donated crates was used to safely transport the young swan during her recent rescue!  Should you, too, like to buy a wish list item for the ACO through Amazon, please consider using the Amazon Smiles program (see Friends of A-DOG article below) to benefit A-DOG.  Or, if you have some potentially useful items not on the list, contact the ACO directly to see whether she can use them. And, please contact Amanda to discuss larger projects, if interested.

 

As announced in the December and January Wags and Tags, our monthly meeting in January, and a follow-up discussion at our February meeting, were focused on developing A-DOG's Goals for 2014.  

1. Develop an "infrastructure" for A-DOG; this would be a set of Committees/Working Groups with defined tasks, to help A-DOG advance its mission and to make volunteer opportunities clearer to members.

2. Engage members, especially board members and other interested volunteers, to get involved in these Committees;  a volunteer "menu" will be developed for distribution to our member volunteers.

We hope that many of our members will want to participate in helping to make this the best year ever for A-DOG!  To those ~150 members who have indicated an interest in volunteering on your application forms, you will be contacted to give you an opportunity to decide how you would like to help.  And, as always, please don't hesitate to contact us ([email protected]) for more details and to bring your ideas and enthusiasm to our monthly meetings.  

Unfortunately, the spring thaw reveals more than pretty crocuses popping up under the snow. Most of us (certainly everybody reading this newsletter! :-) diligently clean up after our dogs. This is very important because dog waste is not only unsightly, but is also potentially unhealthy to us as well as our pets.  The sad reality, though, is that there are some dog owners who do not clean up, just as there are park users who leave all kinds of litter behind.  With dog waste, this seems to be even worse in the winter because the snow and cold preserves it.  Some volunteers, concerned about this issue, have taken the extra step of bringing additional bags and picking up a bit more than their own dogs' waste on their daily dog walks.  Please consider helping out in this way because even small efforts like this, if enough volunteers are willing to make it part of their routine, will help keep our parks cleaner and safer for all users, human or canine.  A-DOG has an ongoing campaign to ask park users to help with this effort, with a team of volunteers, regular users of the Arlington Reservoir and the Thorndike fenced dog park, currently working on new ways to publicize this issue. Contact us ([email protected]) if you'd like to help organize clean-up and related education efforts in your favorite park.  Also, while the Town does supply waste containers in local parks, any effort to carry out waste helps to keep these barrels from over-loading, especially in the winter when they're more difficult to empty.  Charlotte Milan, Arlington's Recycling Coordinator, visited the February A-DOG meeting to explain that she will be seeking input from dog owners and other park users on the waste/recycling needs.  (We hope to have Charlotte contribute an article about this in an upcoming Wags and Tags, but feel free to contact her through the Department of Public Works with any questions.)  In the meantime, the photo above shows that A-DOG members can always be counted on to find creative ways to carry the waste home!  

Thanks to an A-DOG member for her car photo.

Curious about the outcome of our 2014 Arlington Dog Licensing Contest??  The winning numbers have been selected and those dog owners identified.  

But, as of press time, we had not yet contacted winners and obtained their permission to announce their names and prizes.  (Plus, we hope to deliver the prizes and obtain photos!)  We expect to publish results in the April Wags and Tags and on our website.  The dog licensing numbers this year are excellent -- 1891 by the contest deadline and 1906 as we go to press.  This is higher than final numbers reported over each of the previous 11 years, ranging from 968 (2003) to 1807 (2013).  (Source:  the Arlington List)  We hope our contest, and our efforts to work with our ACO to promote dog licensing, played some role in this year's high number. And, we hope that the steady increase in numbers of licensed dogs over A-DOG's 6 year history reflects our efforts to encourage responsible dog ownership.  In any case, we plan to repeat the contest next year!  

 

The illustration for this article was custom drawn by artist Shunsuke Yamaguchi.  Mr. Yamaguchi's fee was generously donated to A-DOG by Joan Black and her family.    

 

 

Join us at our next  A-DOG Meeting!

  

          

Arlington, MA 02474