{"id":5616,"date":"2010-02-24T16:42:00","date_gmt":"2010-02-24T16:42:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lbpost.com\/articles\/life\/pets\/furry-soft-speed-dating-valentine-s-day-at-acs\/"},"modified":"2010-02-24T16:42:00","modified_gmt":"2010-02-24T16:42:00","slug":"furry-soft-speed-dating-valentine-s-day-at-acs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/hi-lo\/pets\/furry-soft-speed-dating-valentine-s-day-at-acs","title":{"rendered":"Furry, Soft Speed Dating: Valentine\u2019s Day At ACS"},"content":{"rendered":"

We\u2019ve been busy with vacations and family and stuff and Valentine\u2019s Day has been over for more than two weeks, but it\u2019s never too late to find the one you love. And Haute Dogs<\/a>\u2019 Valentine’s Day Yappy Hour and Card Contest was the place to find it.
 
\u201cThis is for animals who don\u2019t have a lot of love in their lives,\u201d said Justin Rudd, the event\u2019s organizer. \u201cIf you\u2019ll consider one, you\u2019ll find yourself falling in love.\u201d
 
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Rudd came up with the event so that animals abandoned to the shelter could have a day of celebration and coddling. It was also a slyboots way to get people out to see the cats, dogs and rabbits and consider taking one home. Several weeks before Valentine\u2019s Day, classrooms and individual children were invited to make Valentine cards and send them to Animal Care Services (ACS). On the day of the contest, one card would be selected as winner. The card\u2019s creator would win a pizza party for his or her class. There were 500 cards submitted and judged by several of the Long Beach Pageant winners; all were hung outside the animals\u2019 kennels and outside in the garden where the event was held. (See more photos by clicking here<\/a>)
 
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Attendees were asked to bring treats and goodies for the cats, dogs and rabbits, which resulted in the groaning sideboard pictured above. A card reading \u201cFor pets only\u201d was necessary to be placed near the home-baked cookies made especially for the Yappy Hour by Chuck and Toby\u2019s Scott Rinehart and Jim Poer. They smelled really good\u2014ever been in their store<\/a>?
 
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The winning card was created by Grace Ellen McAdam in Mrs. Graham\u2019s third-grade class at St. Cyprian’s School in Long Beach. Rudd is shown here reading the card\u2019s message, which he said expressed the spirit of the event: \u201cI love to be here with my friends\u2026.But what I really want is a family of my own to love and for them to love me too.\u201d
 
Well, we try to be sneaky, too, but we\u2019re probably pretty transparent. We\u2019ll take any opening to get a pet adopted to a responsible, loving home. Love isn\u2019t confined to Valentine\u2019s Day, and if your house and heart can handle it, visit ACS and consider taking home a shelter animal. Think carefully before you start filling out the paperwork\u2014loving an animal is sublimely rewarding for both human and pet, but it\u2019s also a responsibility.
 
\u201cWe have one, but you never know,\u201d said Audrey Takamiyashiro, who was there with her daughter, Alice. Colin MacDiarmid, who won CAT\u2019s Giving Project, was looking at a pair of beagles and thinking of passing his award further forward. MacDiarmid said that he was surprised to see the number of purebreds in the shelter.
 
\u201cPeople are going to breeders [for a purebred]?\u201d he said. \u201cThere are so many here.\u201d
 
If it\u2019s not practical for you now, there are volunteer opportunities there or you can \u201cjust come to love and hug them,\u201d as Sue Johnson and Dianne Kavanaugh did.
 
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Responsibility about bringing pets home has come early for Little Miss Southern California, MacKenzie Tufts. \u201cI\u2019ll have to ask my grandpa,\u201d MacKenzie said.
 
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Two more young animal advocates\u2014who, not surprisingly, are Judy\u2019s granddaughters\u2014gently make a new friend out of Harley. Harley was found lying in the grass in North Long Beach with both his legs rendered useless. He\u2019s on meds and has just received his wheels. He\u2019s ready for a new, loving home, and so are these animals. Anyone need a date?
 
Virtually Pets<\/strong>
 
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Hett, ID #A395835
 
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Bubbles, ID #A394722<\/em>
 
Please don\u2019t tell us that you can look at these two faces and not want to run down and take these guys home. Okay, tell us, but we won\u2019t believe you. Hett is a male brown tabby domestic shorthair about a year old; Bubbles is a female black-and-gray Lhasa apso mix who was abandoned here at 7 years old. Desperation and that \u201crescue me and love me\u201d look may make you run the other way when a human being gives you that face, but it has the opposite effect with an animal countenance. If you want to be his or her number one, don\u2019t let either one of them down. Check with the shelter for spay\/neuter, licensing\/microchipping and immunization information. 7700 E. Spring St., Long Beach. (562) 570-7387. Use the shelter entrance.
 
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Vinny, seen here in fashionable blue sweater, is one of several Chihuahuas who went down the runway Feb. 21 at the \u201cHelp Save the Chi-Chis\u201d event at the Gaslight. Vinny is one of many small dogs available for adoption. Visit this site<\/a> for information.
 
Pet Projects<\/strong>
 
Feb. 28, Beautiful Bulldog Contest

Oh, you beautiful dog, you great big beautiful, slobbering snuffly sweetheart! More than 300 of these popular pets will wobble down the red carpet to compete at Haute Dogs\u2019 main event and fund-raiser for the nonprofit Community Action Team. The contest, produced by beauty pageant and bulldog lover Justin Rudd, also includes a competition for pugs and all breeds of senior dogs (more than 10 years old). The event takes place at the Marketplace Long Beach at the corner of 2nd Street and the PCH. Click here<\/a> for rules and information. Spectators are welcome, of course!
 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Photos from a very special Valentine’s Day event at Animal Care Services, along with adoption listings and upcoming event notices.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","inline_featured_image":false,"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":"","_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"_":"","_author_alias":"","cap-aim":"","cap-description":"","cap-display_name":"","cap-first_name":"","cap-jabber":"","cap-last_name":"","cap-linked_account":"","cap-newspack_employer":"","cap-newspack_job_title":"","cap-newspack_phone_number":"","cap-newspack_role":"","cap-user_email":"","cap-user_login":"","cap-website":"","cap-yahooim":"","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_email_html":"","newspack_email_type":"","newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_hide_page_title":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_show_share_buttons":"","newspack_sponsor_byline_prefix":"","newspack_sponsor_disclaimer_override":"","newspack_sponsor_flag_override":"","newspack_sponsor_only_direct":"","newspack_sponsor_url":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-5616","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-pets","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5616","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5616"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5616\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5616"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5616"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5616"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_spnsrs_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_spnsrs_tax?post=5616"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=5616"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}