Pet expo finds homes for animals, offers fun for pet owners

By Andy Kozlowski
C & G Staff Writer

MADISON HEIGHTS — For the animal lover, the people and pets bustling about Madison Place Oct. 17-18 made for sensory overload.

The pet expo, held by Guardians for Animals and featuring 13 rescue groups seeking homes for hundreds of critters, brought together current and prospective pet owners for a weekend of fun and games.

Warren resident Jill Tack, owner of The Pet Beastro in Madison Heights, came with her dog for the Halloween costume contest.

Bash, a retired racing greyhound, was dressed as a bunch of grapes. He wore a homemade coat covered in about 40 purple balloon “grapes,” and a hat consisting of green felt “leaves” and a brown pipe-cleaner “stem.”

“He’s a grape-hound,” Tack joked. “He loves it. When we pulled it out of the closet last night, he was super excited to see it.”

Scarlet, a Red Lory perched in a cage nearby, whistled in approval.

Not far away, two pit bull breeds, Jada and Paris, were prettied up as a ballerina and princess, respectively. With them was Alana Amoré of Warren, a volunteer with Heroes for Homeless Animals, a rescue group that specializes in saving death row pit bulls.

Amoré said that contrary to popular belief, pit bulls are sweet, lovable dogs.

“They just want to be loved and cared for like any other animal,” Amoré said. “They actually are called ‘nanny dogs’ in England because they’re considered the best breed of family dogs.”     

Michelle Robinson, the rescue’s president, said pit bulls get a bad rap because they’re “loyal, smart and easily trainable,” and some “people train them for the wrong reasons.” If raised with kindness, she said, they are the gentlest dogs around.

Diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, Robinson has been training Paris to be a service dog that can assist her with retrieval, going up and down stairs, turning lights on and off, pulling the wheelchair and even dialing 911 on a special phone.

“Nineteen weeks old and she’s just that smart,” Robinson said.

One pit bull in attendance, Angel, was rescued from an abuse case in Auburn Hills earlier this year. Its rear right leg had been beaten so badly with a soup can that it had to be amputated.

 Since then the dog has adapted to moving on three legs, happily frolicking with other dogs at the park six days a week and even running a two-mile charity walk.

“She’s a fighter,” Amoré said.

Dawn Pinchot and Amanda Rumble found Angel on petfind er.com and adopted her.

“She’s our life now,” Pinchot said. “She’s great with our Guinea pigs, our sugar gliders. We can literally put something in our hand right up to her face, and she just licks it. She has no aggression whatsoever; I have a 6-year-old son in the house, and I have never once worried or thought, ‘Oh no, pit bull.’”

Angel was also dressed for Halloween. The three-legged dog had a camera strapped to her back.

“She’s a tripod,” Robinson laughed.

Though Angel has a home, many animals at the expo did not. Some, such as the beagle/Jack Russell terrier mix Lucy, were victims of a bad economy.

“She was an owner give-up,” said Carol Janello, a volunteer with Best Buddy Pet Rescue. “Her owner lost his home, had to move in with relatives, with his children, and his relatives would not allow him to bring Lucy.

“She’s a nice dog,” Janello continued. “She’s used to being with a family and children. She’s really good in her foster home, good with other dogs, but she’d probably like to be an only dog, so she could get lots of undivided attention.”

Surveying the crowds was Alexandria Whitney, president and founder of Guardians for Animals. In 2008, her group distributed more than 240,000 pounds of food and helped more than 20 rescue groups save some 3,200 animals from death row.

“Everyone says there’s such magic in this room,” Whitney beamed. “We actually had a medium in here, a psychic reader, and he said he had such positive vibrations. There’s such power in this room, he said, and such love and commitment. … We’re making good things happen for the animals.”

Whitney hoped the event would make an impression on kids, as they “are the future of every living animal, so we want to show them that people care, that they are out there and make them want to get involved.”

Such kids include Jacob Bozin, 7, of Clinton Township. He said he liked the dogs best “because they’re soft and cuddly,” especially the Dalmatians “‘cause they’re really cool, and they’re like fire dogs.”

But nothing beat the smooth-haired Chihuahua’s costume.

“It’s funny to see a dog in a taco,” he said.

For more information about Guardians for Animals, visit www.guardiansforanimals.org.