Let’s paws for Christmas

Yup, I know it’s that time of the year when shoppers are in a mad dash to the finish line of shopping. Shoppers like me, of course.

With lots of shopping to be done, I had to bark my regrets to the Philippine Animal Welfare Society (PAWS) Christmas party I missed over the weekend.

Anna Cabrera, director of PAWS keeps me updated of the latest on the PAWS front. Here’s what she e-mailed me:

The day before the PAWS Christmas party, the volunteers were still doing a lot of work by at their booths at the Ateneo Alumni Homecoming and at the Lifeline Foundation Bazaar in BF Homes, Paranaque.

Lifeline Foundation Support Team Inc. is a non-profit organization that helps alleviate the suffering of the socially, economically and emotionally deprived, through projects like medical missions, soup kitchens and offering livelihood seminars. Last Dec. 9, PAWS was invited to participate in Lifeline’s "Pet Day! All for Pet’s Sake."

Happy del Rosario, project director of the Lifeline Community, said the reason for holding such an event, aside from the fact that most of their members were such huge dog lovers, is that they realized that a lot of people still need a lot of info to become responsible pet owners.

Doctor Brady, a one-year-old Golden Retriever with human mom Marge Camacho, was widely applauded by the kids when they learned that the primary "job" of Doctor Dogs like him was to visit sick kids in hospitals and make them happy.

On Dec. 10 PAWS volunteers and donors turned up for the group’s annual Christmas get-together. Pia Guanio received her outstanding volunteer award with other awardees, namely, Tess Jose, Marian Barola, Liza Umayam, Karizma Vergel de Dios, Marge Florentino, Ria Marquez, Joyce Rivera, Marilen Zamudio, Widmark Morales, Ivy Lim, Roberta Thami and Chloe Curio.

"These volunteers worked very hard the whole year to try to raise funds, awareness and adoption rates for the animals," said PAWS president Nita Hontiveros-Lichauco.

PAWS also announced that two of the shelter’s longest staying dogs – Gina and Mario – have recently been adopted, after being in the shelter for almost two years. The shelter also posted a whopping record of 986 visitors in its small office. All these visitors were given information on responsible pet ownership, spay-neutering, adoptions, or animal welfare in general. A total of 36 dogs and 31 cats were adopted and 148 animals spayed and neutered at PARC in 2006.

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I know that my doggie companions, Gorby, Tasha, Nik and Boris, are so looking forward to Christmas. At least if I judge by the way Nik, my baby Schnauzer, has been trying to reach for the Christmas balls that decorate our little Belen.

At home we have had to do away with the Christmas tree because the doggies think that it’s a place to do their thing. And they love pulling out the leaves and trying to eat them.

Taking this enthusiasm for the Christmas decor as my doggies’ way of telling me that they are waiting for their Christmas gifts, I made my way to Tiendesitas in Pasig, home to some of the nicest pet shops in town, to search for that special gift for these special companions.

Check out the photos and see what I found. Hope you like them, too.

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One more from PAWS. For those who would like to buy "Gift of Life" Christmas cards (these are cards by which you will be able to donate to the animal shelter as a Christmas gift to a friend), call 475-1688 or 0922-8815600. The cards cost P100 to P200 apiece. There are other gift suggestions from PAWS which I include here.