Norman and Bella Rose are still looking for forever homes – photos by Adam Baron
By: Sharon Aron Baron
The hopeful eyes of rescue dogs welcomed curious onlookers and customers who drove up for lunch at Chick-fil-A on Saturday. Would one of them take them to their forever home?
Volunteers with the Grateful Paws Dog & Cat Rescue Inc. stood outside of Central Pet hoping to find new homes for their dogs from one of the many customers that snake along the drive-thru lane outside. Were they successful?
Sheri Caldwell holding Ginger
“We had three applications to foster today,” said Director Sheri Caldwell. “We had an application to adopt earlier this week, and we had a meet and greet at the event with the potential adopter.”
She said that the applicants decided it wasn’t the right match, but said another person was interested in this particular dog.
Grateful Paws Dog & Cat Rescue Inc. was established in 2006 and is a nonprofit organization. They are a no-kill rescue group that is all-volunteer and no one on their board earns a salary.
Caldwell, who is a resident of Coral Springs, said that most of the dogs are owner surrendered or strays. The
Blackie was picked up as a stray, probably dumped, and sweet as can be, the Grateful Paws website says. Her personality is delightful and she gets along well with other dogs.
organization doesn’t even have a shelter, and all of their dogs and cats live temporarily in volunteer foster homes until they are adopted. The best part is that they can tell potential owners everything about the dog. “It’s been a very good experience for us and has worked very well that way,” she said.
Dogs and cats don’t go home with just anyone. Their board reviews the applications and tries to match the right pet with the right home. They also perform a home visit prior to the adoption.
Grateful Paws has two large fundraisers a year to help pay for veterinarian care, food, and medications like flea and tick control.
A dog can be in foster care from as little as a month to even a year. “If the dog has medical issues, we are going to do a fundraiser to take care of that.” said Caldwell.
Their 5th Annual Fundraising Event will be held on Wednesday, March 18 at Alibi in Fort Lauderdale. Everyone is welcome to attend to help support their efforts.
To see all of the pets Grateful Paws has for adoption right now, go to www.GratefulPaws.org or email gratefulpaws@bellsouth.net
Author Profile
- Editor of Talk Media and writer for Coral Springs Talk. CST was created in 2012 to provide News, Views, and Entertainment for the residents of Coral Springs and the rest of South Florida.
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1 comment
This is great Sharon for a number of reasons.
1. I have been trying to get the Coral Springs Commission, past and former, to pass the retail pet sales ban that we have passed in 35 municipalities in South Florida. This is not onlly about SICK PUPPIES, SHELTER KILLING, but CONSUMER FRAUD. I told them, “If you had a car dealership about to open in CS and you knew that every fourth car was a lemon, you would NEVER allow that business to open.” This is the same thing only it is puppies not card which is 1,000 times worse. A puppy breaks your heart when it is sick and dies. A car doesn’t do that.
I explained that if you have no stores selling dogs, then you have no stores to SUE you (everyone is worried about Sunrise’s lawsuit (who had a store selling puppy mill puppies when they passed the law).
I have been met with opposition by a number of officials in CS. What I explained to them is that, at one time, CS had some of the worst stores selling puppies in Broward County. Now every bordering city around CS, and I mean literally every single one, has a ban. The next store selling puppies who opens in CS is going to have “keys to the kingdom” for miles and miles because no one else will be selling commercially bred animals. When this new store opened, I almost had a heart attack, but some activists went in and the new owners told them that they would only be working with rescues and obviously, they were not lying.
2. The humane model of retail pet stores is becoming the norm. Mass chains like Petsmart, Pet Supermarket and Petco do not SELL PUPPIES. What does that tell you? When places like Petland cry that they “will go out of business” if they don’t sell dogs, that is a lie. People are opening stores across the country and being successful, some more than when they were selling sick puppies. Many are right here in south Florda. They offer grooming, day care, food and supplies but no puppy mill dogs ONLY RESCUE and they are doing great. Rescues will shop more (and even pay a little extra) to shop in stores who DO NOT sell puppies. I know I do. If this store has just opened and this was their first week with rescues, they need to do it a few more times until people know this is what they are doing regularly just like the large chains. I will support their store and tell others to (what is the name and address of the shop.)
3. Coral Springs is comparable to Pompano Beach in size and residents. 25 miles and 100,000. PB passed this law in three weeks. I have been trying over a year. This commission needs to see that business like this are not stopping in Coral Springs. One of the Commissioners told someone that he didn’t want to “hurt small business”. The pet sales ban does not do that. It helps business that are humane like this one stay open and not be a “black-eye” or “plague” on the community. As an elected official myself, I personally don’t care if I stopped businesses selling sick puppies to my residents. Who would want that kind of Puppy-trafficking” commerce in this city?
If we can support this new business in any way, please give me their information and I will see what I can do. I would love for them to speak with the commission and explain who they are, their business model and why they opened this small business in CS.
Sharon, in the three years that I am passing this law, I have never met a more “apathetic” commission to this issue. Not so much against it as they don’t care about it. How do you not care about protecting your residents from consumer fraud and shelter killing down the road from you? This business may be just the thing we need to succeed.