Fit for a Pit

11/30/2024

Please help our friends Pinups for Pitbulls save more dogs! ❤️

10/28/2024

This is great information, not just for those who work in animal welfare! We can use these tips when posting on social media and also when having conversations about dogs

Mislabeling dogs by breed can affect their adoption chances, reinforce misconceptions, and limit their opportunities for loving homes. Learn how understanding dogs beyond labels can foster compassion and drive change. Dive deeper here: https://nationalcanineresearchcouncil.com/breed-labels/

10/07/2024

Locals! How we can help animals in Madison County, NC today

MONDAY 10/6/24
Mad Co Animal Shelter Update

* PLEASE LOOK for specific cell phone numbers in this post to help direct you to your exact needs or questions. We now have a cell phone number for veterinarians and vet techs looking for ways to plug in, cell phone number for food donation questions, and a cell phone number for lost and found pets.

Vet Services
We will have a veterinarian at the shelter today from 12-4. No appointment required. Dr. Sheldon will also be at the shelter on Monday, Wednesday, on Friday 12-4pm. PLEASE stay in your car and wait for someone to come greet you.

Volunteerism
-General. We need 4-6 people at the shelter daily. PLEASE arrive at 11-11:30am OR 2-2:30pm. Able to bend, kneel, lift, etc.
- High level/skilled help: Lost/Found coordinator (some work can be done from home, but you must be able to come by the shelter daily and bring your own laptop, prior experience managing a page.)
- High level / skilled help: veterinarians, vet techs, vet assistants, etc. Text Kathryn at 865-805-5646
- Animal transport. Check back next week
- Field checks. Check back next week
- Food drivers. Pick-up trucks and SUVs, Melissa and Mary Alice from Friends of Madison County Animals are your point persons. Must be able to lift 50 lb. Text 828-380-4488 to see if help is needed for the day.

Food Donations
ALL PET FOOD/LITTER DONATIONS go to the Opportunity Center located at 317 Ken Pak Lane, Marshall. Snacks and chews can still come to the shelter.

Pet/Livestock Food
Please avoid buying pet food or livestock food from the store right now. Instead go to one of the locations listed in the pic and load up. There are tons of brands, varieties, and types for big and little dogs, cats and kittens, birds, ferrets, chickens, horses, etc. Folks from near and far have been so kind as to bring us these donations. Let's allow our stores to restock their inventory and receive with gratitude what's being given to us during this time.

Shelter Needs
- Shoe covers / booties, PPE gloves, PPE full suits (Sizes S, M, L)
- Long lasting hide alternatives for adult dogs and/or puppies (bully sticks, benebones, lambs ears)
- Squeeze cheese
- Canned pumpkin (no added salt/sugar)
- Small, soft training treats
- Wet cat food non-fish flavor

Found dog / cats
FACEBOOK MESSAGE THE SHELTER Text with a pic, injuries/sickness, location (address or drop a pin) where you found the animal. We appreciate if you can temporarily keep the animal safe and provide a bowl of water until we can respond.

* If an animal needs medical attention, come to the shelter right away.

Fosters
In the coming weeks we will be reaching out to LOCAL folks in our county or adjacent counties for help fostering. Please stop by the shelter to put your name on the foster list or send us a direct message (do not share your personal info in a comment, please) with the following info:
- phone
- type (dog, cat, or both)
- if you are already a foster in our system
- if you have prior high needs experience

* Animal rescues can text 828-319-5343 or email the shelter at [email protected] with your organization name, number of animals able to take, and contact information.

Moneyary donations
There are three ways to donate.
1. Put it in the jar at the shelter
2. Online: payments.Municipay.com/nc_Madisonfinance/search/27e10c0e
3. Need to write it off? Send us a DM

Thank you and please stay safe.

10/06/2024

All Pets Animal Hospital is open! M-F 8:30-5, S 9-1
7 Reynolds Mtn Blvd, AVL. Phones are working intermittently.

10/06/2024

2 days after the hurricane hit, we realized we only had 1 anticonvulsant left for our 15 1/2 yr old dog, Olive. We had a pending prescription pickup but the pharmacy was closed. Roads were mostly impassable, there was no power, water, internet or cell service anywhere. A neighbor told us about a parking lot in town that had an emergency mobile tower, so we drove there to call ER vets. Everyone was closed except VEG (Veterinary Emergency Group, Asheville location).

They were running on a generator and about to shut down but said they could give us some meds if we could bring Olive in. Which was a problem, since our old lady was at home, 20 minutes away and VEG is 40 minutes away from our home. The vet offered to wait for us! We took off for a mad dash to grab Olive and get her to them before they closed, not knowing if the roads would be open and if we'd be able to get a cell signal anywhere along the way.

Despite the odds being stacked against us, we arrived before they shut down and were able to get enough life-saving meds for one week. We're forever in debt to Dr. Hahn and the VEG staff! I emailed to thank them yesterday and got a very kind reply with a link to their charity fund that helps people with ER bills in Asheville.

To donate, please visit the VEG Cares page and be careful to select ASHEVILLE, so your donation will be used to help people & pets in our area:

To help underserved pets in our community, we started our veterinary charity, VEG Cares. Your donations go directly to pets who need it most. Donate today!

10/05/2024

To help victims of hurricane Helene, please consider donating to
(these are direct links to their donation pages, to save time):

All Hands and Hearts https://give.allhandsandhearts.org/campaign/623237/donate #!/donation/checkout

Brother Wolf Animal Rescue
https://www.bwar.org/ways-to-give/?gad_source=1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI2OnSkZf4iAMVQkd_AB3JiQOaEAAYASABEgJTGPD_BwE

Care
https://my.care.org/site/Donation2?44174.donation=form1&df_id=44174&mfc_pref=T&s_src=172520HH0M00&s_subsrc=FY25HURRICANEHELENEMO

Asheville Humane https://secure.ashevillehumane.org/site/Donation2;jsessionid=00000000.app20072a?df_id=2720&mfc_pref=T&2720.donation=form1&NONCE_TOKEN=5ABC7D1F71B85EEF02D9D67FED8ADAE7

Operation Blessing
https://www.ob.org/mc/obdisaster/?utm_campaign=OB-2024-Hurricane-Helene

Mountain Pet Rescue
https://www.mountainpetrescueavl.org/donate/

Avery County Humane Society
https://secure.qgiv.com/for/avehumsoc

Animal Search & Rescue Training Response
https://asartraining.com/donate/

The Street Dog Coalition
https://streetdogcoalition-bloom.kindful.com/?campaign=1250707

Your donation helps SDC provide free veterinary care and related services to pets of people experiencing, or at risk of, homelessness via pop-up street clinics. To allocate your gift to a particular team or program, kindly respond to the email receipt you will receive upon making the donation, stati...

10/03/2024

Dear friends, we are in the Asheville area and are feeling unbelievably lucky to be alive and without property damage. Thousands of others have lost family, friends, homes and jobs. It's going to take many years for our beautiful area and it's kind-hearted citizens to recover.

Power has been restored to our area but we're still very disconnected. We have no cell service or internet, so we're relying mostly on word-of-mouth to get relevant info each day. We can access free wifi once, maybe twice a day but the first priority is keeping us fed and watered, finding gas (which was very scarce for 5-6 days) and getting our senior dog's prescription refilled so she doesn't have seizures.

I can finally see I have so many orders from last week and this week (thank you!!!). I'm currently packing them up to take to USPS tomorrow. Now I need to hike up a generous neighbor's rocky, wooded hillside property to connect to his internet so I can process the orders and print labels out. From now until things are more normal, I will try to ship orders out on Tuesdays and Fridays (just like during covid)

Covid almost killed this little business of mine and it took almost 4 years years to recover. I'm not going to let a hurricane take this from me. I'll do my best to get everything out as quickly as I can. We're functional but just disjointed at the moment. Thank you for your continued support and I apologize if you've ordered and haven't received further info.

If you're outside of the WNC area, please donate instead of coming here, as roads are congested with relief vehicles looking for people who are still trapped, restoring services and transporting supplies.

In the coming days, I'll compile a list of places where you can donate to help people and their pets in Western NC. Please put your phone down and go say hi to that neighbor you don't know or maybe invite them to dinner. You may need to be each others' life line one day. Thank you so much! I love y'all!

Here's a short video of a hummingbird who visited me the day after the hurricane hit. He has no idea that anything's wrong. ❤️

07/04/2024

Have a great 4th! please make sure your pups are safely contained for the fireworks. Frozen work-to-eat toys, calming chews and some
relaxing music can work wonders for nervous pups 🎆

07/02/2024

This is still one of my favorite training videos ever for leash reactive pups because it shows the process happening live in the real world (where unpredictability can be your best friend and worst enemy while working on training)

Watch as Drayton Michaels, (CTC) behavior technician and dog trainer explains and demonstrates how to reduce leash reactivity. Along the way scent motivation...

06/24/2024

Independence Day is almost here but it's not to late to grab some July 3rd Calming Supplement! We have it in stock :)

Fireworks can be scary! Traveling can be stressful. Meeting new people can be overwhelming. Especially for a dog - our July Third helps calm pups who deal wi...

05/14/2024

Jambo was a beloved friend who helped us in so many ways. He was the perfect product tester, the best apparel model, the star of countless videos showing pet parents how to teach their dogs how to wear a harness, clothes, boots, etc. I'd hoped to be able to travel to Spain to meet that amazing little man one day but sadly, I didn't make it in time. 😢

You can help carry on Jambo's legacy of training dogs without the use of fear, force or intimidation by signing up for virtual training workshops by the Dogsmith and DogNostics Education! Classes are deeply discounted this week in honour of what would have been Jambo's 12th birthday 🎂

Jambo spent much of his life helping me and others, both pet ‘parents’ and their dogs, learning to be the best versions of ourselves possible. His days were always full of playful antics, walks, and cuddles, but training ‘games’ were definitely his favourite pastime! The ‘games’ we played didn’t just improve his (and my) skills, they provided lots of mental and physical enrichment, and his happy smiley face was a joy to see!

Today, 11th May, on what would have been Jambo’s twelfth birthday, I’d like to celebrate by encouraging you all to join in the training fun with your own dogs.

Here's a little gift, courtesy of DogNostics Education, to help get you started…
A massive 50% discount, on any of the following short courses or E-Workbooks for pet dog guardians!

50% off any of the following Pet Dog Solutions Programs!
– Bringing Your New Dog Home.
– Your Guide to Positive Socialization.
– The Key Training Concepts.
– Essential Training Skills.
– Addressing Common Problem Behaviors.

50% off any of these information-packed E-WorkBooks!
– 10 Steps to An Amazing Response to Name.
– How to Train a Reliable Come When Called.
– 1O Easy Steps to Walking Nicely on a Loose Leash!
– How to Effectively House Train Your Dog.

To get more information about any of the above resources,
– please go to https://dognosticseducation.com/courses/pet-owners/
– click on the relevant course or e-workbook graphic to view the full content/curriculum.

To purchase with your 50% discount, please enter the Coupon Code JAMBO at checkout. The coupon code is valid from 11th-18th May and you can use it as many times as you want, pass it on to your friends, etc.

Let's continue Jambo's legacy and help more dogs and their human families enjoy lots of training fun together!

05/07/2024

Great advice for volunteer shelter photographers! Many shelters don't have time to fuss over photos but even when volunteers and staff do have time to get better photos, the dogs can still look stressed (because they are)!

Use these tips to help dogs get adopted faster and don't forget the Bark Pouch Dog Treats!

Let's face it, who doesn't love looking at cute photos of happy dogs? Teaching your dog to happily respond to a "Say Cheese!" cue is lo ...

04/24/2024

Tag your favorite shelter, rescue or advocacy group!

We'll be printing this artwork on t-shirts for summer and can get them in any size, so if you're a 501(c)3 group looking for an eye-catching design for adoption & fundraising events, let's collaborate! We can offer great bulk discounts on printed tees, with short turnaround.

Email [email protected] for more info!🤩

04/18/2024

limited edition hoodie design by moi! Ditch the DNA test and buy a couple of these for your best mixes ever instead ❤️