Sammy needs a temporary or permanent home!

 

This is a courtesy posting. Sammy is not part of any Phinney’s Friends program. He is being fostered by a staff member of a very generous vet clinic, Kindness Animal Hospital in Waltham.

Phinney’s had a blast at Wake Up the Earth Festival

From left, Katie and Mara, manning our table at Wake Up the Earth Festival in Jamaica Plain.

Jamaica Plain is known for being a community that loves their pets, and the people who attended Wake Up the Earth Festival last Saturday did not disappoint. Phinney’s Friends participated in the festival with great success!

More than 40 people signed up to get additional information on volunteering and even more took a pamphlet to find out about the great work we do. Many were surprised that such an organization like ours even existed, and others personally knew of someone who could benefit from our help.

Our table at the event

Hopefully this event will add more volunteers to an already great group of folks who love both pets and people! If you know anyone who would be interested in volunteering, especially willing to foster animals for us, please tell them we need them.

A special thanks to Mara, Katie, Stephanie and Kim, who did a great job spreading the word about Phinney’s Friends at our table!

Phinney’s helped BU students heal – check our video!

Phinney’s volunteer Jewel (left) with her dog Emma and students.

A dog-loving Phinney’s Friends team of volunteers drove into Boston last Monday, April 29th, with 4 cute dogs in the car. We were not planning on visiting low-income families or any sick pets. We were visiting college students stressed out with finals. We had been invited to participate on the event “Dog Bones Therapy at School of Management Boston University” in order to help students decompress, and of course we took the opportunity to talk to everyone about Phinney’s and recruit students to join us.

My dog Lola, shedding like crazy, loving to be petted by a student.

For two hours straight, our Vice-president, Starr, our longtime volunteer Jewel Gilbert and I talked to the kids about our dogs and Phinney’s, while they hugged and petted our dogs. Every ten minutes, 30 new students would invade the room, eager to touch the pooches they liked the most. To their delight, they came in all colors, shapes and sizes. I took with me my gentle giant — Lola the Saint Bernard. Starr brought along her happy-go-lucky dogs, Gem and Tristan, who are pros: they are registered therapy Cavalier King Charles Spaniels. And Jewel brought her super sweet girl, Emma, a certified therapy Goldendoodle who is also Lola’s best friend.

Gem and Tristan, Vice-president Starr Maxwell’s therapy dogs, with the reporter who made the video.

The other 5 dogs from Dog B.O.N.E.S., a nonprofit that recruits and manages therapy dog teams and generously invited us to this event, brought even more variety to the room — a black mutt, a small toy Poodle, a Golden retriever, a Lab and a mini Doodle.

Take a look at this video:

 

Our afternoon at BU was  intense and fun, especially for Lola and me, who have never done therapy dog work before. She’s a bit shy but she loves to cuddle with people. So after a while she realized the throng of happy students were there to make her only wish come true — pet her non-stop. :-)

We enjoyed so much visiting the BU students for 2 hours straight — nearly 400 of them waited in line for their 10-minute turn to hug, kiss and pet the dogs. Now do the math: spring + Saint Bernard + lots of petting. Fur balls were flying all over. At the end of the event, we could have made a sweater out of Lola’s shedding. (I’m not sure if they will ever invite us again. :-P )

We had fun chatting with like-minded people and bringing joy to the students during such stressful times. On top of the pressure of finals, we were all still shaken by the bombings in Boston and manhunt in Watertown. So we mingled, relaxed and forgot about everything else for a while. It was just us and the dogs.

Check all the pictures here! 

 

Volunteers, this is your week. Thank you! :-)

This is national volunteer week — April 21 to 27 — the perfect opportunity to offer thanks to all Phinney’s Friends volunteers. We all know that an organization such as Phinney’s Friends could not possibly do all of the good work we are able to do without the generous, selfless giving of time, effort, and energy of our volunteers.

We hope you are all aware of how grateful our clients are for your assistance. They, along with their pets, give you a great big shout out of thanks during national volunteer week and for all 52 weeks of the year.

Thank you guys!!!

Please stay inside, stay safe!

These past few days have been so painful to all of us who live in the Boston area, Massachusetts, New England, United States. We are all mourning and aching for the lives lost and the people hurt during the explosions at the Boston marathon and the shooting and explosions at the MIT campus and surrounding areas. Such tragic events have taken us all by unspeakable sadness, and Phinney’s Friends is hoping everyone stays safe and in lockdown at home until the manhunt in progress in the Boston area is finished.

We urge you to please be careful and avoid going out to walk your dog. One inappropriate pipi is better than exposing you and your family to any danger.

We were able to talk over the phone with all but one of our volunteers who live in Cambridge, Watertown and Belmont. Everyone is safe at home. Our clients located in the area are also safe and locked inside their homes.

We owe a debt of gratitude to all the first responders who aided the injured and law enforcement officers who are searching for the killer and keeping us as safe as possible. Let’s help them do their job.

 

Daniela Caride

Phinney’s Friends

President of the Board

 

Phinney’s Friends kept my family together

Nikita and Kiara

 

My name is Linda. I am the devoted owner of three pets. One is a 10-year-old orange Pomeranian named Kiara that I have had since she was three months old. The second is an 8-year-old charcoal grey cat with stunning green eyes named Keanu. The third is a 9-month-old grey and white Siberian Husky named Jade.

My daughter Nikita and I adore our pets — they are a significant part of our family. Since we got Kiara first, and the cat second, the Pom kind of raised the cat and now he thinks he is part dog. He gives licks right on our lips and cheeks. It is soooo cute.

My Pom is extremely devoted to me. She sleeps under the covers, in my bed, right up by my neck so we can have a kissing fest every night. She is big into kissing. She seems to know when I am sick because she is very sensitive. She stays right by my side and there have been times when I couldn’t take her out to use the bathroom for fourteen hours at a time and she holds it. What a trooper!!

Our Husky is a handful. She is basically my daughter’s, and it is a great experience for her to have a big responsibility like that.

Phinney’s Friends has helped our family countless times. Due to the fact that I have AIDS, and I am a single mom, there have been three times that I have been hospitalized that our animals were fostered out. Very recently, I had a cancer operation which was only day surgery, so Phinney’s Friends provided our family with a local dog walker to help out while I recovered. I could not have managed without the generous help of Phinney’s Friends. They have literally saved our family.

About a month ago, my Pom got a terrible infection in her mouth caused by her front teeth rotting out. She stopped eating and I was very worried about her. Phinney’s Friends got her right into the vet and she had the bad teeth removed and was put on antibiotics. She is doing great now and my daughter calls her “The Toothless Wonder”!

Our pet’s give us a lot of emotional support. They are very therapeutic. Having AIDS is not easy for me nor is it easy for my daughter. Our pets help us deal with it all. They provide not only love and companionship, but laughter, too. How could we thank Phinney’s Friends enough? I just don’t know.

 

Join Phinney’s Friends at Paws in the Park!

Are you ready for a fun day with pet lovers? Join Phinney’s Friends at Paws in the Park, an event that Save a Dog is holding at the Logfellow’s Wayside Inn (72 Wayside Inn Road in Sudbury, Mass. on May 5th from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., rain or shine!

You will have an opportunity to talk to us at Phinney’s Friends tent and enjoy a host of activities, from an agility try-out ring and a parade of adoptable dogs, to face painting and doggie games.

Do you know Save a Dog? This group is a humane society whose primary focus is rescuing and rehoming abandoned dogs. They have been around since 1999, when it was run out of the founder’s home as an all volunteer organization. They now have a facility in Sudbury and are a registered 501(c)3 organization.

Paws in the Park promises to bring fun to the entire family, including your dog (yes, you can bring him!). This year’s event will be in the scenic park at Longfellow’s Wayside Inn, so you can enjoy not only the vendors but also the surroundings. So be sure to arrive on time for the group walk from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m.! Registration begins at 10 a.m.

For more information or to make a donation please visit Save a Dog’s website!