Cumberland County Sheriff Earl R. Butler has taken a stand against crimes of animal cruelty in the local community.  The Sheriff’s Office has partnered with County Animal Services to hire a full-time law officer to investigate reports of abuse in the county and city.  The position was created to provide in-depth felony investigations and enhance public awareness about roadside puppy mills, dog and cock fighting and reports of neglect.  These crimes have become a concern for many citizens throughout the United States.

Cumberland County Animal Services Director Scottie Harris recommended the partnership with the Sheriff’s Office in October, 2009.  Following discussions and interviews with perspective candidates for this position, both Sheriff Butler and Harris agreed to hire 30-year old

Detective Jonathon Perkins.  Perkins is a former U.S. Army soldier and has served three years as a Sheriff’s Deputy.  He is a “Nationally Certified Animal Cruelty Investigator” and is the first for the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office.  Detective Perkins will join a team of civilian investigators already in place at Animal Services.

The position, which will be paid by Cumberland County Animal Services, will come with an annual salary equivalent to a Sheriff’s Deputy III.

Raffaldini Vineyards will be accepting photos of rescue dogs from now until April 30. What are these photos for? Well the winning photo will replace the Raffaldini family’s rescue dog on the release of Pino Vino II. A portion of the proceeds of the sale of Pino Vino is donated to local animal shelters and help the spay and neuter program with the Humane Society of Wilkes County. If you’re interested in entering this contest, send a high resolution photo of your rescue dog to  (info@raffaldini.com) info (at) raffaldini (dot) com. Include your name and contact information, your pet’s name, and a brief story about your dog (50 words or less). The winner will be announced on May 14 and the Pino Vino II wine will be released on June 12 at an unveiling ceremony at Raffaldini Vineyards.

Murray is a healthy, high-energy boston terrier who is ready for a good home. He is 4 years old and new to the Boston Terrier Rescue of NC’s foster program. He is good with other dogs and is currently being crate and house trained by his foster family. Murray would love a forever home. To learn more about Murray or to give him a home, visit www.btrnc.org.

Press releases cross my desk every day.  Sometimes dozens of them.  I try to sort through them all, but because of the sheer volume of emails I receive, and the impossibility of covering every single story, anything that doesn’t immediately catch my attention or that is irrelevant to our readers will unfortunately get tossed away.  But on this particular day there was one press release that caught my eye.  The headline read:

“Unleashed by PETCO Offers Chula Vista Pet Parents a New Way to Shop for Happy, Healthy Pets”

North Carolina is no where near Chula Vista, but what caught my attention was the fact that Petco was opening a new store under a different name and calling it a “community” pet store.  A community pet store?  As opposed to the “Big Box” stores in the area?  Well, isn’t that what Petco is?

Several questions immediately came to mind.  If community stores are so much better than Big Box stores, where does Petco fit in?  Are they saying Petco is for those with no imagination or “hip” factor and the truly original pet owners should shop at Unleashed?  What does that say about their Petco customers?  If Unleashed is so great, why not shut down all the Petco stores?  If Petco was good enough, why the need to start a new brand?

But what really bothered me was the fact that they are trying to pass off this new brand as a community store.  Ding, ding, ding!  Then it hit me.  They realize that some people are turned off by big chains and prefer to shop locally.  Voila!  We’ll create a “local” store then.  In….every……city.

I’m sorry, but it is impossible for a store owned by a national chain to be a “community” store.  Do they think they’re fooling anyone?  A community store is a store owned and operated by local business owners.  A community store does not answer to corporate headquarters several states away.  A community store makes it’s own decisions on what to carry, what hours to operate and what charities to donate to.  A community store puts approximately $0.70 of every dollar spent back into the community in which it is located. (compared with approximately $0.40 for a national chain)

Go to www.unleashedbypetco.com and the site tells you Unleashed is your neighborhood store.  Really?  Because the neighborhood stores I know don’t have a corporate headquarters.  They’re not owned by a national chain.  They are run by hardworking small business owners who care about the community they serve.  They’re not looking to put a store on every corner, they just want to serve their neighborhood and serve it well.

Even better, the website says at Unleashed you’ll find “premium, natural, organic, and raw pet food selections unavailable in local grocery stores.” REALLY?  They must also mean the kind of pet food unavailable at Petco stores as well.

I think Petco is having an identity crisis.  The company can’t decide if it wants to be a big, national chain or a quaint, neighborhood store.  You can’t be both, in fact, it’s impossible to be both, no matter how many brands you create.  If you’re a big chain, then be a big chain and be proud of it.  But don’t try to create illusions in an effort to fool people into believing you are a community store.  Personally, I will be patronizing my locally-owned pet stores.  They are not having an identity crisis.  They know exactly who they are.

I am full of love!

The lady was able to find Ming Ming a foster home and also paid to have her checked out by a real veterinarian.  And then like a one-two punch, Ming Ming received more bad news:  She was heartworm positive and her current foster mom had to move out of state.  Well she was able to escape shelter life again when a temporary foster mom stepped in, but she still needs to find a permanent home and receive heartworm treatment.

Sunburst Foundation needs to raise $600 to save Ming Ming’s life and get her the needed heartworm treatment.  No donation is too small.  600 people donating $1 will do the trick or 12 people donating $50 will work too.  Ming Ming has been through enough, let’s hope she doesn’t have to suffer anymore.

You can contact the Sunburst Foundation at 910-622-0011 or (sunburstfoundation@gmail.com) sunburstfoundation (at) gmail (dot) com.

Ming Ming is a boxer mix and weighs about 45 pounds.  She’s super soft and loves to lean up against you.  She’s spayed, house-trained and crate-trained.

 Send your Doggy DIY ideas to (intern@doglivingmagazine.com) intern (at) doglivingmagazine (dot) com.

If you’d like to give this wonderful hound a home, contact Daniel at (970) 903-9202 or via email at (dmdebesis@live.com) dmdebesis (at) live (dot) com