N.Y. shelter accepts 19 dogs from area

ST. MARYS - Several dogs now in the Pleasants County Humane Society shelter will have a new home, just in time for the Christmas holiday.

Shelter volunteers Patti and Dominick Perfetti, who live in Marietta, will be taking 19 dogs from their current home to a no-kill shelter in Middletown, N.Y., this weekend.

"We are going to take the dogs on a more than 500 mile, nine-hour car ride to Pets Alive," said Patti Perfetti.

This will be the second trip the Perfettis have taken with dogs from the Pleasants County shelter to Pets Alive. They took three dogs a few months ago. The second trip will be far different, Perfetti said.

"Last time, my husband and I took the dogs in our car; this time, we had to find a large van to haul all of the dogs," she said.

The Marietta YMCA is lending its 15-passenger van and the Blennerhassett Hotel will donate blankets and sheets for the dogs to be comfortable during the long ride.

"The community has really stepped up," Perfetti said.

Jamie Metheney, humane officer with the Pleasants County Humane Society, said the dogs being taken to New York were chosen for the journey because of the type of breeds they represent.

"These dogs would have little to no hope of finding a home if they stayed here, but at Pets Alive, they have a great chance of being adopted," Metheney said.

Perfetti, who moved with her husband to the Mid-Ohio Valley from the Middletown, N.Y., area, said she is excited to take this trip, which will mean a big change for the dogs involved.

"I'm tickled to death about this," Metheney said. "These dogs will now have a very good chance of finding a very good home that they wouldn't find here."

This is partly because different areas of the country have different preferences in what they want in a dog, specifically the breeds.

"Some breeds that are popular in the New York area are not popular here and vice versa," Metheney said.

Perfetti said all three dogs taken to Pets Alive in the first trip were adopted to good homes within the first 30 days.

"We hope we are as successful this time," she said.

Metheney and Perfetti said they hope to make these trips regularly with different dogs.

"I would, ideally, like to do this quarterly," Perfetti said. "It would give dogs a chance at a new life and free up space to allow more dogs at the Pleasants County shelter."

Metheney said the dogs are being treated by a local veterinarian before their journey and that she looks forward to more of these trips.

"They will make a wonderful impact on our shelter and the lives of the dogs," she said.

The shelter is taking donations to help fund this and future trips to take dogs to Pets Alive.

"We received a very generous donation toward the transportation from local lawyer Brian Carr and his wife Tessie Carr," Metheney said. "But we always need help with these trips."

Anyone willing to make a donation is asked to send a check to the Pleasants County Humane Society, 669 Pike Road, St. Marys, WV 26170.

If donors wish the funds to go to the transportation of dogs to Pets Alive, write "dog transportation" on the memo line of the check, Metheney said.

"If there is no note in the memo, the money will go to the shelter's general fund, which also needs as much help as possible," she said. "There is no donation too small - every penny counts."