Tailwags & Handbags another sell out event

Happy May Day Sonoma! We should be in full swing at Tailwags & Handbags by the time you read this and I want to thank you Sonoma for another SOLD OUT event. I also want to thank the wonderful and very generous Jean Charles Boisset, the owner of Buena Vista Winery for hosting us again this year.

A special shout out to the fabulous Tom Blackwood and Staci Sheets for making it so easy for us to come in and put this event on.

If you waited too long to buy tickets and missed out, please check us out next year as this seems to still be a popular and very fun event for everyone.

Hopefully, we will raise some much-needed funds for the animals today.

On Saturday, May 4, Pets Lifeline will participate in a month-long national fundraising program called the “Saving Pets Challenge” through an organization called Found Animals. You will be hearing about this all month long, so I’ll apologize in advance for the bombardment of ads, emails and Facebook posts, but this is really important and you can help.

Here’s how it works: Set up your personal fundraising page in less than one minute by visiting crowdrise.com/petslifelineinc today.

Not only do we get to keep 100 percent of what we raise through the CrowdRise pages, but the first prize for raising the most money is an additional $50,000, the second prize is $20,000 and the third prize is $10,000. So let’s make this a community challenge Sonoma, and start your page today. Help us raise critical funds for all the cats and dogs entrusted in Pets Lifeline’s care.

Every little bit helps and we can use the wonders of modern technology to make Sonoma the winner in the whole country. Wouldn’t that be a great way to not only pay tribute to your pets but also to unite in helping Pets Lifeline find homes for all of the homeless and abandoned animals that find their way into the shelter.

This year is our 10th annual Summer Camp. If you haven’t signed up your kids yet, please do soon. It’s filling up fast. Our camp has one-week sessions starting on June 8 through Aug. 10, from 9 a.m. to noon Monday through Friday.

Mary Green, our humane education director started this camp in 2005 for a handful of kids for only three weeks that first summer.

Mary fondly recalls gathering the kids in the dog yard, under the plum tree with the bees buzzing about and plums dropping all around. For the last six years, it has been 10 weeks with a full house every week.

Lynette Lyon will be here every week with her menagerie of rescue animals from Lyon Ranch.

Roxanne Alden will also be here every week with her rescue pit bull, Jackson, to read to the kids and they finish each day in the kitten room helping to socialize our littlest feline friends.

We have adopted out at least seven dogs in the last two weeks. We still have some cuties and will soon have more I am sure. As of this writing, we have four of the most adorable and sweet-natured female pit bull puppies. We decided to honor their inner diva with the names of Mariah, Beyonce, Britney and Jlo.

We also have Rocky, a flop-eared terrier mix who will melt your heart; Reilly, a 2-year-old Jack Russell mix; and Willie, our 2- year-old chocolate brown pit bull who is a kind, smart and very loving boy. Willie was the emaciated pup we found early one morning tied up to our signpost in the front of the shelter. Despite how he was abandoned, he has never displayed anything but love and a desire to please. He’d make a great family dog.

We have only a handful of adult cats who are still waiting for their forever homes. Our community cat and kitten rooms are looking a bit like ghost towns right now, but that will not be for long as we have taken in more than 30 kittens who are currently in foster homes.

Those in foster will not be ready for adoption until the beginning of June.

Until we meet again ... peace, love and paws.