P

E

T

P

O

R

T

R

A

I

T

S

* Pet Portraits * Pet Portraits * Pet Portraits *

Help for Investigation Dogs

There is a group of animals that the rescue groups can not help. They are known as "investigation dogs". These animals are taken from their owners and placed in the county pound facility until after their owners go to trial. They are not allowed off the premises during this time and are not allowed to be adopted or fostered out. Often they are impounded for several months, sometimes even years. The poor creatures must be confined to their pens and often don't even get to see the light of day the entire time.

A lady I know by the name of Karyn Ringhaver has raised money and gotten sponsors to purchase a piece of land next to the Animal Services facility in Hillsborough county. The land was converted into a small dog park. Now the dogs can have a chance to be dogs again and have a place to run off leash. The park opened up in March of this year. It is called "Jagger Park", named after Karyn's beloved dog who passed away from cancer last year. This is the first dog park of it's kind. Hopefully it will catch on elsewhere. They are still in need of funds to provide medical care for the dogs and to provide the animals with little comforts such as dog beds and healthy snacks.

I have coordinated with Karyn Ringhaver and the owner of the South Shore Gallery, Beth Howard of Apollo Beach, who has graciously offered to host a charity event in her gallery to benefit the investigation dogs. Items up for sale include dog paintings, prints and note cards. All the proceeds from that event will go to the "investigation dogs". The event will take place on August 30th from 3:00 until 5:00PM.

I have had the opportunity to visit with the investigation dogs and see first hand how the little park is benefiting these animals. I have since started on a series of paintings of dogs that have benefited from the opening of Jagger Park. I will be posting the paintings here as they are completed. They will all be for sale and the proceeds will go to benefit the investigation dogs.