April 2017 We're excited to see the change in seasons; the sun feels warmer and the songbirds are chirping in the morning. This past month, we had three fun-filled days hosting our children’s camp during March Break. What a pleasure it was to have the kids here helping with our animals! Register now to secure your child’s spot in our summer camps, which run throughout July and August.
Meet Your Match® through the Ontario SPCA You could be gazing at the animal of your dreams, but you just can’t tell what they’re thinking behind that cute little furry face. What if you knew a little something about their personality and habits before you moved in together? Get ready to find a pet that suits your needs – get ready to “Meet Your Match!” A program of the ASPCA, Meet Your Match® is the only method in existence that evaluates an animal’s behaviour and interests and matches them to an adopter’s preferences so that you take home a pet you can really click with. The Meet Your Match program won’t let you go home without knowing who’s in that carrier or on that leash. Watch our video to learn more about this innovative program and see the matches it has made. Already have the pet of your dreams? We want to hear your adoption story! Enter the #IMetMyMatch video contest. For your chance to win, upload a video of your story telling us what made your pet perfect for you, or post your video on Instagram using the hashtag #IMetMyMatch and then claim your entry. The contest closes April 17, so don’t delay! The randomly selected winner will receive a $50 credit for PawsandGive.ca, our online giving catalogue, and an Ontario SPCA swag bag.
Nominate your veterinarian today for this year’s Got A Pet? Get A Vet!™ Award Help us recognize local veterinarians and their staff who go above and beyond to provide excellent care for pets and their families. From May 1 to May 21, we want to hear from you! Submit your favourite veterinary clinic for the 2017 Got a Pet? Get a Vet!™ Award and encourage friends and family to go on the gotapetgetavet.ca website to vote for the winner.  Got a Pet? Get a Vet!™ is an annual education campaign by the Ontario SPCA, in association with the Ontario Veterinary Medical Association (OVMA) and participating SPCAs and Humane Societies across Canada. It promotes and educates owners about the importance of annual veterinary checks. Just one checkup a year will help protect your pets against a variety of potentially life-threatening diseases, detect health problems sooner and help you avoid unexpected costs.
Paws & Give: Better than a chocolate bunny! Spring is finally here and Easter is just days away. If you’re looking for something fresh and meaningful to give, we have Easter and spring-themed “animal-grams” for you!  Donate just $10 through Paws & Give, our online giving catalogue, and send an eCard to your friends and family to celebrate the season, all while helping animals in our care Or, choose a Rocky & Friends plush adoption to give in place of a basket of chocolate or trinkets. The little ones in your life will be cuddling a soft plush dog, cat or horse while you’ll have the warm, fuzzy feeling that animals in need are safe and cared for, all because of you. You can be a hero this spring!
Volunteers like Cara make life better for animals  April 23-29 is National Volunteer Week and we have so many amazing volunteers to recognize, one of whom is Cara Stafford. Although new to our volunteer crew, Cara hasn’t shied away from taking on extra roles, many of which are new to her. She’s regularly at our centre – snow, rain or shine – to walk our dogs. She also took a big lead in getting new businesses set up to host National Cupcake Day™ for SPCAs and Humane Societies events. Her hard work truly made our Cupcake Day fundraising efforts a big success this year. Thank you, Cara, for all you do!	Purr-fect partnership helped Kit the cat find her home We’ve recently had a few cats with very shy personalities surrendered into our care. Among them was Kit, a cat in need of some TLC and socializing. Kit took a while to be comfortable interacting with people, but slowly and surely she came out of her shell. Our staff and volunteers spent a lot of time providing her with enrichment and it paid off! We’re pleased to report Kit found a loving home. Kit’s happy ending was made possible thanks to the devotion of our staff and volunteers, as well as our supporters. We partnered with a local pet store to help find Kit a home and we can’t thank them enough for their assistance.
National Volunteer Week celebrates unsung heroes Ontario SPCA animal centres will be joining Canadians from coast to coast April 23-29 in celebration of National Volunteer Week. Volunteers are the backbone of every not-for-profit organization, and the Ontario SPCA relies on hundreds of volunteers across the province to help keep our animal centres running smoothly. From walking dogs and socializing cats, to driving animals to appointments and helping out at events, our volunteers dedicate their time to helping animals in need. National Volunteer Week is a time to recognize, celebrate and thank our volunteers for their hard work. This is the seventh consecutive year the Ontario SPCA, together with Volunteer Canada, has celebrated this important week. During National Volunteer Week, we will honour those who have volunteered their time to Animal Welfare and improving the lives of the animals in our care. Each animal centre will be hosting celebration events to thank volunteers, and their families, who help shape our communities. Volunteers are vital to our animal centres and we can’t thank them enough. If you would like to get involved and be part of our team, visit our website for more details.	Meet Smiley the blind therapy dog Despite abuse suffered at a young age, you’ll never find this Golden Retriever without a big smile on his face. We recently welcomed a very special guest to join us on our Animals’ Voice Pawdcast: Smiley, the blind therapy dog. Smiley the blind therapy dog, as he’s become widely known on social media, was born without eyes and spent two years living in a puppy mill, where he suffered attacks from other dogs. Even after being rescued, Smiley struggled to find a loving home to care for him. Nobody wanted him because of the challenges they thought would come with owning a blind dog. From those traumatic beginnings, Smiley never lost his calm and gentle personality. After some time adjusting to his new home, he became a certified therapy dog with St. John Ambulance. He now visits schools with his owner, Joanne George, who shares with children how Smiley was bullied for being born blind. It’s a powerful story to explain to children why bullying is wrong and hurtful. To hear Smiley’s story and the challenges of raising a special needs dog, listen to our podcast with this incredible dog and his dedicated owner.
Great Pyrenees sisters find home together When bonded animals come into our care, we always do our best to find them a home together. When two Great Pyrenees sisters were surrendered to our centre, we knew it could take awhile to find them a loving home together.  Perhaps it was fate that the day we put the two-and-a-half-year-old sisters up for adoption, the Jackson family saw them on our website. Before we closed that day, the family of four made the drive down to our animal centre to meet Jasmine and Molly. Despite being relatively shy, the two dogs took to the Jackson’s two young girls right away. We were happy to see these two gentle giants find their forever home so quickly. We wish Molly and Jasmine all the best on their new adventures!	Cupcakes come to the rescue to support animals in need Thanks to bakers and supporters across the nation, close to $530,000 – and counting – was raised for National Cupcake Day™ for SPCAs & Humane Societies in 2017!  To date, the campaign has raised nearly $2.38 million, proving that Canadians have a sweet tooth for cupcakes, and a love of animals.  The average cost to care for a shelter animal is $568, which means that over 900 animals were helped with the success of this year’s National Cupcake Day. The wonderful success of the day showed that animals in need across Canada can have their cupcake (pet friendly, of course!), and eat it too! Set your baking timers now for the 2018 National Cupcake Day taking place on Monday, Feb. 26.

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Newshound is a free electronic newsletter published monthly by the Ontario SPCA to inform our supporters and friends of animal welfare about Ontario SPCA Community initiatives, programs, events and experiences. Contents of Newshound may be reproduced with appropriate credit.

Ontario SPCA Leeds & Grenville Animal Centre
RR#4 800 Centennial Road, Brockville, ON K6V 5T4
Charitable Business #88969-1044-RR0002

Phone: (613) 345-5520
Fax:  (613) 345-2169
Email: leedsgrenville@ospca.on.ca

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