(1888PressRelease)
February 17, 2009 - Bass-fishing pro and Forrest Wood Cup Champion Michael Bennett and his fiancé, Panama City-native Emily Norwood, announced Friday a $15,000 donation to the Humane Society of Bay County that will be used to launch the Open Paw program facility-wide at Bay County’s only no-kill shelter.
“Emily and I feel that it is important to share our good fortune, and because we have two cats and a dog that we adopted from various places, we know the joy and love that shelter pets bring into a home,” he said. “Because I’m a competitive guy, I want to challenge the community to match our gift,” he said, announcing an all-expense paid weekend of fishing with him for a match grant of $15,000 or more, a day of fishing and gear for sponsors matching $7,500 or more, and a special Angler’s Package of professional fishing gear autographed by him for sponsors granting $2,500 or more.
Bennett, 24, earned an early fortune in his professional bass fishing career when he landed the Forrest Wood Cup Championship and a $1 million purse in California in 2008. He and Ms. Norwood live in Bay County eight months of the year while he tours the professional bass fishing circuit, sponsored by Proctor & Gamble.
“The Open Paw program is designed to teach shelter dogs and cats how to behave in order to get adopted, and to stay adopted,” said Humane Society of Bay County Executive Director Niki Tudge. “Basic household manners and friendly behaviors are taught in order to assure success in the real world,” she said. “Open Paw teaches shelter animals how to greet people politely, which items are okay to chew or scratch on, where to eliminate appropriately, crate training, and more.”
The HSBC is the second shelter in Florida and the first in North Florida to implement the revolutionary program which involves the community in improving the lives of shelter animals in two ways: through a tested national training program and by implementing the new Mental Health Guidelines for shelter pets. Staff and volunteers are trained in basic animal behavior and training to enhance the adoptability of their resident cats and dogs, and to educate the community on positive training methods.
“It is our hope that every time someone enters this Open Paw shelter they will leave a little bit smarter and kinder than when they arrived,” said Emily Norwood. “It doesn’t matter if they are here to volunteer, to adopt an animal, just visiting, or even to surrender an animal,” she said. “We want to demonstrate the dramatic results of positive-reinforcement training and behavioral modification on shelter pets.”
The Open Paw program decreases the surrender and abandonment of unwanted animals by making sure that they don’t become unwanted after being adopted. This is accomplished in three ways: (1) by educating prospective pet owners before they get their pets, (2) by providing practical hands-on experience and training for shelter staff and volunteers and for prospective and existing pet owners, and (3) by promoting the adoption of Minimum Mental Health Requirements for shelter animals.
The Open Paw program is a non-profit organization founded by internationally-renowned veterinarian and animal behaviorist Dr. Ian Dunbar and his wife, Kelly Gorman. For more information visit www.openpaw.org
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