Jisu Sheen photo
One big Chunk.
Two-year-old pit bull Chunk panted, smiling and receiving pats from new friends at the Broadway Island Saturday afternoon.
“He’s a very relaxed dog,” said Brian Bellitto from the Robin I. Kroogman New Haven Animal Shelter, holding Chunk’s leash. “He likes dogs, kids, everything.”
Chunk was also resourceful. “He’s been eating popcorn off the ground for about an hour or so,” Bellitto said.
"Oh, you were so good for her!" said volunteer Anna Schildroth to 2-year-old adoptable pit bull Hilary (pictured).
The popcorn was courtesy of The Kettle King and butterfingers of little kids running from tent to tent at the Broadway Island’s Dog Adoption event, sponsored by the Friends of the New Haven Animal Shelter, the North Shore Animal League, and the Shops at Yale.
Besides free kettle corn and Italian ice, the event offered face painting, pet caricatures, a juggler, and pet rock painting. A live jazz band covered the festivities in a canopy of mellow tunes.
The dog adoption event coincided with an appetizer and dessert crawl, the third of a three-part summer series raising money for various local causes. Participants “crawled” through the Broadway Island to pick up a snack from Ay! Arepa Latin Fusion and get a glimpse of some of the dogs and festivities. Proceeds from Saturday’s crawl were being directed to the Friends of the New Haven Animal Shelter, adding to the afternoon’s dog adoption efforts.
Tatyana Cogan, watching her kids indulge in the painting activities at an art tent, said they came to see if they would connect with any of the dogs up for adoption.
The family toured the inside of the North Shore Animal League’s special dog adoption bus parked on the island, where dogs sniffed and greeted visitors from small temporary compartments. They were tended to by volunteers who switched out water and bedding, and of course offered some cooing encouragement to their furry friends.
The shelter brought all ten of their adoptable dogs to the Broadway island. The others were back at the shelter’s facility in Newhallville, being trained.
In the end, Cogan’s family didn’t find the right companion for them among those ten, though they were delighted by 3‑year-old Sunshine, whose “personality fit the name.” In the meantime, Cogan said, “We’re using our imagination to draw some puppies.”
Elizabeth, 9 years old, was hard at work coloring in a two-dimensional dog inspired by her surroundings. 11-year-old Daniel walked away with his very own pet rock, which he decorated with a New York Giants logo.
Friends of the New Haven Animal Shelter Corresponding Secretary Patricia Grandjean manned a table of animal shelter merch Saturday at the dog adoption event, watching over branded shirts and ceramics from Edwards Street pottery studio Wet Clay Works, all being sold for the fundraiser.
Grandjean, who is 15, acquired a cat (“Beck, like the singer”) who had been abandoned by his owners. She grew to love her cat so much she started volunteering in a whole room of cats at the Robin I. Kroogman New Haven Animal Shelter. Through the “Cat Pawsitive” program, Grandjean helped train the cats to do high-fives, winning the hearts of potential new families.
Grandjean told me some people at the event had already put in some applications to adopt the dogs. No one would be walking away with a new dog that day, as there is a process of vetting the adopters and filling out paperwork, but the right things were in motion to find forever homes for the pups.
Inside the dog adoption bus, I asked volunteer Anna Schildroth if 2‑year-old pit bull Hilary was pregnant. “She was, yes,” Schildroth said, telling me about the sad tale of pit bulls who are bred repeatedly before being discarded. Schildroth said Hilary was “one of our longest residents” and all-around, just a really nice dog.
One of the dogs, Billy, was Pet of the Week this week on News 8, Schildroth informed me. “Actually, all the dogs have been Pet of the Week!”
Before I left the dog bus, Schildroth made sure I got a look at pit bull mix Meatball’s wonderful ears. To Schildroth, Meatball’s big, slightly floppy ears made her look extraterrestrial. With her smart blue handkerchief and friendly eyes, Meatball looked ready for any mission this side of the Milky Way.
Manmita Dutta, who works for the New Haven Free Public Library foundation, was pleased with the event’s turnout. Her table had bookmarks, pencils, and pens promoting the New Haven libraries and their programs, as well as dog-themed temporary tattoos for the kids. She noted the federal funding cuts to public programs, emphasizing that “the library is such a public good.”
Dutta seemed hopeful people would remember that and step in to support the local library system. “We have a community that loves us,” Dutta said.
Upon closer inspection, as well as some insight from the artist herself, I realized little Elizabeth’s drawing was actually not of a dog, but a balloon dog. And yet, as they say, a trace of the true self exists in the false self; colorful balloon dogs did pop up around the Broadway island, celebrating the pups up for adoption.
In her doodle, Elizabeth found a way to highlight the point of the event as well as the community effort around it. The energy was high, the kettle corn was flowing, and the theme of the day was, without a doubt, dogs.
Daniel, 11, making a tiny Giant.
Anyone want a little Meatball to call their own?
Elizabeth, 9, inspired by the pups around her.