Allan Appel Photo
Finstser Baby, concerned if she’ll be popular.
Finster Baby’s ear tend to go horizontal when she’s experiencing social anxiety. Fortunately she was out on the town with her pal Alice, who’s always calm and reassuring.
Finster Baby, a rat terrier, and Alice, a patriotic boxer mix, were doing downtown New Haven Friday evening at “Yappy Hour.”.
They were just a coupla girls enjoying the third annual Yappy Hour Friday evening on the sidewalk in front of Claire’s Corner Copia. The event a fundraiser to support the Robin I. Kroogman New Haven Animal Shelter.
Elaine Spinato, the treasurer of the Friends of the New Haven Animal Shelter, which co-sponsored the event with Claire’s, estimated that 20 to 30 dogs would drop by to socialize over a treat and a bowl of water, along with perhaps 100 humans.
Spinato said that in the first year $700 was raised; last year, $2,000. “We’re moving right along,” she said, suggesting that the canine happy hour is fast becoming “legendary” in town.
That’s important because the shelter, on Fournier Avenue, cares for from 500 to 700 dogs and cats a year. Their biggest expense is about $50,000 in medical care for animals, many of whom are abandoned when owners discover the animals require expensive care.
In fact, many of the socializing dogs at Friday’s Yappy Hour were rescued dogs, like Finster Baby.
Her owners, Lynette and Steve Purciello, said their pet hailed from a New Orleans “kill shelter.” That is, a shelter where euthanasia is routinely practiced.
Lynette Purciello said that is all too common in the South; shelters like New Haven’s have a no-kill policy. Rescue agencies brought Finster Baby up from the South.
Alice (pictured) was adopted at a shelter in Derby, said her owner, Jennifer Larsen of Stratford.
The two dogs are friends, but not particularly close and don’t much like to party, or scrap, together, said the humans.
Larsen was asked what Alice was in particular looking for at the Yappy Hour, where Claire Criscuolo was her usual fine hostess to the canines. Alice was definitely not looking for love, for she has three brothers and sisters at home, Larsen said..
Meanwhile down at the end of the bar, as it were, Becky Delventhal’s two rescue dogs, Olivia, in black, and Oliver, in brown, were enjoying music provided by the Muttley Crue. Fiddler Mickey Koth and concertina player Britt Goodman had picked out a muttley — er, medley — of tunes to appeal to the guests including the folk tune “Angeline the Baker,” which includes the lyrics, “The possom’s tail is bare/ shove the pig’s foot into the fire.”
Asked what Olivia and Oliver were enjoying best in an event that included silent auction, organic doggie treats, and, for the humans, Claire’s tasty pizza appetizers, Becky Delventhal said: “They are enjoying the smells on the ground and sniffing the other dogs.”
Hey, what’s a Yappy Hour for!
Friends Vice-President Debby Wan said another plus of the event is that it provides a place for dogs to hang out together and get their needed interaction. There aren’t a whole lot of such places in New Haven, as dog walkers in Wooster Square recently discovered.
Debby Wan.
Wan, who was guarding a tray of Lithuanian coffee, blueberry, and carrot cakes, said the generosity of New Haveners at events such as Yappy Hour and others is critical for the shelter. The shelter runs entirely on volunteer labor and must raise lots of money for medical and other expenses for abandoned animals.
Click here for a previous story on the spiffing up of the 20-year-old shelter in order to promote adoption.
Wan said that the next capital challenge for the shelter is to replace the floor at the building with a new linoleum that will be easy to wash. She estimated the cost between $2,000 and $3,000.
Anyone interested in contributing cash or flooring, the contact is the Friends site or treasurer Elaine Spinato at 203 – 287-0055.
Johnny Boy missed the photo opp on this one. He must be losing his grip.