Who let the dogs out?

Last night, hubby and I went to “In The Dog House,” a fundraising event at the brand new Ottawa Humane Society. A number of well known Ottawa personalities were thrown into the dog house and had to raise pre-determined amounts of money in order to get bailed out. There was also a silent auction, and local businesses and restaurants provided appetizers, desserts, beverages, and music. Stuntman Stu from Majic 100 was the MC and judge, and Sandy Sharkey from 93.9 BOB FM was one of the dog pound celebs. Sandy is a huge supporter of the OHS, and is always involved with their fundraising efforts – Sandy, you rock!

The event raised $75,000.00 for the OHS’s “Breaking Ground Building Campaign.” How awesome is that?! The current OHS location on Champagne Avenue is old and too small to handle the 11,000 animals that come through its doors every year. The new building is HUGE, has lots of room both inside and out, and it’s also green. Here’s the old building…

Image via Capital Neighbourhoods

And here’s the new building – much better, yes?!

Image via Ottawa Humane Society’s Facebook page

There’s a wall in the lobby area with the names of all the major donors. Hubby thought it was amusing that the Government of Ontario was outdone by an anonymous donor – by a million dollars!

A couple of pictures of the interior… I love the light fixtures and the wood ceiling area. The windows at the tops of the walls go all the way down the main hallway.

This is the cat room, which has a 3-season area where the cats can practically lounge outside. Inside view…

Outside view…

And some pics of the exterior. I love the combination of materials – wood, stone, concrete, and metal.

I love this wall – there are a couple of other walls like it.

Need to have dog runs, of course!

The BOB FM sign kept blowing into my pictures!

It really is a beautiful building. All the dogs & cats & other furry & feathered friends will be moving into their new digs next week. I think they’ll be very happy here while they wait for their new homes :-) You can read more about the event and OHS’s building on Sandy’s blog, and on the OHS Facebook page.

And while I’m on the topic of happy animal “tails,” have you heard about Wall-E? He’s a puppy that was dumped at a shelter in Sulphur, Oklahoma along with his brothers & sisters. The vet at the shelter made the tough decision to euthanize the puppies because of space & health issues. Wall-E was given TWO euthanasia shots, but somehow he survived both!

Artist Ron Burns created a painting of Wall-E, and is selling prints for $40 plus $5 shipping. 40% of all money raised through the sale of the prints is being donated to the Murray County Animal Shelter in Sulphur. Click here if you’re interested in buying a print. Mine arrived last week, and I love it!

Images of Wall-E from Ron Burns’ web site

You can read Wall-E’s amazing story here, or check out the video below. He’s SUCH a cutie!

Wall-E’s been adopted by a family that wants to remain anonymous. I hope they have lots of happy years together filled with doggie kisses and tummy rubs :-)

Happy weekend!