Kids 'N Critters in the News

Laura Langemo from Fox 6 News in Milwaukee was kind enough to feature HAWS Kids 'N Critters Camps in the interview portion of the Fox 6 WakeUp yesterday morning.  We knew she was coming and that the segments would all air between 7:15 and 8:45am, which is before the 9am start time of camp.  Because she was going to profile our Camp Gone to the Dogs kids, I e-mailed the parents requesting that if possible they bring their kids to HAWS at 7:30am.  I figured that we'd maybe get 4 or 5 kids from that request.  To my surprise all 16 kids were able to attend! 

The whole morning was wonderful.  The first segment was of HAWS Public Relations extraordinaire -  Jennifer Smieja talking about the history of HAWS camps going back to the 80's.  The kids had their dogs to work with and during my interview they did some training in the background, and the camera man even walked around and got shots of the kids training their dogs.  Laura was kind enough to make the third segment about the kids -- she walked around and talked to the kids and the campers showed a trick that they were working on with their dog.  It made me pretty proud to hear one of the campers talk about "putting the trick on cue". 

The last segment was an interview with me while I talked about the final activity of camp, which is Mystic's performance.  My interview was followed by showing off Mystic's "kid agility" course using the kids.  Laura even got into the act by standing in as two of the weave poles.  The video of that last segment is embedded below. 

I'm very proud of HAWS camps, and it's wonderful to get the word out about what we're doing here.  And I'm very grateful to Jennifer Smieja for working so hard to promote HAWS, and especially for helping to promote our education programs.  I'm also grateful that Laura Langemo saw this as a really great addition to Fox 6 WakeUp and was willing to profile us. 

All 4 of the segments can be seen the Fox 6 website. 

HAWS Winter Camp In the News!

Fox 6 Milwaukee was kind enough to have myself and Education Assistant Kaitlin Daugherty on their Fox 6 Wake-up on Monday morning. We were able to talk about HAWS upcoming Kids 'n Critters Winter Camp that will be running on Monday & Tuesday December 26 & 27, and also Wed-Fri December 28-30 for kids between the ages of 6 and 13 years.

It's amazing to me that we're already gearing up for winter camp -- it seems like our summer camp just ended!

Not suprisingly, HAWS mascot Mystic was the star of the Fox 6 appearance!

Good News, Bad News

HAWS has been in the news twice within the last two weeks.

The first news story was a great one about our camp -- it's the video posted above. Fox 6 Milwauke did a fantastic job showing what our Kids 'N Critters Camp is all about -- what we're trying to teach the kids, what kinds of things they do at our camps, and how much fun they have.

The latest news story wasn't so pleasant - a woman was attacked by her own two dogs while attempting to breakup a dog in the backyard of her home and had to take a ride on flight for life to the hospital. Police officers shot one of the dogs as it attempted to climb over the fence at them. Unfortuantely the dogs were pit bulls.

I say unfortunately because every time a pit bull hits the news it's another mark against the breed. Not all pit bulls are aggressive dogs -- as a matter of fact the majority that I've met are very loving with friendly temperaments towards people. But those don't make the news, and stories like this make it difficult for dogs from bully breed dogs with good temperaments to find homes when they are in need of adoption.

HAWS made the news in this story because we are the animal control facility that came and picked up the other dog. Our Operations Manager -- Mark Hess had to use a tranquilizer dart in order to safely get the dog into his custody.

The dog is here at HAWS undergoing a quarantine for rabies -- her future is not entirely certain at this point. She's in a kennel looking like anything but a vicious dog -- she's very sad, stressed and a bit afraid. HAWS refused to let the media get footage of her since there was a concern that would increase her stress level - instead we released some still photos one of our staff shot instead.

Here's a link to the news coverage:
http://www.fox6now.com/news/witi-20110629-pitbull-attack-followup-story,0,3622188.story