Community Corner
A Place for Frankie
Outreach to Pets in Need (OPIN) is raising money to send Frankie Blue Eyes, a bright-eyed dog with a troubled past, to a sanctuary in upstate New York.
Some dogs need a little extra help to find their forever homes. On Saturday, High Ridge Shopping Center was buzzing with activity as Outreach to Pets in Need (OPIN) hosted an adoption event outside of with several other area shelters.
In just the first hour-and-a-half, four dogs had already found their new families and were well on their way to their forever homes. In between the bustling crowd, however, was a photo of Frankie and a small fire hydrant donation box.
“Frankie is an amazing, beautiful dog,” Heather Scutti, event coordinator at OPIN told Patch. “But in the past, he was tortured with a shock collar.”
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“He’s just not adoptable,” Jenny Colucci, co-founder and secretary of OPIN, explained. “You couldn’t get the right family.”
Frankie Blue Eyes is extremely sensitive and cannot be touched around the neck. While he has been in the shelter for around six months now, OPIN knew within the first 15 days that he would not be going to a family.
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“It’s tough, he was evaluated by a professional trainer,” Isabel Morales, co-founder and treasurer of OPIN, said. “It would have had to be an incredibly responsible family, even then, a visitor could come in and pet him. He can’t be touched around the neck.”
The answer was to turn to Spirit Animal Sanctuary. Located on 128 acres in upstate New York, this is a home for dogs that may be old, sick, or unadoptable because of behavioral troubles. Founding director Alan Papszycki cares for the animals and allows them to live out the remainder of their lives happily on acres of forest and field.
“He’ll keep them for life, but it is extremely expensive,” Scutti said.
“They’re basically his dogs,” Colucci added.
OPIN sent two dogs to Spirit Animal Sanctuary last year -- Buck and Buddy.
“They weren’t family dogs, we felt it was better that they went to the sanctuary,” Scutti said.
Frankie Blue Eyes will stay in the shelter until the $5,000 can be raised to send him to Spirit Animal Sanctuary. Donations are being accepted on this website which will track their progress and OPIN hopes that they can meet this goal sooner rather than later.
“The sooner we can get him out, the sooner we can get another dog off of death row and into the shelter,” Scutti said.
