On Saturday, Sept. 18, it’s all about the animals at the Great American Pet Festival in Clifton Park. The celebration, in its third year, invites pets and their owners to gather at the Shenendehowa Methodist Church grounds and enjoy some food, fun and furry competition.
The day features talks by a veterinarian, groomer and trainer, a Blessing of the Pets and a Grand Walk of Pets where dogs don their finest duds to vie for prizes and trophies. This year’s event has added an additional guest, Animal Control Officer Bill Lehman, who will answer questions and share some of his most humorous, and heartbreaking, stories.
Lehman has been doing animal control work for 14 years, 10 of which have been in Clifton Park. His job is to enforce the town’s ordinances, issue tickets and do preliminary investigations into cruelty.
I’ve been asked for recommendations in a case where a dogs is left in the car when it’s really hot; how it should be handled. We take complaints a lot, for a dog barking all night or day, dogs running free in a certain neighborhood and occasionally a dog attack, said Lehman.
He said the job is fulfilling but comes with a lot of pain and sadness, which is amplified because he’s a dog lover and something he said he never gets used to.
`I love the job, it’s very self gratifying, but there are some horrible, sad parts of it, like having to bring a dog home to be IDed by the owner or taking it in to be put down because it was hit by train or car,` said Lehman. `I’ll hold the dog’s head and stare it right in the face and keep it comfortable and calm, but it brings tears to my eyes. That’s the hardest part of my job because I love dogs; I like them more than I like some people.`
Lehman said he concentrates on the `saves` he makes to mask the difficult times. One of his proudest moments, he said, was when he brought a dog back to life.
`I found a dog back in February of 2002 during rush hour traffic. It was very cold and dark and the dog was clinically dead in the road; it was expireed, wasn’t breathinng, but I pumped its chest and massaged it and of a sudden I saw steam coming out of its nose and it tried to wag its tail. That dog is still around today,` said Lehman. `Things like that make my job worthwhile. Everytime I save a dog or take it out of harms way, I am happy.`
Lehman doesn’t always save canines all by himself. Sometimes, he gets a little help from his own dog, Sunny, a 4-year-old Springer Spaniel that goes on patrols with him.
`I do foot patrols in dog parks and Sunny knows all the dogs,` said Lehman, who said Sunny has about five saves himself. `A lot of dogs won’t come to you and sometimes won’t even go to the owner; but they do come to other dogs. I’ve had dogs nobody could get near, run rght up to my dog and then I can put a leash on it.`
The Great American Pet Festival might be all about the pets, but the proceeds will benefit the church’s missionary work, area shelters and rescue groups.
Jay Dunkleberger leads a team of church volunteers who are part of a national and international program within the Methodist Church that does missionary work around the world. Recently, teams from the Shen church have offered a helping hand in Haiti, Cuba, Ireland, Nicaragua, Cedar Rapids, Iowa and right in their own backyard, rebuilding after fires or floods.
`The proceeds wil be very helpful. Teammembers ususally pay their own way and what the proceeds go toward is providing supplies needed for building projects. It allows us to buy things that can make their lives a lot better,` said Dunkleberger, who coordinates and facilitates teams throughout Upstate New York.
The missionary work varies depending on the location, said Dunkleberger. Ireland’s missionary’s did a few construction projects but focused mainly on building bridges between the Catholic and Protestant Church, which required a lot of relationship building. Cuba was working on people-to-people relationships, Nicaragua received medical assistance and the Iowa mission was a rebuilding effort from floods a few years back.
The festival’s proceeds will go toward a team that’s traveling to North Carolina to do various tasks, like working in a thrift store run by a domestic violence center, helping out at the center itself, doing some maintenance work and working on houses in the community.
Dunkleberger said getting involved with the missionary work has been a powerful learning experience.
`I enjoy working with the teammembers, coming to learn who they are, learning more about construction and the most important thing is learning and working with people in differant parts of the country or world we’re dealing with,` said Dunkleberger. `As much as we have to share with them, they share things with us so it’s mutual learning.`
The Great American Pet Festival will be at 971 Route 146 in Clifton Park from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is $5 and children under 15 are free.
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