My Life As A Games Journalist: Games and Dog Rescues

RALEIGH, NC—I spent a full week at home again. Time goes by fast with deadlines for print, online and video commitments. I’m working on a few new Web-based game video projects for AOL and Fox Interactive Media, among other outlets. When you travel a lot for work, your time spent at home is always appreciated. In fact, when it comes to vacation, I prefer to stay home than travel. I usually create vacations around work – like upcoming trips to Lanai, Hawaii and Walt Disney World that are based on story assignments but will have plenty of free time for the wife and me. Another reason I like to be home with my wife is because of our dogs. We have eight dogs in our house right now.

Before you start thinking about crazy old people that horde dogs, I’ll start by saying that they’re all rescues. And two of them are foster dogs who we’re nursing back to health after major surgeries. Anyone who’s been to our house is surprised when we tell them how many dogs are actually there. The largest dog, Raleigh, a sweet pit bull, is only 45 pounds. The rest are an assortment of small mutts and two pugs, who we rescued from San Francisco when we lived there.

Raleigh, the city, is a great place to live and with the universities and Research Triangle Park, it’s very modern and flush with smart minds and modern conveniences. But there are plenty of things about North Carolina that are still backwards. One of which is the fact that animal shelters in the area still kill (I don’t like the word euthanize because it’s not accurate) thousands upon thousands of dogs using gas chambers. Even worse, some of the outer lying areas kill unwanted dogs with shotguns – sometimes it takes a few shots to put a dog down this way. With this type of stuff going on, it’s impossible not to get involved.

When we first moved to Raleigh six years ago, my wife became involved in a few local animal rescues. But then she teamed up with a group and a local vet to create Sound Pet Animal Rescue and Referral (SPARR).  HYPERLINK "http://www.soundpet.org" www.soundpet.org This rescue only takes in dogs that no other rescue would touch. These are dogs that need some type of medical attention. Pez and Mimi, the two dogs we’re fostering, had major surgery in their mouth (Pez) and both back legs (Mimi). Dr. Monce performs these surgeries and the rescue fosters the dogs back to health and then finds them “forever homes.” In a day and age where many rescues go the easy route and only pick puppies that were going to get adopted anyway at the shelter, I think it’s important to try to save as many dogs as possible.

I mention this because I spent all day Saturday helping with the first annual silent auction and cookout. I was able to get a large number of donations, including a Wii, Rock Band Wii and assorted games and collectibles, which were used to raise money along with an assortment of other items. In one night we were able to raise $5,000. That will go a long way to helping other dogs in need.

We don’t have children so our dogs are our “kids.” I wouldn’t want it any other way. And we don’t have a single dog that’s not the best, most affectionate creature. Every one of our dogs would have been killed by the state if we hadn’t stepped in. Just think about all the defenseless animals out there in shelters around the country. Beyond donating money to the cause, easy steps you can take to help these great animals are to make sure you spay and neuter your dogs and cats, never buy animals from breeders or pet stores (these are both supporting puppy mills in one way or another), and always visit your local shelter or check out rescue websites like www.petfinder.com. I guarantee you’ll find the perfect pet.