[title subtitle=”words: Marla Cantrell”][/title]
There was once a pet named Vegas, an Australian Cattle Dog, who lived with Brittany Gallaher and her husband in Alma, Arkansas, and experienced the kind of life every pup should have. That is to say he existed much as every other bona fide member of a family did, taking trips with the couple, having his picture taken at random moments, cozying up on the couch in the evening right along with his owners.
When Vegas passed away in January, 2010, Brittany and her husband were at a loss. Brittany could barely stand to see Vegas’ idle food bowl, or his empty spot on the couch, or the seat where he rode with her in the car. During that time, she came across a book, Cold Noses at the Pearly Gates, by Gary Kurz. In it, the author looks to the Bible for answers about an animal’s role in our human world, and why we form such deep attachments.
Reading that book ignited something in Brittany. She began to think a lot about shelter animals. According to the ASPCA, 3.9 million dogs and 3.4 million cats enter shelters in the United States each year. Of that number, 1.2 million dogs and 1.4 million cats are euthanized.
The tally is heartbreaking, and Brittany realized she wanted to reduce that number by at least one. She started an online search of shelter dogs in the area, looking at page after page of pictures. What she thought as she scanned hundreds of photos was how much more approachable the dogs would look if they were wearing collars. To her, a collar signified that the dog would blend in with a family, that perhaps the dog already knew how to walk on a leash, that it didn’t seem so much like a stray. It was a small thought, but one that stayed with her.
When she came across Lori, a black dog that looked like a Blue Heeler, she felt something tug at her heart. Lori was in a Northwest Arkansas shelter, and after Brittany met her in April, 2010, she knew Lori, a dog just two weeks away from being euthanized, was going to be a part of her family.
The adoption worked out perfectly. Lori was a fine dog, and a happy one. Still, Brittany’s initial thought that shelter dogs needed collars didn’t go away. In 2011, she started Collars for Christmas: A Pup and a Prayer Project, a non-profit that raises money and collects supplies for the Sebastian County Humane Society. When she told her co-workers at Dallas Street Dental in Fort Smith what she was doing, they got on board. “I couldn’t work at a better place,” Brittany says. “We’re like a family, and we work for the greater good. Our clients are wonderful, too, so giving. The community helped. The 4-H kids asked for donations at Walmart. Who can tell a child who wants to help animals ‘no’?” Brittany asks. “The most we’ve collected in a year is about 450 pounds of dry dog and cat food, plus treats, and sixty collars.”
One of the best parts of the whole process was when she and eleven other volunteers went to the Humane Society the second week of December to deliver the donations. They handed out treats – and love – to the animals. “People think the animals don’t know what time of year it is, they don’t know about Christmas, but they do know when they have a full tummy, and they know when someone shows them kindness. Sometimes, they’ve been treated unkindly for a long time before they get to the shelter, so it’s heartwarming to get to give them that experience.”
The next year, Brittany did it all again. When everything had been delivered, she focused on getting ready for the holiday. She’d spent every Christmas Eve of her life at her grandmother’s house in Rudy. As she and her husband loaded up their car with the food and presents, Brittany also packed dog food. There was a stray she’d been feeding for about a week, a little terrier mix she hoped would soon find its way back home. On this day, though, the dog was dangerously close to the interstate, and Brittany’s concern accelerated. They pulled their car over, and her husband said, “You might as well put him in the car. You’re going to get hit just trying to take care of him.”
And so she did. She coaxed him in on that Christmas Eve and took him home. For a while, he didn’t trust anyone. But not so long after, when Brittany had given up believing that he was someone’s lost pet and quit searching online for his owner, he started to ease his way in. “That’s why we named him Jericho (as in the Bible story where the walls of the city Jericho fall after the Israelites march around them seven times), because when the walls came down, he was so happy.”
As 2013 got underway, Brittany’s life got even busier. She found out she was expecting, and one of her first concerns was whether her baby would get along with the dogs, and even greater than that, whether she would have any pet allergies. “I prayed that she wouldn’t be allergic, and it was really serious to me.”
Her daughter, who turned one in October, did not have allergies. And she loves the dogs, particularly Jericho. “He’s so tolerant, so good with her,” Brittany says.
The one and only drawback of 2013 was that Brittany was not able to do as much fundraising for Collars for Christmas as she had the year before. Still, she was able to collect 200 pounds of food, and several collars for the Sebastian County Humane Society.
This year, she’s set up a GoFundMe account, with a goal of $500, and she’s taking donations at Dallas Street Dental until December 10. Brittany’s hoping for a record year. The Humane Society is close to her heart. They house an average of 400 to 500 animals, she says, and the cost to care for just one animal is seventeen dollars a day.
What Brittany hopes to accomplish is getting help for the Sebastian County Humane Society throughout the year. The need is always great, and every donation helps. Since taking on her mission, she’s learned a few things. “Black dogs are harder to adopt,” she says. “They’re called the invisible dogs of the shelters, because they blend in, they’re easy to pass over. Lori, the dog I adopted, is black, and she really spoke to me, but that’s not always the case.”
Her education into the world of shelter pets has led her to investigate some innovative ideas. She knows of shelters in the northern part of the country that are located on the same campuses as jails. Inmates are assigned a dog, and they care for the animal, training them, getting them socialized and ready for adoption. Lori believes it also helps the inmates, who are offered unconditional love at an incredibly low time in their lives. And her dog Lori, from the shelter in Northwest Arkansas, is great on a leash because she says that shelter used trustees from the nearby jail to walk them. She’s not quite sure where collecting all these examples will lead, but she is confident there will be a way to use them in the future. She also wants to expand her non-profit to help other area shelters and promote spay and neuter programs.
What she’s learned since taking on this project is that there are so many good people who want to help but don’t know exactly what to do. That’s where she was when she began. She knew she was only one person, that she couldn’t adopt every homeless dog she came across. But she could start Collars for Christmas. To her, it helps solidify the meaning of the holiday: spreading the joy of the season, giving to a cause you believe in, trying with all your heart to make a difference in the world.
Collars for Christmas is accepting donations of money, food, treats, and collars at Dallas Street Dental.
8020 Dallas Street • Fort Smith, Arkansas • 479.452.6600
Deadline is December 10. However, you can donate at any time by visiting gofundme.com/ck6ibc. The money will be used throughout the year, as needs arise at the shelter.
For more on Collars for Christmas: A Pup and a Prayer Project, find them on Facebook.
