Due to the increased activities Circle Tail (CT) has been involved in recently and the offer of a volunteer, we decided to increase the frequency of our Newsletter to keep you better informed. I'd like to thank Karen Holz-Simmons who has taken over the task of compiling the Newsletter and hope you enjoy the 'new look'!

This past quarter, the number of dogs rescued, adopted and partnered with people with disabilities has increased. We’ve had more puppies than usual (see Zella story) and appreciate all the assistance from volunteers who helped handle and socialize the pups. As the days get longer and weather nicer, I hope to see more volunteers at CT spending time with the dogs. We received agility equipment fabricated and donated by Dan Acree (see page 2), so the dogs have another avenue for exercise, training and fun.

I hope you enjoy reading our Newsletter and have an enjoyable spring! Marlys

Circle Tail is planning to hold an auction as our main fundraiser for this year. The auction will be held on Sunday, October 15^th at St. Maximilian Kolbe Church in West Chester, time to be announced.

We are looking for volunteers to help organize the event and/or to work at the auction. We soon will be soliciting items for the auction. Items include prints, jewelry, antiques, celebrity memorabilia, collectibles, theme baskets, gift certificates for restaurants and tickets to sporting events, theaters, local amusement parks and services. Perhaps someone gave you perfume for Christmas that you know you will never wear. We can use almost anything, just as long as some else hasn't.

If you love to bake, we would appreciate your baked goods for refreshments that we plan to serve. If you have any contacts/friends who might be interested in donating, please ask them. For more information, call Anne Grime at 779-2464 or Janet Kempner at 777-6130.

• Sat/Sun., May 6-7 Pet Adoption 2000 at Tri-County and Fields-Ertle PetsMart stores
• During the month of April, drop by Kenwood Mall and toss your spare change into the fountain. Coins will benefit the dogs of Circle Tail
• Sun, October 15 - Circle Tail Auction

Since September, we have placed 40 cats and 9 rabbits in great homes. In the past 4 months, we have placed 22 dogs. Adoptions have occurred mostly through our local PetsMart stores and correction facilities. The dogs that have been adopted are:

Circle Tail has begun providing pet assisted activities at the Warren County Senior Citizens Center and the Warren County MRDD in Lebanon. The pups and dogs in our prison program at Lebanon Correctional participated in the sessions. Thanks to Anne Grime, Janet Kempner and Lynn Ruby for providing the service.

Dan Acree, a young man from Springboro, who you read about in the December issue of Circle Tail Times, completed building agility equipment as part of his Eagle Scout project. He and his family presented Circle Tail with 11 pieces of agility equipment including two A-frames, two pause tables, 3 jumps, a teeter-totter, tire jump and weave poles.

Thanks so much to Dan, Boy Scout Troop 50, and all the volunteers and donors who helped make this gift of agility equipment possible!

• Circle Tail and about a dozen volunteers had the opportunity to strut their stuff and demonstrate service dog skills on Channel 12 morning news on February 23. Thanks to Chris Balish and the Channel 12 news crew for helping us spread the word about Circle Tail. We received about 40 phone calls after the broadcast.
• Education programs provided to local groups in the past 3 months included: The Miami Valley Cochlear Implant support group in Dayton, a cochlear implant group for parents in Mason and the Early Onset Parkinson support group in Cincinnati. Without all the hard work from our volunteers, this wouldn't have been possible. Thanks!

During the first three months of the year, we began partnering 3 teams:

• Robbie Armstrong and seizure response dog Doc
• Charles (Chuck) Bates and service dog Wyatt
• Harriet Herb and signal dog Jasmine

Robbie is a 6 year old boy who lives with his family in Hebron, KY. He was partnered in January with Doc, a 2 year old Lab/Hound mix, who was donated by the Warren County Humane Society. Doc attends school with Robbie each week day. Robbie walks and feeds Doc with supervision and is working on giving Doc various commands. Just recently, Doc has begun to respond when Robbie is having a seizure. Robbie's mother is pleased at how quickly Doc picks up new behaviors and will begin working with Doc on nighttime seizure response.

Chuck lives in Mentor on the Lake, OH and uses a wheelchair. Wyatt is a 20 month old German Shepherd dog who was donated last summer. He has been in our prison program at Marion. While Wyatt is bonding with Chuck, he is working on pulling Chuck's wheelchair up ramps and retrieving dropping objects. Wyatt also knows how to open doors and turn off lights. Chuck had a service dog for 13 years who was a German Shepherd and is very happy to have another one to share his home.

Harriet lives in Cincinnati, OH and has just begun to bond with Jasmine. Jasmine is a 2 year old Lab/Maltese mix who was donated by the Clermont County Humane Society as a pup. She was fostered by Jamie Evans and this fall went into our prison program at Marion for advanced training. Harriet and Jasmine are working on obedience skills and beginning signal work. Jasmine will alert Harriet to the phone, someone at the door, the smoke detector and wake her up in the morning.

Chief: I'm a sweet 3 year old Shepherd, who is very protective of my human friends and bond easily with them. I'm best with older kids or adults. I have been known to chase a few cats, so it is best I'm not in a home with them, but REALLY want to be in someone's home - could it be yours?

Wendy: I'm an 8 year old cat and have been very scared since my owner died recently. I just hide my face all day under a blanket at PetsMart. I need someone to love me who doesn't have other pets since I'm not used to other animals. Can you open your heart to me?

• Four new pups and dogs have been added to our service dog training program this quarter: Kibo, Mystere and Quinn (all Akbash pups) and Apollo (hound mix).
• Circle Tail took in a pregnant stray mixed breed dog in January. Zella had 7 adorable puppies on February 2. We will be temperament testing the puppies soon and will place some of the pups in the service dog program and hopefully find homes for the others.
• Is anyone interested in being a Short Term Foster Family/Parent? Frequently, we bring back service dogs in training from the prisons and need homes to keep the dogs for a weekend or a week. This time helps us evaluate how their socialization and training is progressing and provides the dogs with more varied experiences. We are in need of foster families for puppies for several months prior to placement in one of the correctional facilities. Call us at 513-877-3325 if you would like to help.
• Check out our web site. We have pictures of shelter dogs for adoption, you can see when we will be at PetsMart for adoptions or read about any of our other special events. Our assistance dog page is under construction and will be available soon. Find out how you can get a credit card that helps CT. You can get all the information at: www.circletail.org.
• Volunteers are also needed with accounting experience to assist us with financial statements, budget reports and completing IRS forms.
• CT acquired 2 goats in March. Willemena and Paige were rescued by an elderly woman who cared for them for about one year. The woman recently passed away and her daughter contacted CT. Willa and Paige now live with Valeris and Willy, enjoying carrots, apples and peanuts that volunteers bring out.

Circle Tail is in need of the many items, some of which are listed below. If you can donate any of these items, please call for directions to CT or for a volunteer to pick them up at your home.

Thanks to all the individuals and corporations who have contributed to Circle Tail over the past three months. Contributors will be recognized in our June and December issues of Circle Tail Times.

Without the hard work, time and dedication of all the volunteers, Circle Tail wouldn't be able to provide all the services that we do. We appreciate everything that the volunteers do and we are very excited to welcome the new volunteers listed below: