PET PARADE AT SPCA
Ulster rescue shelter’s ‘alumni’ and friends attend Howl-O-Ween event
The fourth annual Ulster County SPCA Howl-O-Ween Party Saturday brought out about 15 dogs, dressed as super heroes, angels, zombie hunters and movie characters, and their owners — some of whom were dressed to compliment their dog’s attire.
Many of the canine participants were returning to the SPCA where they’d been adopted in the past few years, others were rescued from a variety of organizations and at least one was a purebred.
Meeka, a 1 1/2 year old female Jack Russell terrier who was dressed as Pooches the cheerleader, is new to the Esposito family of Kingston. She was adopted about two months ago from Georgia through Petfinder.com, her owner Janice Esposito said.
It turns out, Meeka has a cheerleading role at home every day, as well as on Halloween. Janice Esposito said the pooch was adopted in hopes of cheering up her husband Robert Esposito, who is living with stage four cancer.
On Friday, Janice said, when her husband wasn’t feeling well, Meeka spent the
day by his side. “We call her
Meeka the nurse,” she said.
Janice said she hadn’t had a dog in 30 years but when she saw Meeka it was “love at first sight.” Her daughter, Samantha
Pacheco, who said she’d moved home to help care for her stepfather, said Meeka has seemlessly adapted to her role as an “emotional support dog.” Except for one brief spat that was easily resolved, all of the participating pooches got along just fine, showing no obvious signs of jealousy as SPCA
director Adam Saunders announced winners in five categories — a pet-owner look alike contest, best group, scariest, funniest and most original.
Saunders called the annual parade is “a nice event for alumni” when “animals adopted from here come back for a visit and we get to see them.”