TodayLandisburg sanctuary offers safe harbor for military pets
Dog sanctuary adds pets of deployed troops and their families to its residents
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Billy, a female Beagle, rests on a couch at the Paw Prints Dog Sanctuary & Canine Corps in Landisburg. Billy's owner, Sgt. Ryan Zagata, of Wilkes-Barre, Pa, is currently serving in Irag. Matthew O'Haren/Special to The Sentinel
When Sgt. Anthony Delgiudice found out he would be going back to Iraq on Sept. 19, he thought of his best friend and how hard it would be to leave him behind with no other dogs to play with.
That’s why he was so relieved to hear about the Paw Prints Dog Sanctuary, where he’s going to have a friend take Zulu, an English bull dog, after Delgiudice leaves.
“I couldn’t drop him off, I wouldn’t be able to handle it,” he said.
Thanks to the sanctuary, he has the comfort of knowing that Zulu will have a veterinarian just across the street and lots of new friends to play with.
For almost a year, co-directors Laurie Lyon and Kevin McCartin have run the sanctuary in Landisburg as a home for elderly dogs most shelters would have euthanized.
But more recently, the sanctuary has included a Canine Corps program, a free, temporary home for the pets of military families, many of whom are deployed to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
“It spares the trauma of someone in Iraq not knowing if their dog died because they couldn’t take care of it,” McCartin said.
Paw Prints also takes in dogs for families that find themselves in temporary military housing, where pets are not allowed, Lyon said.
A Stryker Brigade is scheduled to leave from Fort Indiantown Gap in about two weeks for a one-year deployment to Iraq.
For them, having the sanctuary means their family isn’t disintegrated, McCartin said.
The deployment will bring in about 15 new residents over the next two weeks, Lyon said, including last-minute, surprise appearances.
“We have all situations, ranging from those who can plan ahead to those who have their plans fall through,” said Lyon.
Because space at the sanctuary is limited, Lyon and McCartin try to limit the dogs they take in to those whose owners have exhausted all other options.
They also require the dogs to be spayed or neutered, up to date on their shots and friendly with other dogs and people.
Home away from home
The new military pets couldn’t have come in at a more exciting time, as Lyon and McCartin get ready to wrap up the new building construction at the end of next week.
The new space will be decorated like the old barn, they said, with couches, chairs, beds and blankets.
“The theme is to make it as home-like as possible,” McCartin said.
The extra space also means fewer “roommates” for the dogs, and Lyon and McCartin said they wouldn’t want to take in more than about 30.
Beyond that, it would be hard to keep a good ratio of dogs to people, McCartin said, and the dogs wouldn’t get enough human interaction.
And for the owners, the co-directors are preparing to set up seven cameras around the sanctuary so live video of the dogs will be available anywhere online.
Like most of the sanctuary’s costs, the cameras and satellite connection are to be donated. The food and furnishings at the sanctuary are also gifts.
The community has been great, Lyon said, and people volunteer and give all they can to help the sanctuary.
