If you want a Valentine that will last between 15 and 18 years, will never stop loving you, and love you whatever shape, age, or condition you are in, go to your local animal shelter and save a life. They have to charge for the pets, because it gives them a certain value and to keep the shelters operating. No shelter pet will cost as much as a dog or cat from a breeder or pet store, though. Why would you ever spend something like $700 to $2,000 for a dog when you can get any kind in a shelter or breed rescue club, one who really needs you?

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Have you ever dreamed up what a perfect heaven would be like? We would all have a different kind, but I think it would end up being filled with things that are not material things. Some of my friends would want gardens, some would want a perfect, endless day of golf, another would want a never-ending baseball game, and some would want a great day with a good book. If my dog could have a perfect heaven, it would be that an ice cream truck would come around ten times a day with vanilla cones. My cats would like entire rotisserie chickens to themselves. I would like a warm, sunny meadow to walk in with all my old pets, family, and friends around me. We would all be young. My husband would like a huge, wooded area so he could ride his tractor and pull wood out and stack it in a pile. For all our desire for electronics and clothes and cars, it is funny that our heavens would not have any of that. I wonder what you would like.

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You can get your dog licenses now at the Town of Wawarsing and Village of Ellenville offices. It is really a good idea to put it on a collar and always keep the collar on in case your dog gets lost.

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Did you see The Puppy Bowl on Animal Planet last Sunday? Oh, boy is that cute. They put all kinds of puppies in a big play box and let them play for ten minutes at a time. There is always a bowl of water and the camera shows them drinking from below. There is a ref, who puts any puppy who is too rough in a time out. They also have a kitty half time. The trouble is I think this show is only on Super Bowl Sunday. I will try to remember to remind you next year.

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From The People for The Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) website, I learned about a group called Mom Central. The trouble is that Mom Central is a supporter of Ringling Bros. and Barnum and Bailey Circus.

"Parents who take their kids to the circus for family fun never see what goes on behind the scenes at Ringling's breeding center, where frightened and still-nursing baby elephants are captured rodeo-style and dragged away from their mothers. Moms and dads are oblivious to the year-long intense and violent training sessions that last for several hours a day. They never hear the screams and cries or see the futile and frantic struggling as baby elephants are wrestled, stretched out, slammed to the ground, gouged with bullhooks, and shocked with electric prods," Peta says.

In the wild, baby elephants stay with their parents for a long time and the females are part of a sisterhood for life. Please don't turn away from the truth just for a momentary show. You can take the kids to Cirque Du Soleil instead.