The Bergen County Animal Shelter is located in Teterboro at 100 United Lane.  You can reach them by phone at 201-229-4600 or by email at shelter@co.bergen.nj.us  You need to call them before bringing your pet to the shelter for a rabies shot because you may have to bring in documentation from prior shots and/or other information.

There are many great animals there waiting for someone to love them so if you’re thinking of bringing home a new pet, please visit the animal shelter where you’ll find many fine furry friends.  There are dogs and cats of course but you can also find birds, ferrets and others too.  Adopted pets make wonderful additions to your family and seem to love you even more – it’s almost as if they understand they’ve been rescued.

Ruth founded Open Doors, An Amazing Grace Foundation as a tribute to her mother and father.  Open Doors,  which describes it’s mission as “dedicated to encouraging, empowering, and giving practical assistance to those going through difficult times,” is Ruth and Hugo’s passion second only to their new grandchild. 

River Vale residents for many years, Ruth and Hugo are well known in the community and well loved.  River Vale is a small and intimate community and it is people like the Tschudins who prove the axiom that one person can indeed make a difference.  Dog Fest 2010 was more than a triumph – it was an amazing success.  Held at Beechwood Park in Hillsdale NJ this year, people came by the thousands.  They brought their dogs and their children and spent Sunday afternoon enjoying the day and their dogs.  Even people who didn’t have a pet came just to see all the dogs.

Dog Fest 2010 had everything you could imagine for pets of the canine variety with vendors galore, a dog parade, Champ the Miracle Dog and New Jersey’s own Dog Whisperer.  Rescue dogs needing to be adopted were there in force and I’m told that every one was adopted on Sunday.  Ruth Tschudin is a River Vale treasure.  You can help Open Doors by clicking here and making a donation.   Maybe I’ll see you next year at Dog Fest 2011!

While I normally blog about the real estate market and life here in Bergen County, I want to bring Jake to your attention.  This is a sad story about a pet rescue – the owners had just adopted this dog who is still a puppy – from an animal rescue group when things went terribly wrong:

Please post this story in your blog, on Facebook, tweet about it, etc. so maybe someone will find poor Jake.  What set him off we believe is the fact that there were fireworks last night in town.  If you’ve ever been a pet owner, you know how fireworks can upset an animal.  People everywhere throughout Bergen County are posting this and many volunteers have been helping to try to find him.  In fact, the local police messaging services put out the call for all policemen to be on the watch for Jake last night as soon as the owners called for help.

If you’re in Bergen County or near by, please keep a look out for this frightened little guy.  Thanks a lot!

If you are considering a rental in a condominium or co-op building, it is imperative to verify what the regulations allow.  Just because you see a dog or cat in the condo or co-op when you’re looking at an apartment doesn’t mean that the rules haven’t changed. 

What I suggest to my rental clients in situations where there are no iron clad rules forbidding pets is to offer an additional security deposit for their animals.  I call it a pet security deposit and often this allows a pet owner to secure the rental unit they want.  Sometimes a landlord welcomes dogs and cats. 

Here’s a new rental listing by Alexis Schmid of my office with a landlord who allows cats and dogs.  It’s a 2 bedroom 1 bath rental apartment in this neat two family home.  At $1,300 per month in the town of Westwood, NJ, it won’t last long.  Welcoming pets is a smart idea – the landlord will get his apartment rented quicker and probably won’t have any vacancy cost.  If you are in the area, have a dog or cat and are looking for a 2 bedroom apartment, call Alexis at 551-265-5929 before it’s gone.

Begen County is filled with families and children. There are many great facilities for kids which I’ll be talking about but I also want to feature some of the pets waiting for adoption here because we have many pet facilities where you can get a great pet.

Very often after a family moves into their new home, they get a pet and that usually means a dog or a cat. Many home buyers buy a home and then get a dog because they are coming from apartments or the city where having a pet is not easy or allowed. There are so many wonderful dogs and cats in our animal shelters and here’s one who’s on the Urgent List at The Bergen County Animal Shelter which means poor Elton doesn’t have a lot of time left on this earth.

Because so many families have lost their jobs or their homes or both, the animal shelters are overwhelmed. Bergen County has a large facility but they can’t handle the inflow and euthanize animals. If you know of anyone who’s looking for a good pet, take a look at Elton.

Fostering a pet is also something that’s urgently needed and it gives you a good chance to see if you and a dog are a good match. I know of many good pet organizations in Bergen County where you can get advice, help and obedience classes so that you and your new dog can bond properly. Take a look at Elton – you’ll be glad you did.

Bergen County has several opportunities for pet adoption.  Unfortunately, there are so many pets available these days waiting to be adopted.  Why not make your house a home by adopting a pet?

There are two animal shelters – the Bergen County Animal Shelter in Teterboro and the Ramapo Bergen Animal Refuge in Oakland.  We also have some wonderful organizations where I have met many teriffic volunteers during my time in Bergen County real estate sales.

There’s PetResQwhich is an all volunteer group based in Tenafly and having it’s first ever annual “Fur Ball” dinner dance at the Clinton Inn in Tenafly on March 27th.  We also have the Bergen County Humane Society  based in Lyndhurst  but serving the entire county.  Another great group is the New Jersey Boxer Rescue which is extremely active in Bergen County although they cover the entire state.  I’ve had personal experience with the New Jersey Boxer Rescue folks and I can’t say enough good things about them. 

If you’re ready for a new member of the family, you can certainly find one in Bergen County.  Adopt a pet from an animal shelter or one of these organizations and you’ll rescue an animal that will love you for years to come.

By the way, if you are thinking about adding a pet to your family, in addition to CLAWS there are several animal shelters in Bergen County as well as breed rescue groups where you can save a pet and have the love of an animal who, from what I’ve been told, truly understands that their new owner has rescued them.  It is an unfortunate truth that there are always many fine dogs and cats available but the good news is that you have a good choice of many wonderful pets.

If you have a dog or a cat or a turtle or a bird or any other pet, wouldn’t it be fun to have a pet portrait of them?  Not only will you be helping out CLAWS to do more animal rescue work and to maintain the pets they now have, you will have a lot of fun with the folks at Motophoto while you’re getting your pet’s 5 X 7 portrait.