Philadelphia Archives - i Still Love Dogs

Adoptable Dog Cutouts Will Fill Empty Seats in Philadelphia’s Subaru Park Stadium

Since actual fans can’t fill seats due to the COVID-19 pandemic, some sports stadiums have been replacing them with cardboard cutouts. My home team the Los Angeles Dodgers are also making cutouts of fans’ dogs and cats for $149 to $299 each, depending on the stadium location. A portion of the proceeds goes to the Los Angeles Dodgers Foundation, a nonprofit that works to improve education, health care, homelessness and social justice for Angelenos.

Here’s another great idea: Starting on Aug. 25, the fans at Philadelphia Union soccer games at Subaru Park will be cardboard cutouts of dogs who are available for adoption at local shelters.

“At Subaru, our love for pets runs as deeply as our love for soccer, and from the onset of our partnership with the Union, we knew we wanted to bring our furry friends out to Subaru Park and bring awareness to adopting shelter pets,” Subaru of America, Inc.’s Alan Bethke, senior vice president of marketing, said in a press release.

The cutouts, called the “Dogs of Ben,” were inspired by the Union’s Sons of Ben team supporter group. Subaru is working with Providence Animal Center and other local shelters to find four-legged fans like Aubrey (those ears!), whose images will fill the stadium’s midfield stands.

Dogs of Ben is a part of the Subaru Loves Pets initiative that’s dedicated to helping improve the safety and well-being of animals nationwide.

“We are thrilled to be hosting the first Philadelphia Union game at Subaru Park on Aug. 25 and to introduce the innovative ways we are incorporating our fans, community, partners, and even adoptable pets into a Union gameday,” Tim McDermott, president of the Philadelphia Union, said in the press release.

The games will be televised on station PHL17. To learn more about these Union fans and how to adopt one of them, visit philadelphiaunion.com/subaru.

Since it will likely be quite a while before human fans can safely fill stadiums again, here’s hoping the Dogs of Ben will inspire stadiums all around the country to fill those empty seats with cutouts of adoptable pets.

Photos: Subaru of America, Inc.

Guide Dog Calls 911 and Saves Blind Woman from House Fire

When Yolanda, a guide dog who lives in Philadelphia with a blind woman in her 60s, smelled smoke coming from the basement early yesterday morning, she called 911 on a specially equipped phone.

She then woke up her dog mom and led her out of the house, saving her life — for the second time. Last year, Yolanda called 911 when her dog mom fell and lost consciousness.

The woman was taken to a local hospital and treated for smoke inhalation. Yolanda is also being treated for smoke inhalation by Penn Vet, according to a tweet this afternoon from the Red Paw Emergency Relief Team, a Philadelphia nonprofit that provides relief for displaced pets & their pet parents.

The two may have lost their home, but they still have their lives — and each other.

“Yolanda is a superhero!” the Red Paw Emergency Relief Team wrote on its Facebook page yesterday. I couldn’t agree more.

Photo via Facebook

Dog Eats Pair of Boots and Lives to Bark About It

Probably every pet parent has experienced it: Finding a shoe that your dog mistook for a chew toy. (And it’s amazing how they seem to choose the most expensive ones.)

But imagine your dog scarfing down an entire pair of calf-length Frye boots. That’s what Vince, a 4-year-old, mixed-breed pooch from Philadelphia, managed to do Friday.

When his pet parents realized what had happened to the missing boots, they rushed Vince to the Veterinary Specialty and Emergency Center (VSEC), where he underwent emergency surgery.

“These X-rays are absolutely remarkable, especially given that you can see and count the number of eyelets on the boots,” Dr. Laura Tseng, a specialist in critical care and emergency medicine with VSEC, said in a press release. “The sheer volume of what he ate is impressive and caused a very serious emergency situation.”

The veterinarians had to remove the boot fragments from Vince’s stomach. They were too large to have passed through his small intestines, and would likely have killed him.

“If your pet is experiencing vomiting, lethargy or a lack of appetite, these are all signs a foreign body may be present and they should see a veterinarian as soon as possible,” Tseng warned.

Vince is expected to be released from the hospital today. And his pet parents are expected to keep their shoes out of his reach.

Photo via Facebook