Pets take priority in Safety Harbor
By 
Safety Harbor recently became just the second municipality in Pinellas County to pass a ‘puppy mill’ bill, which is essentially an ordinance banning the retail sale of cats and dogs regardless of where they were born and raised.
Now, shortly after receiving praise for being a leader in the movement to help outlaw so-called puppy mills, a.k.a. breeding facilities that normally have sanitation and overcrowding issues, a Safety Harbor merchant is teaming up with a neighboring business owner to host a fundraiser for a neighboring pet adoption organization.
The 8th Avenue Pub Dogeden Street Fest Fundraiser on Saturday, Nov. 26 is a collaboration between the Dog House of Safety Harbor’s Steve Chickos and 8th Avenue Pub owner Mike Kelly to benefit Dogedin Pet Adoptions, a Dunedin nonprofit that promotes rescue dog adoptions.
“Both Mike and I know the Dogedin dog rescue owner, and we thought we should do an event that would benefit the organization while brining attention to the cause,” Chickos told Safety Harbor Connect earlier this week, adding, “they’ve been around for 10 years and they pull dogs from kill shelters and find foster homes for them.”
The event, which will take place on a closed-off 8th Avenue North in between the two businesses, will feature music from the Grateful Dead cover band, Uncle John’s Band, food from the Southern Topicality food truck, beer from Crooked Thumb Brewery, as well as games, giveaways, merchandise for sale and more.
“This doesn’t happen too often, where two businesses collaborate on an event like this,” Chickos said. “I think it’s pretty cool.”
Another thing Chickos approves of is the city’s passing of the puppy mill ordinance.
“I think it’s fantastic,” he said. “Dogs from puppy mills are nasty. They’re bred non-stop with little to no medical care, which leads to long term medical problems, and then they end up in shelters.”
“People don’t realize that 85 percent of dogs in rescue shelters are purebreds,” he added. “We don’t need pet stores that sell dogs.”
Chickos said the festivities will kick off at 4:00 p.m., with the band scheduled to take the stage at 6:00. Of course the event is pet friendly, and he said there will be rescue dogs available for adoption there as well.
With the SHAMcGiving grand opening happening nearby, Chickos said it should make for a fun day on Saturday.
“With our event, combined with SHAMc’s opening, this corner of the Harbor will be rocking on Saturday!”
For more information on the 8th Avenue Pub Dogeden Street Fest Fundraiser, visit the event’s Facebook page.
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Thank you Mike and Steve for your support! You are correct you can get a purebred dog from a rescue. We have been blessed with 3 border collies from Starfish and Palmetto Border Collie Rescue:) And thank you to the City for passing the puppy mill ordinance.
Wonderful news! We purchased a purebred Bichon Frise in Pasco after ours of many years had passed away-only to discover the “inbred” problem ofillnesses from these hobby breeders. We
tried to take the dog back but had numerous problems after it even began being ill in our car on
the way home. It only went worse from that point so we are proud people are standing against it!