Howllo Fellow Basset Hound and our Florida Family Lovers…
Our Florida Family are the Prichards who shared their beautiful life and their beautiful love with the magnificant Magnum, Chaps Daddy.
Well, every year for the past 12 years the Pritchards ring the bell for the Salvation Army.
Here we have Karen and Cherry with cute little girl.
Now I will give you the link so you can go over to the FL news channel and see this very special report. We are so proud of our FL family.
A GOOD NEWS REPORT!
START OF NEWS ARTICLE
The 12-year-old basset hounds, Cherry and Cassidy, stood calmly in their Santa Claus hats and Christmas collars outside of Cordova Mall on Thursday as their owners rang bells for donations.
“Can I pet them?” asked 8-year-old Abigale Hicks of Pensacola.
Abigale knelt on the ground and gave Cherry a hug.
“They are so cute,” she said, smiling broadly.
asked 8-year-old Abigale Hicks of Pensacola.
Abigale knelt on the ground and gave Cherry a hug.
“They are so cute,” she said, smiling broadly.
Debra Hicks, the girl’s mother, said her daughter was drawn to the dogs when they entered the mall.
“I promised her if she went shopping with me, she could come out and pet the dogs,” Hicks said.
Cherry and Cassidy, who are brother and sister, are finishing up their 11th and final year of volunteering with their owners, Karen and Tim Prichard, and the Salvation Army bell ringers at the mall.
For the past two months, they have been by the ringers’ sides for up to six hours every Saturday plus weekdays and nights.”We try to reduce the stress,” Karen Prichard said. “We’re out here to promote the human-canine bond. I think when they see the dogs, they’re in a little more of a giddy mood.”
The Prichards said more people are compelled to donate when the dogs are at the mall.
“I came out this morning without a dog,” Karen Prichard said Thursday. “Donations are much lower when I am standing by myself. When I bring my dog out, they’re in a much better mood.”
Tim Prichard said Cherry and Cassidy take their volunteering duties seriously.
“They know it’s a job, and they’re at work,” he said. “They love to run and play, but out here they’re focused. It’s like they were born to do this.”
Cherry and Cassidy are therapy dogs who went through training to cope with the stressful, busy mall environment.
The bassets, along with other local therapy dogs, have become mall favorites, especially during the hectic shopping frenzy that leads up to Christmas.
They perform tricks and draw smiles out of both adults and children, many of whom stop to pet them and get their photographs taken before slipping a dollar or two into the kettle.
Karen Prichard is working to find two dogs to train to be successors to her beloved bassets.
“Our plan is to give these dogs a break so they can enjoy their retirement,” she said.
Salvation Army administrator Roger Windell said the dogs always are attention grabbers.
“When the dogs are there, we know to have an extra bucket on hand,” Windell said. “Before the end of the day, they’ve already filled one up.”
Today is the last day of the bell-ringing campaign. The goal is $300,000.
As of Saturday, about $217,000 had been raised in the 47 kettle locations across Escambia and Santa Rosa counties.
END OF ARTICLE
MORE LOVING OUR FL FAMILY LATER….CAT, CHAPS AND EMMA
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