News & Pupcoming Events
Saturday, June 8th from 9 am to 4 pm
Mountain Run Lake Park in Culpeper, VA
For more info or to register for picnic, click on photo or date.
Sunday, June 9th from 11 am – 4 pm (rain or shine)
PAW PRINTS ON THE CANAL Event at Canal Street Park in Northampton PA.
MAESSR will have a table and 3-4 volunteers are needed to man the table. We are celebrating our 15th anniversary this year! Contact Candi Lynn (click on photo or link for email address) if you can help.
Saturday Sept 7th from 9 am to 4 pm
Mariner Point Park in Joppatowne, MD
For more info or to register for picnic, click on photo or date.
SALE! SALE! SALE! on the 2024 MAESSR calendars! This year, we’ve added two extra pages of volunteer photos and a message from Debbie about our 25th anniversary. ONLY WALL CALENDARS ARE CURRENTLY AVAILABLE and are HALF-PRICE! Click on photo or link above to order.
IT’S A FUNDRAISER! To mark 25 years of MAESSR, we’ve launched a t-shirt fundraiser. You can choose from two t-shirts, a long-sleeve t-shirt, or a crewneck sweatshirt in a variety of colors. All proceeds help MAESSR continue to find homes for Springers in need.
Featured Dogs
Check out our senior/special needs dogs! Our program, SENIORS FOR SENIORS, charges a $75 adoption fee for adopters aged 60 and over who adopt dogs nine years old and older or special needs dogs. If interested in one of our senior/special needs dogs, contact Candi Lynn here.
Fund$ for Foster$
We can earn money through WOOFTRAX.COM just by walking our dogs – in fact you don’t even need a dog, just a smartphone and some good walking shoes! Download the app for your cell phone and follow the directions. (If Wooftrax doesn’t come up, look for Walk For A Dog.) When asked to pick a shelter/rescue (it may show the one closest to your home, but ask to change) pick VA as the site, scroll to the M’s and select MAESSR. You will then be asked to verify your email address. Keep following directions, and the app will appear on your phone’s screen. When you tap it, enter your dog’s info and start walking. It is a simple process each time you go for a walk. Currently we have 27 active walkers. Spread the word – make your walks count!
Check out CHEWY.COM – Place your first order and chewy.com will proudly donate $20 to MAESSR! There is a huge selection of pet food (including 5-star dog foods), treats, and supplies delivered straight to your door! They sell over 300 brands of pure pet love, have 24/7 customer service, free shipping on orders over $49, and are cheaper than your local store. Sign up for automatic shipment of dog food or other supplies right to your door on the schedule you choose. No more lugging big bags of dog food from your car to the house!
The Marketplace
The MAESSR MARKETPLACE is open 24/7 for purchases. We’ve also got cool toys for man’s best friend and companion. The MAESSR store and website are in transition – thanks so much for your understanding while we make improvements to the store and website.
Training Library
The MAESSR Training Library has over 250 titles of ACTUAL DVDs, CDs, and books, both fiction and non-fiction, to lend out. You can BORROW items directly from the Training Library at library.maessr.com by simply adding them to the shopping cart and checking out. The material will be mailed to you and is due back in three weeks; YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR RETURN POSTAGE.
MAESSR Training Library
Training Library Facebook
Featured Library Titles
NEW TO THE LIBRARY! BARKING UP THE RIGHT TREE: THE SCIENCE AND PRACTICE OF POSITIVE DOG TRAINING (363 pages) by Dr. Ian Dunbar. When Dr. Ian Dunbar introduced his SIRIUS® Puppy Training in 1982, dog training mostly comprised punishing adult dogs for bad habits and lack of compliance. Dunbar focused on verbally cuing and creatively luring to achieve desirable behavior and using “life rewards” — sniffing, walking, play with dogs, and interactive games — to reinforce speedy compliance and good habits from the outset. His “dog’s point of view” approach revolutionized the field, and today there are few trainers who have not been strongly influenced by it. While positive reinforcement is now widely adopted, this new book details how other reward-training techniques have strayed from Dunbar’s original, quick and easy, highly effective lure-reward approach for teaching dogs ESL, in which we can verbally cue specific responses, offer heartfelt praise for success, and give guidance when dogs err. With Dunbar’s method, we can teach dogs when and where to eliminate, what to chew, when and for how long to bark, and when and how to appropriately let off steam. Barking Up the Right Tree offers proof that aversive punishment seldom works to eliminate undesirable behavior or to get the dog back on track. Dunbar presents numerous non-aversive yet highly effective solutions for misbehavior and noncompliance — simply by using the words you teach, and without even raising your voice. The culmination of fifty-plus years at the vanguard of dog behavioral science, Barking Up the Right Tree is an indispensable guide for anyone who wants harmonious, two-way communication with a calm, confident, well-behaved, happy canine companion. Donated by Cathy Moyer.
THE DOGS OF BEDLAM FARM: AN ADVENTURE WITH SIXTEEN SHEEP, THREE DOGS, TWO DONKEYS, AND ME (288 pages) by Jon Katz. Katz, whose books A Dog Year and Running to the Mountain earned him many faithful, dog-loving readers, here channels James Herriott’s brand of agricultural humanism. It’s a classic setup for amusing anecdotes: a 50-something “suburban rookie” buys a farm in upstate New York, stocking it with three border collies and a small herd of sheep. His skeptical wife agrees to the plan, but wisely forbids firearms, farm machinery and long trips in the pickup. This leaves plenty of latitude for adventures—lost sheep, horrible weather, the dramas of dog training and lamb birthing. Soon, the introspective author realizes that his interactions with dogs are about “trying to become a better human.” After all, his dogs have unfailingly high expectations of him. The troublesome pup, Orson, becomes the great test of Katz’s emotional maturity, requiring consistent discipline and love in the face of awful misbehavior. Donated by Phyllis Chan.
Library Wish Lists
The TRAINING LIBRARY has TWO Wish Lists. New or used titles can be purchased from the Amazon list; Dogwise has new books and DVDs. Purchases can be shipped directly to the library. Pretty quick and easy way to help out MAESSR as well as educate adopters!
Did You Know?
To learn more about the new website, check out the tutorials here.
It’s that time of year again – time to submit photos for the 2025 MAESSR calendar! Take new photos and go through the ones you have – you might find some great shots that would be perfect to submit for this year’s calendar. We need seasonal photos and “any time of the year” photos. Show off your adorable MAESSR pup! All photos need to be submitted by June 30, 2024 to be included in this year’s calendar! Link to webpage to view guidelines.
MAESSR Museum: We’re creating a gallery of MAESSR stories and we want to hear from you! In one paragraph, tell us about your favorite MAESSR memory. That can be about a dog you adopted or fostered, how you first found MAESSR, a memorable event you attended, or anything else. Please include a relevant picture, or just one of your MAESSR dog. Send to maessrorders@gmail.com. Here is an example: Bucky’s story.
If you have a PET IN NEED OF PRAYERS, please email Linda Shope or Linda Johnston. They would be happy to add your pet’s name to the pet ministry prayer list.
IF YOU SEE A SPRINGER NEEDING RESCUE: For a springer being re-homed in an ad on social media or in a newspaper, please email the relinquishment team. For a springer in a shelter, please email the shelter dog team. In your email include contact info such as links to the online post, shelter name, state, and phone number.
Did you move? Did you change your email address? ADDRESS CHANGES should be emailed here. On the new website you can set up an account under the Shop tab so that MAESSR can keep track of your mailing address; your email can also be changed under Your Account in the top right-hand corner with Edit Profile.
If you need advice regarding behavioral issues, certified and credentialed trainers that use positive methods only to help guide people to the correct resources can be found at CCPDT and IAABC.
Gentle Nudges
RAINBOW BRIDGE CROSSINGS are shared on a monthly basis. If you want your MAESSR dog included, send your name, dog’s MAESSR name if different than the post-adoption name, year of adoption, and a PHOTO here. Feel free to include who fostered and a little background info about your dog. To have the information posted on our Facebook page, send it (including photos) to the social media team.
When you send your notes about events or requests for help, please cc: here to help ensure that all events are mentioned in the Weekly Pupdate.
Mistakes happen! Corrections or omissions to the Weekly Pupdate can be sent to Cathy.
Pictures! Pictures! Pictures!
To share pics, videos, and/or articles about your MAESSR dog to our social media team. Videos for adoption pages & YouTube channel get sent here. Be sure to include dog’s MAESSR name including number, if one, and adoption year.
Pup-ulation Report
Total dogs in our care: 22
Permanent fosters: 4
Dogs pending foster home: 0
Moving to foster home:
Brody 5 to Cheryl Larner
Moving to furever homes:
None
Submitted by volunteer Cathy Moyer with thanks to those who contributed submissions/info.
PO Box 807 Goochland VA 23063
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