‘They Had a Nice Idea’: NCHS Freshmen, Girl Scouts Lead Efforts To Get Three ‘Dog Waste Stations’ in Town

Claire Brunner and Lily Hirai, freshmen at New Canaan High School and members of Girl Scouts Troop 50230, knew that they wanted their Silver Award project to be about animals in some way. A pair of dog-lovers—Lily has a 7-year-old yellow Labrador retriever named ‘Ranger’ and Claire wants a dog—they sought “to make the community more animal-friendly,” Claire recalled. “When I was out walking the neighbor’s dog, I saw one of these [dog waste station] units, and I thought it would be good for the environment to have one in town, where dog owners can discard of their animals’ waste, so I put it out to Lily and we both agreed that it was a good project.”

Soon, thanks to the 14-year-olds’ efforts, New Canaan will benefit from three stations set up in places where people often can be found walking leashed dogs: at South and Farm Roads, at South and Maple, and in front of the Playhouse at New Canaan’s “50-yard-line.”

Made possible by a series of fundraising efforts that the two Girl Scouts oversaw (their troop is overseen by Carolyn Prazenka and Jennifer O’Brien), the projects will mark the first time that New Canaan installs the stations outside of its parks, according to Tiger Mann, assistant director of the Department of Public Works. “I have to say, they had a nice idea,” Mann said. The town will resupply the bags at the stations, which essentially are a green box affixed to a post, he said.

‘Feed the Need’: Pet Pantry Believes Shelter Dogs Should Be Treated Like Pets

[Note: This article first was published on sister site Greenwich Free Press.]

On Monday, at Pet Pantry Warehouse’s Greenwich location, Adam Jacobson, Joshua Roth and Ari Jacobson received an award from an Armonk, N.Y.-based dog rescue group for their continued support of the shelter through a program that delivers food to the adoptable canines. The supplier of dog food for the New Canaan Police Department’s K-9 unit and others, Pet Pantry has been involved with Adopt-A- Dog as a major sponsor since the Puttin’ on the Dog in 1988, but three years ago, the store, which has expanded to multiple locations over the years, furthered their support by creating “Feed the Need.”

“Feed the Need” is a food drive that makes healthy food from Blue Buffalo available to shelter dogs. And, the impact of having this grain-free food does not go unnoticed by Adopt-A- Dog Executive Director Kristen Rice. “When I first started working at Adopt-A- Dog, shelter dogs were served whatever food was available,” Rice said. “Feed the Need provides a consistent diet, and we can see that the dogs have a healthy coat.”

No dog gets left behind in this healthy diet, so Adopt-A- Dog goes through 86,000 pounds of food per year.