Why Do Pets Have People?

Why Do Pets Have People?

A collection of 64 USA Today Network newspaper columns written by Barry KuKes, Community Outreach & Marketing Director of Halifax Humane Society located in Daytona Beach, FL. Each column is only about four minutes long, thus a very easy read or in this case, listen. The subjects include fun facts about dogs and cats, columns about how to train a dog or cat, funny stories about Evil Jimmy the Chihuahua, how to know when it's time to say goodbye, and more.Why Do Pets Have People?, is the follow-up to the original collection of 76 columns titled, "Why Do People Have Pets?" The original book is still in audio production.

Episodes

May 15, 2025 5 mins

It’s a fact of life; your dog or cat will go missing at one time or another. It’s a terrible feeling when your pet digs under the backyard fence or gets off the leash and takes off running. You turn your back for just a second, and your pet is gone. Luckily, most responsible pet owners have their pets microchipped which increases the odds of getting your pet back ten-fold. 

Most animal shelters help owners, and their lost pets reuni...

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I recently lost one of my dogs, Max, to degenerative myelopathy. The disease slowly affects the dog's spinal cord, and they lose the use of their extremities. After 11 years of being a great and faithful companion, Max was losing his battle with the disease. He lost the use of his hind legs and could no longer control his bodily functions. We made the decision to help Max crossover the Rainbow Bridge and stayed with him during...

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One of the few times we went to a breeder for a dog was 18-years ago. I remember I had to pick up the puppy because the breeder was bugging out due to the oncoming Hurricane Charley. The puppy was only 6-weeks old and was the runt of the litter. She was the size of a 3.5" floppy disk. We named her Fiona, and she was the only female dog we have ever owned. She was so different from the male dogs. I called her Baby Girl, and she...

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Most animal shelters and rescues depend heavily upon volunteer foster parents to help rehabilitate an animal recovering from surgery or dealing with behavior issues. When the shelter is at capacity, they might reach out to fosters to take in an animal or two to help make room for incoming animals. In all cases, the foster length of stay is usually a month or less, but there are exceptions like "failed fosters," who fall i...

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It’s been two years since I published “Why Do People Have Pets?”, a collection of 75 newspaper columns I wrote for the Daytona Beach News-Journal and Seniors Today. During that time, I had written over one hundred columns about animal welfare and caring for pets. Since then, the Daytona Beach News-Journal became part of the USA Today Network, and the network decided to make my column available to all 2400 newspapers that are part o...

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      Every time one of my dogs crosses over the rainbow bridge, I say to my wife, “I will never adopt another dog because it just hurts too much when they are gone.” But then, a few weeks later, when the silence without them in our home is deafening, I begin to look for available dogs at the shelter.

     As much as losing your best buddy or baby girl hurts, life without a pet to share it with doesn’t seem right. After a long and t...

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May 15, 2025 2 mins

I recently visited Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach with our Ambassador Dog and my personal pet, Bentley. The university had requested that we visit to help relieve the students' stress levels during exams week. We were happy to be of assistance.

While students gathered to pet Bentley, several would pull up a slab of sidewalk and stay awhile. We talked about Bentley, how he was found as a stray not far from...

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