This is an excerpt from the radio show Our Metropolis, a half-hour issues and affairs program that airs Tuesdays at 6 p.m. on KUNV 91.5-FM and is hosted by the Greenspun Media Group’s John Katsilometes. Tune in next week to hear the rest of this interview with Dale Wynn, chairwoman of the Animal Foundation’s Lied Animal Shelter and organizer of the sixth annual Best in Show dog show and adoption event, hosted by John O’Hurley, set for June 1 at the Orleans Arena. For ticket information, call 284-7777 or go to orleansarena.com.
You have 60 dogs of various breeds, ages and sizes up for adoption and in competition this year. How are they judged?
We’ve got real AKC [American Kennel Club] judges judging shelter dogs, which is very funny. We’re not sure what they look at, and if you see winners from past years—we had a half-Dachshund, half-pit bull win the show. Very funny. It was the cutest-looking thing. Huge head, long body. It practically smiled, it was so friendly. Last year it was a pure-bred German shepherd that won the show, so you’re really not sure what the judges are looking for.
Is adopting out all 60 of these dogs a realistic expectation?
I hope it’s more than a realistic expectation. The crowd continues to get larger and larger. The word is getting out about the event. Last year we had 3,000 people turn out, and every year we expect it to get better and better. All of the celebrities people will see are donating their time—we have the very funny Louie Anderson; Zowie Bowie; Robin Leach, who has been so good about helping us every year.
Last year, about 1,000 animals were euthanized because of overcrowding at the shelter (which at the time was a no-kill facility). What did the Animal Foundation learn from that process, looking back?
That was a tragedy. Everything was done with the best of intentions, but what we saw when the Humane Society came in is that trying to keep every animal alive is an injustice when you’re getting 50,000 animals coming through your doors and the community is only adopting 13,000 animals. Spay and neuter is really where the answer is. But I’d love for anyone to come down to see our shelter.