<< Previous   of   Next >> Enterprise/CHRIS FYALL  (click to enlarge) Jonathan Church, 14, shows off Comet at the start of Edmonds' July 15 City Council Meeting. Comet was living with Church's family in Mukilteo, but looking for a permanent home. He found one with Bill and Jan Vance, of Edmonds, who were sitting in the audience. Enterprise/CHRIS FYALL  (click to enlarge) Comet, an old dog that was looking for a permanent home, waits his turn before the start of the July 15 Edmonds City Council meeting. Comet came from Arlington's Old Dog Haven, and officials hoped publicity from attending the meeting could get Comet adopted. The plan worked.

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CONTACT THE ENTERPRISE Jocelyn Robinson, Copy editor jrobinson@heraldnet.com

'Dog'-gone unusual

• First Adopt-a-Dog event at City Council meeting a success

By Chris Fyall
Enterprise editor

Considering Edmonds' July 15 City Council meeting ran past midnight, its 7 p.m. start seemed in retrospect like a dog day afternoon.

Or, just dog-gone early.

Dogs, anyway. The meeting definitely, and for probably the first time in Edmonds' history, started with dogs -- specifically the city's first ever Adopt-A-Dog event during a council meeting.

Representatives from Arlington-based Old Dog Haven paraded Comet, an old dog without a permanent home, before the city council, roughly 75 people in attendance and the television viewers who watch Edmonds meetings on cable Channel 21.

Comet, who has been living with a host family in Mukilteo, was looking for an adoptive home, and Edmonds attorney Chuck Greenberg figured exposure at the meeting could help.

Even before Greenberg was finished explaining the Adopt-A-Dog model, Comet had a new home.

Bill Vance stood up at the meeting and agreed to adopt Comet with his wife Jan, who is the director of the Greater Edmonds Chamber of Commerce.

"I'm delighted," said Greenberg, who hopes to make the Adopt-A-Dog program a semi-regular feature at Edmonds meetings. "What a way to start. What a town."

Greenberg approached council president Michael Plunkett with the Adopt-A-Dog idea after reading in the December 2007 issue of Dog Fancy magazine that similar programs elsewhere have boosted adoption rates to nearly 100 percent.

Without adoption, the outlook for old, homeless dogs is grim, Greenberg said.

"But Edmonds has a reputation for being the friendliest town in Western Washington. Why not the most compassionate as well?" Greenberg asked.

The city does have important business to wrestle with, Plunkett said July 15.

But showing off old dogs doesn't take too much time, he said.

"It's just simple, human kindness," Plunkett said. "Maybe we can do a little good for a four-legged friend."

Reporter Chris Fyall: 425-673-6525 or cfyall@heraldnet.com