Pooches And Their People

"Look at his face," said Douglassville resident Tim Dietterick of his 150-pound St. Bernard, Max, 2. "I adopted him last June."

Dietterick and Max were at the 2nd Annual Pottsmuttster Dog Show at Pottstown's Smith Family Plaza on Saturday. 

The event benefitted the Montgomery County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, said Erica Chance, Pottsmuttster organizer. 

"We're just putting money toward a good cause," she said. 

The event included a variety of owners, their adopted dogs and homeless pooches.

The SPCA received Lily, a bulldog mix believed to be about 2 years old, as a stray with a shattered back leg, said Christopher Langiotti, manager of the SPCA's Perkiomenville branch.

Events such as the Pottsmuttster help raise awareness of the need for good adoptive families, he said. 

Beth Bean, a volunteer at the Perkiomenville SPCA, said many dogs including Rascal, a 9-year-old beagle mix, are up for adoption.

"Some (dogs) come in lost and nobody comes to claim them," she said.

The troubled economy also adds to the number of pets that come to the shelter because they lost their family, Bean said.

"We see so much . . . People can't afford (to keep or to) move their pets," she said. "It's heartbreaking. They're wonderful dogs."

The SPCA needs help to care for the animals until suitable homes can be found, Bean said.

"Public donation is what we rely on," she said.