This year, Live Love Animal Rescue volunteers and Long Beach residents have done a particularly impressive job with Foster the 4th, which is ongoing and will be for the next couple of weeks.

Long Beach Animal Care Services is an open-admissions shelter run by the city. This means that the facility has to accept any animal that is brought in. The manager and staff are continuously working hard to come up with options to avoid euthanasia of animals because of overcrowding. Foster the 4th is exactly what’s needed during the busiest time of year for shelters, the Fourth of July. Pets, usually dogs, flee in confusion from bangs and booms and flashes. The luckier ones wind up—alive—in shelters.

The project was started by dog rescuer Emily Ann Peters and her nonprofit in partnership with Long Beach Animal Care Services as a literal lifeline for displaced shelter pets. Now in its third year, the project has grown in its effectiveness, both in saving lives and boosting its presence.

More than 80 dogs have gone for extended B and B (bark and biscuit) vacations in the homes of enthusiastic families, one of whom is Post reporter Stephanie Rivera. Fittingly, she covers diversity, and she’s expanded her household of a couple of humans and a bearded dragon to include, at least temporarily, a little dog. She and some of the other fosters may succumb permanently to floofie love—not that there’s anything nefarious being plotted, heh heh—but even if any dog lives only for a short time in a loving home, the community members are equally deserving of gratitude, praise and good pup-licity.

Besides the grand foster sendoff, Live Love ran an intervention table in front of the shelter for a week to intercept strays and owner surrenders. All dogs in Live Loves care that need veterinary treatment are receiving it, including spay/neuter procedure, tumor assessment and treatment, vaccinations, heartworm meds, insulin and surgeries. Expenses for scores of dogs are, as you can imagine, astronomical for 65 dogs. If you have spare change in the sofa cushions, you can donate here or at [email protected]

Now, check out a fraction of the fosters and their fostees. Adoption applications are available here.

Check out more of these hopefuls, and help Live Love with the med bills on the organization’s Facebook page. A listing of events at which you can meet them in dogs on can be seen on the link and in Things to do, Pets to Support. A gallery of all the lucky fostered pups is available here.

And, since most of these dogs are shelter rescues because of overcrowding at the shelters, you can also adopt from the source. Visit Long Beach Animal Care Services, 7700 E. Spring St., Long Beach at the entrance to El Dorado Park (no fee for shelter visitors). There are three entrances, but the one leading to Long Beach Animal Care Services’ pets is labeled “Animal Admissions” and has a large banner on the grass to the right.

Things to do, pets to support

Please send any Long Beach or Seal Beach pet-related events or projects to [email protected]. Posting subject to approval.

Adoption Pack Walk: Saturday, July 13, 4–6 p.m., Colorado Lagoon, 5059 E. Colorado St., Long Beach, adoption fees vary

Come out for an evening walk and meet up with the adoptable dogs from the Foster the 4th shelter program! Adoptable dogs will be there to meet you! Hosted by Live Love Animal Rescue and the Blockhead Brigade.

Live Love adoption event: Sunday, July 14, noon–4 p.m., Pussy & Pooch Pethouse and Pawbar, 4818 E. Second St., Long Beach, adoption fees vary.

Meet (and adopt) Foster the 4th dogs at what will probably be one of Pussy & Pooch Belmont Shore’s final adoption events. Thanks both to Live Love for this monumental rescue task and to Pussy & Pooch for supporting Long Beach’s pet community.

Long Beach Animal Care Services Adoption Event: Saturday, July 20, 10 a.m.–1 p.m., Long Beach Animal Emergency Hospital, 4720 Pacific Coast Highway. (near Staples and Circle Car Wash), Long Beach, adoption fees vary

Long Beach Animal Care Services’ Adoption Waggin’ will roll down the Coast Highway with furry little adoptables onboard, and Live Love will bring along its Foster the 4th adoptables. Fix Long Beach will be on hand with an appearance by Chloe, vouchers and education about spaying and neutering your pets. Free microchips will be available for pets; prize giveaways include a 50 inch 4K TV and a Whistle 3 GPS device.

24th annual Wienerschnitzel Wiener Nationals to benefit Seal Beach Animal Care Center: Saturday, July 20, 6–9:30 p.m., Los Alamitos Racing, 4961 Katella Ave., Cypress, $3 for general, free for kids under 17, $85 for VIP dinner packages, parking free

Enjoy the most, if not the only, humane dog race anywhere! Los Al will be wriggling with wiener dogs, i.e., dachshunds, at this whimsical event that has raised over $275,000 for the Seal Beach Animal Care Center since 1996, with $12,000 earned last year through ticket and T-shirt sales. The dogs will win prizes for themselves, and the nonprofit animal care center will get goodies for their animals, too! Purchase tickets at the Care Center in advance of the event or at the door the day of. For safety reasons, please do not bring your own dog. Call the Vessels Club at 714-820-2821 for information about the VIP package. If you have a long little doggie—dachshunds only—and want to enter him or her, call 714-820-2690—there are a few spots left.

Pinot’s Palette Fundraiser for Fix Long Beach: Sunday, July 21, 2:30–5 p.m., 470 Pine Ave., Long Beach, $35 per artist

Remember that silly book titled When Cats Paint? After a couple of glasses, you’re sure to do as well as any of the kitty Kandinskys and Kahlos in this ridiculous book. You’ll have a great time slapping the colors on the canvas—or whatever they use while sipping a good glass of wine and helping Fix Long Beach make sure that cats—and dogs too, of course—can still paint on paper but not paint the town red breeding kittens. Doors open at 2:30, so get your pawr of wine ready. Presale tickets are recommendend: Tickets are available here.

Adoption event and vet CBD patient-appreciation day: Sunday, July 28, noon–4 p.m., The Circle Long Beach, 1755 Ximeno Ave., Long Beach, adoption fees vary

Visit with adoptable doggies and purchase VET CBD for your pets at a special discount price that day!

Ice cream social fundraiser: Sunday, July 28, 4 p.m.–8 p.m., Long Beach Creamery, both locations at 222 E. Broadway and 4141 Long Beach Blvd., menu prices and adoption fees vary

The fantastic team at Long Beach’s own artisan ice cream place is offering two scoops of love and support for rescues. They’re giving 25% of every goodie purchased to support healing of the #Fosterthe4th dogs and find their Forever Family. The doggies will be there, too, as toppings to the treats!

Fix Long Beach Free DOG Spay/Neuter Clinic: Saturday, Aug. 10, 8:30 a.m.–2 p.m., Ramona Park, 3301 E. 65th St., Long Beach, free spay/neuter for qualifying Long Beach residents, with appointment; free microchips, shots, flea-med doses, dewormers and nail trimmings $10 each—no appointment necessary.

Newborn kittens are the most euthanized pets in shelters, ours included. The best way to stop a flood is to tamp the source, and that’s why we’re here. Our appointments are fully booked, but you can come for standby at 10:30 a.m. Appointments are available for future clinics—come make one. Full details are available here.

Ongoing

Old towels and blankets wanted

Stop! Before you toss away the old towels or use them to sop up the oil on your garage floor, consider our shelter animals! gently used hand towels and regular-size ones clean up messes in the kennels and dry off pooches and kitties after baths. Don’t forget small and medium-size blankets, too. Cats curl up on them and dogs are warmed and comforted. Drop by the shelter with them and a shelter staff member will help you take them in. Long Beach Animal Care Services is located at 7700 E. Spring St. at the entrance to El Dorado Park, 7700 E, Spring St. No parking fee for shelter guests. Go through the Animal Admissions door that has a banner in the ground to the right.

Bottle feeders needed

This year’s kitten season has been a downpour. Last Saturday, about 40 pets (in one day!) were brought to Long Beach Animal Care Services, and over 30 of them were kittens, many just born. Our shelter and the Long Beach Little Paws Project kitten nursery need help badly and immediately, whether you are an experienced bottle feeder or have never had a cat before. Compassion happens when the rescuing begins—private-message the shelter on its Facebook page with your contact info to help kittens in our shelter, like Jellybean. Please share the post on that page widely. If you’re not in our area, your local shelter kittens need your help, too.

Register for Strut Your Mutt Los Angeles

Best Friends Animal Society is teaming up with our partner rescue groups, shelters and animal-welfare organizations to help save the lives of homeless cats and dogs at Strut Your Mutt. Local Long Beach groups such as The Little Lion Foundation are participating, and animal advocates and lovers will be coming from everywhere. Register for the Walk or donate if you have a pet who just won’t be walked—cats come to mind. All funds raised go directly to lifesaving programs such as spay/neuter, adoption, and a KITTEN NURSERY! This year’s event is on Oct. 26 at Exposition Park in Los Angeles—all information is available here.

Donations accepted for Pets of the Homeless

Pets of the Homeless’ home page gives a self-description as the only organization focusing only on providing food and care for pets belonging to homeless people. Businesses and other organizations across the country receive in-kind donations of food and other needs that the dogs and cats’ human families can pick up at outreach locations. The following Long Beach businesses will accept your donations:

Trendi Pawz, 255 Redondo Ave., Long Beach

Belmont Heights Animal Hospital, 255 Redondo Ave., Long Beach

Paw Shoppe Pet Center, Inc., 6416 E. Spring St., Long Beach

Food and supplies are available at Beacon for Him Ministries, 1535 Gundry Ave. Long Beach, Mondays from 9 a.m. to noon and Saturdays from noon to 3 p.m.; and at Christian Outreach in Action, 515 E. Third St., Long Beach,Thursday from 9 to 11 a.m. Donations will be gratefully accepted at these locations as well.

Adopt, adopt, adopt

The following pet-related businesses regularly feature cat, dog and rabbit adoptions. If you’re a Long Beach-area rescue and don’t see your adoption event listed here, please email [email protected]. Click on the links for each rescue in case of updates or changes.

Chase Bank, 5200 East Second St., Long Beach

Gelson’s Market, 6255 E. 2nd St.

Sparky and the Gang Animal Rescue, second Sunday of each month

Kahoots Pet Store, 18681 Main St. #102, Huntington Beach

Zoey’s Place Rescue, fourth Saturday of each month, noon–4 p.m.

Pet Food Express, 4220 Long Beach Blvd., Long Beach:

PetSmart Cerritos, 12741 Towne Center Dr, Cerritos

The Little Lion Foundation, permanent adoption center, store hours

PetSmart Compton, 1775 South Alameda St., Compton

Zazzy Cats Kitty Rescue,permanent adoption center, store hours

Rabbit Rescue Inc., one adoptable rabbit daily, store hours

PetSmart Garden Grove, 9835 Chapman Ave, Garden Grove

The Little Lion Foundation, permanent adoption center, store hours

PetSmart, Long Beach Exchange, 3871 N Lakewood Blvd., Long Beach

PetSmart Seal Beach, 12341 Seal Beach Blvd., Seal Beach.

PetSmart Signal Hill, 2550 Cherry Ave., Signal Hill

Kitty Katchers, Saturdays and Sundays, 11 a.m.–3:30 p.m.

Stray Cat Alliance, permanent adoption center, store hours

Unleashed by Petco, 600 Redondo Ave.