Thanks to Denton resident, Julie Hudson and to the City of Denton Animal Shelter, an 8-week old Aussie mix puppy received a second chance. The puppy, now named Woody, was picked up on February 10, 2008 as a stray. He was seriously injured with wounds on his eye, shoulder and lip. At the request of Debbie Lhotka, Denton Animal Services, the puppy was examined by local veterinarian, Dr. Granville Wright who determined that the major injury was due to the puppy being shot by a bow and arrow.

Dr. Wright and Ms. Lhotka covered the initial medical expenses as they felt that the puppy should be given a chance for adoption. They knew that the puppy would require an additional surgery. On Valentine’s Day, February 14, Julie Hudson adopted the puppy from the Denton Animal Shelter. She named him Woody. “I am very grateful to Julie for seeing past Woody’s injuries and future surgery needs. Julie and her husband Gary opened their hearts and home to a ‘special needs’ dog and paid for all the additional medical care” stated Debbie Lhotka.

In September, Debbie learned of a national contest sponsored by Science Diet pet food and investigated the details. She then e-mailed several former Denton Animal Shelter adopters requesting that they consider entering. The contest was called “A Second Chance at Love” and required a letter describing the “story” of the rescued dog or cat. Julie accepted the challenge and wrote a moving story about Woody.

The adoption stories from all the contestants were posted on the Science Diet website and were judged by a panel for various prizes. The top prizes would go to one dog and one cat. On November 14, Woody was selected as one of the top 50 finalists. On November 21, Julie was informed that Woody was a top 10 finalist (5 dogs and 5 cats). On December 6, Debbie received word from Julie that Woody was the dog grand prize winner nationwide. The grand prize includes awards to both the local shelter and to the adopter. The Denton Animal Shelter receives a $10,000 donation from Hills Science Diet. Julie, Gary and Woody receive a photo shoot in New York, including roundtrip airfare, two night’s accommodations, transportation, $300 expenses, all with an equivalent retail value of $5,000.

The story of Woody was a catalyst for the formation of an “Emergency Medical Fund” at the Denton shelter. In coordination with Debbie’s initiatives, the Denton Animal Shelter Foundation donated $2,200 in September 2008 to establish the fund. Additional donations from local businesses, vets and individuals have been received. “It is so great that we have a medical fund now because we have so many come into the shelter in need of emergency help” said Amy Pelzel, a shelter volunteer. More shelter rescues can receive a second chance at love.

To donate to the Emergency Medical Fund:
City of Denton Animal Shelter
300 Woodrow Lane, Denton 76205

I want to take a moment of your time and let you know the direction we will be taking the magazine for this next year. For the last two years we have worked extremely hard to provide the Denton community with a magazine of high quality and informative in nature. My goal for this year is to not only increase the size of our magazine, but also the number of people it is able to reach.

In order to do this we will be doing several different things. One thing we will be doing is changing the name from Denton Lifestyles to Lifestyles of Denton County. By changing the name, this opens up the opportunity for small businesses outside the city of Denton to market their products and services. To accompany this change, we will gradually increase the distribution to include all of Denton County. The magazine will also become bi-monthly. This will allow us to raise the number of pages and improve the quality of articles.

So don’t be alarmed when you see our magazine with a different name. It’s still the same great magazine you’ve been reading and enjoying for the last two years. We thank our readers for the overwhelming support of Lifestyles magazine, and look forward to a wonderful 2009!