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What Having a Yard Means
To 28-year-old Kendall Graham, moving on up in D.C. to a three-level town house with a patch of grass means getting another dog. She already adopted a pomeranian mix and is looking for a companion dog to help her fill out her new place off Florida Avenue, near Howard U. “Baby” doesn’t do well with big dogs, so Graham is shopping at the Animal Welfare League of Arlington for another small variety. She’s taking a good look at Cholula, a chihuahua. “But chihuahuas are so yippy,” she says. “I want a dog that can be trained to be quiet.”
Shelter Studios Fit for a Dog
Pearl, a silky soft 3-year-old whippet mix, used to live outside as an abandoned stray. Now her home is a 4-by-9-foot kennel at the Animal Welfare League of Arlington. And you thought your studio was small.
Perfect Pet for an Apartment? Try Rabbits.
Dogs and cats. Dogs and cats. When potential pet owners of the greater D.C. area are looking to add some fur to their abodes, dogs and cats are the go-to. But consider the small, humble bunny.
Bunnies don’t bark. They don’t claw the top of your pillow at 3 a.m. They don’t need to be walked. Neither your neighbors—nor likely your landlord—need know you have an adorable-eared roomate.
“We put bunnies in our newsletters, on our Web site. We take them to TV appearances. It’s the first room here at the shelter….We put them anywhere we think they’ll be visible,” says Kay Speerstra, executive director of the Animal Welfare League of Arlington.
Renovated Condo, Complete With Cats
The kittens at the Animal Welfare League of Arlington live differently than the adult cats. Adult cats—including Sheba, the even-temptered black 10-year-old and Bennett, the 11-year-old orange tabby—have a divided, single-level home they can crawl through. But the kittens get the most affordable condo in Shirlington.
To Bust Out of a Shelter, Try Glamour Shots
The photographer brought the hay bale and the fancy lace overlay, the backdrop, the soft light, and the assistant with the cat toys. Prior to the Animal Welfare League of Arlington opening to the public today, volunteer Robin Burkett of Paw Prints Photography turned the lobby into a portrait studio.
“I want your ears up, sweeties,” she tells Nina (white bunny, brown spots) and Nala (white bunny, black spots). They’re among the seven rabbits, the 60 or so cats, the birds, guinea pigs, a lone chinchilla, and dogs living together at the shelter in Shirlington on Arlington MIll Road.
Prior to Burkett’s involvement and that of other volunteer pros, the shelter staff shot the animals for the Web site with varying degrees of success. “Black cats are the hardest. They turn out like blobs, with all of their features running together, unless you have somebody who knows what they’re doing and has the right lighting,” says 12-year staffer Susan Sherman, communications manager and experienced cat herder.
A come-hither look or a well-lit photo of perky bunnies are key to getting these animals out of their temporary homes and into their permanent ones (residents in Virginia, Maryland, and D.C. can all adopt here). But the process of getting a good glamour shot is a bit of an ordeal.
Ten Questions for the Dude Behind “Arlington: The Rap”
It’s still a good day to be a gangsta in “Arlington: The Rap,” but Remy Munasifi is moving on. Creatively (to a video for the Tax Foundation), not physically. The star of the smash NoVa hit on YouTube (as well as “Partly Cloudy: The Rap” and the only slightly less-hilarious one about 2 percent milk) actually does love him some Clarendon.
His homage to his new hood—he grew up in McLean and moved to Clarendon about a month ago—went up mid-June, caught e-mail and Facebook fire, and is now getting a touch cold. Still, for those of you who have yet to experience the existential question: “Why are all these dudes wearing brown flip flops??,” here you go:
Housing Complex notes that some of the filming took place in Munasifi’s phat Clarendon pad. Munasifi agreed to play along with this angle. As a result, we bring you…
Ten Questions for YouTube Star GoRemy:
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