It Was A Dog Day Afternoon

Stamford's High Ridge Center was the setting. The air conditioning cooled the empty storefronts on the north end of the busy shopping center, which are on loan to local animal welfare and rescue groups the first Saturday of the month.

Despite the heat, the timing coincided with sidewalk sales, bringing traffic to the shopping center for both events.

Stamford Animal Rescue (STAR) teamed up with Bully Breed Rescue (BBR), Cat Assistance and Greenwich-based Adopt-a-Dog for the multi-group, multi-purpose event.

There were dogs and kittens available for adoption, as well as STAR Rescue's pet food pantry collection at street level. Upstairs in a cool, spacious setting, Geoffrey Tischman worked is camera magic in a pet portrait fundraiser.

Tischman, a talented photographer, is known for his soft spot for homeless pets. His photo credit pops up frequently on pictures of animals in local shelters. 

Other dedicated volunteers at the event included the popular New Canaan Patch blogger , who writes about bully breeds and coordinates foster care for Bully Breed Rescue. Mulligan looked after pit mix "Cupcake," a sweet affectionate pit mix currently benefitting greatly from foster care with Stamford's Kim Rich.

Also volunteering at the event was Brian Gordiski of Adopt-A-Dog. Gordiski recently trekked to North Carolina to rescue 18 puppies from six different litters. The hound-lab mix puppies range from 2-1/2 months to 3-1/2 months, and are available for adoption from Adopt-A-Dog. 

and , both of Greenwich, arrived with kittens from Cat Assistance, as well as "King" and "Blue" from Mt. Vernon Animal Shelter.

Surprise visitor, Marilyn Gordon of the Junior League of Greenwich, arrived with dozens of cat and dog toys made by the third-graders from JLG's "Positively Me" program. Gordon recently adopted Bubba Watson, a black lab mix from Adopt-A-Dog who had been featured in a recent Patch story about the challenges of adopting black dogs in the era of internet pet adoption.

and Pam Kelly who coordinated the event for STAR Rescue collected an outpouring of donated pet food. The goal of the pet food pantry is to keep dogs in their homes when owners might potentially surrender them in the tough economy.