IT'S A DOG'S LIFE PROGRAM FINDS HOMES FOR FRIENDS.

Byline: Jim Skeen Staff Writer

EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE - Adopt-a-Pet's members are looking for a good home for Gypsy, a pretty, long-haired canine with a rough past.

Showing signs of past abuse - like an intense mistrust of brown-haired women - Gypsy has been in the care of Adopt-a-Pet for three months. She's received obedience training and is becoming more social, but she is still a work in progress.

``She is strong and agile and able to leap over base housing fencing,'' said Victoria Coutts, the group's secretary. ``We would like to find her a home off base, maybe at a ranch.''

Created this year, Adopt-a-Pet is a private, nonprofit organization dedicated to finding homes for pets like Gypsy and educating Edwards families about pet ownership.

For military personnel, owning a dog or cat poses issues not often seen in civilian life.

One of those is the short notices of reassignments or deployments. Another is that sometimes service personnel are sent to bases in foreign countries that require pet quarantines that last weeks or even months.

Rather than putting the pet through that ordeal, service members will often give an animal up for adoption.

But pets are also a blessing for many military families and can be one of the few constants in an ever-changing life.

``Pets help through hard times, especially during moving times,'' said Lori Palumbo, an Adopt-a-Pet volunteer.

The group, which has about 25 adult members and a youth program with eight members, has placed at least a dozen cats and probably about three times that number of dogs since June alone, said Coutts, whose husband is vice commander of Edwards' Air Force Flight Test Center.

``We like helping people, supporting the military families and getting the creatures their comforts,'' Coutts said.

Adopt-a-Pet volunteers work closely with the Edwards' 95th Security Forces Wildlife and Animal Control Facility, coming in three days a week to help feed, exercise and socialize the animals.

The animal control facility is located in a remote area of the base. In the near future, Adopt-a-Pet plans to operate out of a vacant building that once housed Edwards' veterinary clinic.

The building will serve as a temporary shelter for foster animals prior to being adopted.

The fledgling group has a long list of needs, including the need for more volunteers and more foster families, said Suzy Riedell.

``They need to take care of animals, provide a home and socialize the animal,'' Riedell said of foster families. ``We provide the food and vet service.''

Other needs include pet supplies, such as collars, pet crates, pet food, and, for their building, fencing to build kennel runs.

Anyone wanting to either adopt an animal or volunteer as a foster family should call Riedell at [phone]. Anyone wishing to be a volunteer can call Jen Doherty at [phone].

To make a cash donation, call Melissa Talbert at [phone].

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Photo:

(1 -- 2 -- color) Robert Riedell, above, a volunteer with the Adopt-a-Pet program at Edwards Air Force Base, takes a moment to give some TLC to Gypsy. Lori Palumbo and Victoria Coutts, left, clean out the cages at the EAFB Animal Shelter.

Jim Skeen/Special to the Daily News