Comedian Steve Hofstetter Loves Bea Arthur, His Dog

By Kim Clune

Comedian Steve Hofstetter has been on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, E! True Hollywood Story, Comics Unleashed, Comedy All-Stars, Quite Frankly, White Boyz in the Hood, Countdown and more. In his latest project, Steve co-stars alongside Bea Arthur (the dog) as a dog blogger. And, so you know, Steve’s new found dog love is no laughing matter … unless he’s laughing too.

File under Not Funny.

Steve has lived in fear of dogs most of his life. At 11 months old, he was chased and nearly bitten. From then on, he says, “I grew up scared of my neighbor’s Dobermans and German shepherds and various other breeds that commonly patrol junkyards and prisons in the movies.” At the age of 8, an off-leash dog took down Steve’s 12 year old bother and jump-kicked Steve in the head. “That’s right, I was jump-kicked by a dog,” he says. “Which is strange, since I don’t live in a cartoon.”

File under Funny, That. 

Like a jump-kick to the heart, dog’s enemy turned advocate at the age of 31. Why? As Steve’s blog post, Am I becoming a dog person?, reveals, “But then I met Sara.” Sara, who is now Steve’s wife, is a NYC shelter volunteer with an affinity for pitbulls. He ends that sentence with, “And here I am, about to adopt a dog.”

After documenting several attempts at finding the right dog fit, the blog was renamed Adopting Bea Arthur. Thoughtful, sweet and funny posts revolve around Steve and Sara’s 6-year-old rescue beagle/dachshund mix, a golden gal named for the woman who notoriously makes Steve and Sarah laugh.

And finally, the Funny Stuff.

Living life on the road with an adjusting rescue dog, Steve, Sarah and Bea have been dealing with some bouts of separation anxiety. While that’s not the funny part, when Sara began working with Bea to overcome it, Steve wrote the following:

I am in my bedroom, hiding from my dog. I was having a snack, but Sara is training Bea to realize that us leaving the apartment is nothing to cry over. I have to be inaccessible while Sara leaves, comes back, leaves, comes back, etc.

So here I am, a grown man, eating grapes and hiding from my dog.

I asked Steve who in their family suffered most from time apart and Steve named Sara. She’s known for hovering over their webcam feed while she’s away. But Steve shares in this too, having written this about Bea from the road:

Everything makes me think of her. I see other dogs, and think Bea would love to sniff them. I see grass, and think Bea would love to poop on it. The guy next to us at the airport farted, and it actually reminded me of one of Bea’s smelly dog farts. Which hurt at first because I miss Bea, and hurt again because it smelled like a dog fart.

While taking his pet parent responsibility seriously, Steve has a funny view on how children and pets differ – and why he and Sara made the right choice not having kids:

While you don’t have to take your baby outside in the winter to poop, a dog is still easier because you never have to wipe its butt. Although I hear some owners do that, which I think is a bit overkill. The real advantage that babies have is they eventually become potty trained. But years from now, we’ll still be taking Bea outside to poop.

And he will because…

Bea’s his Funny Valentine.

Bottom line: Steve has fallen madly in love with his dog and isn’t afraid to say so:

I still can’t get over how cute she is when she does paw. Especially when she does it randomly, thinking it will mean she’ll get a treat. I find any human-like behavior that dogs do hilarious – but paw is the be-all end-all for me.

If Steve could give one piece of advice to somebody who might want a dog in their life, it would be:

Get one. I was the antithesis of a dog person before I met Sara, and now I am absolutely changed. Bea has opened doors for me I never knew existed. I’ve met new people, I’ve learned new things, and I feel more complete than I ever have before.

Find your Funny Valentine.

Steve, thank you for spending time with Be the Change for Animals. As we enter the month of February, maybe you’ll inspire somebody to find their funny valentine too.

For those of you reading, start you search at Petfinder.com. It’s a great way to find adoptable dogs near you that need you. It won’t take long before you realize that you need them too.

Healing Heart Sanctuary

By Peggy Frezon

The frightened dog had been injured and abandoned. The little girl had autism. As she brushed the dog’s fur and cared for him, she began to heal too. Healing Heart Sanctuary in Southern Utah is an organization that shelters and rehabilitates injured or disabled animals. What’s more, in a wonderful and unique partnership, the animals also help children in need.

Healing Animals, Healing Children

One of Healing Heart Sanctuary’s most exciting programs involves children in the rehabilitation of the animals. Pets are proven to be good for our health, and injured animals often seem to have a special understanding and empathy for people in need. The animals come from many different sources from all over the country, including referrals from veterinarians and from the Best Friends Animal Society.

Helping Each Other

According to Healing Heart Sanctuary, “Helping some other being get back on its feet can be the biggest step to getting yourself out of your own way and back on your own feet.” The children help feed, clean, and brush the animals. They also help by encouraging the animals during therapy or sometimes, by actually administering the therapy themselves. The Sanctuary uses traditional therapies, water therapy, light therapy, massage, nutritional therapy and others.

Reaching Out

In order to reach even more people, Healing Heart Sanctuary is working on projects to get more animals out to children’s facilities, hospices and other places where they are needed.  One project is the Mobile Animal Therapy Team. The MATT program utilizes rescue dogs in danger of being euthanized in local animal shelters and trains them to become therapy animals that will benefit society by visiting hospices and children’s facilities, until they find their forever homes. At-risk teens provide the basic training for these animals, and in turn receive a special therapy that only these pets can offer.

Healing Heart Sanctuary, while saving animals, also provides a wonderful service to children. The children learn “love, compassion, confidence, responsibility, and, most importantly, that just because you may be different doesn’t mean that you are of any less value.”

Eye 4Wildlife

by Kim Clune

This last week of January is Kiss A Shark Week, and have we picked some adorable sharks for you! Click each photo to learn interesting facts about these species, watch videos of them in motion, determine why they’re threatened, and how you can help them at ARKive.org.

The porbeagle, while shaped like a friendly porpoise, hunts like a beagle – thus the name, and why you shouldn’t let him/her lick your face even though this shark seldom, if ever, attacks humans. Just be sure to kiss that cute conical snout so you’ll avoid accidental contact with those blade-like teeth.	The mighty great white shark has a nasty reputation as a ferocious man-eater, something that sadly has been hugely exaggerated by the media. Let’s show this shark some love. I mean, who can resist the character of that smile, even if it is full of ragged, pointy, serrated teeth?
Ladies, if you’re into facial hair, the tasselled wobbegong has branching skin flaps that run continuously around the jaws, forming a lattice-like beard. I see a resemblance to George Clooney, don’t you? … in terms of the shark world with no reflection on the very handsome George Clooney, of course.	A sleek, dynamic predator, the California horn shark is not. This species moves slow and easy with narry a tooth in sight – at least to my eye. And wht a cute and curvy pucker! Who wouldn’t want to kiss this shark?