my “jewel” Alicinha. She is a fantastic doggy ( by the way I see her as a "girl"). She made a big difference in my life since I adopted her almost 11 years ago. In 1998 I adopted her in Brazil and she was my 1^st dog. A few months later my love towards pets was “so intense” that I started paying attention to street dogs in our country, Brazil. Suddenly I started rescuing dogs from the streets, bringing them home, taking care of them, taking them to vets and then finding a good home for them. Soon some vets started knowing me better and started helping me with the cost of the treatment for sick dogs and cats. After some years many vets and many people knew me as an “animal advocate”, people used to come to me whenever they wanted to adopt a pet and also to offer help. We used to live in a capital, named Goiânia, with 2 million inhabitants, but that had never had a Pet Therapy going on in hospitals. My dream was to take my dog, Alicinha, into the biggest public hospital for patients with cancer. Everybody told me I was insane ‘cause I would never get it, however I went on searching on internet about pet therapy/animal assisted therapy and found a lot of american sites on which I based to write a projet to present to the hospital. Soon Alicinha and I were doing this wonderful job, visiting children with cancer and children undergoing treatment for Aids! We got it! I was sooooo proud of her cause the children in the hospital loved her! They were so happy every Friday with Alicinha’s presence. A lot of Newspapers, TVs, Radios were talking about her. At the hospital I used to teach the children how to take “good care” of our animals and our nature. As a teacher I had a lot of skills in getting them involved in activities to learn how to treat animals. At that point I achieved my goal: to draw the population’s attention to the “healing power of pets” and I expected people to treat their pets with love and don’t abandon them. Soon I got many great partnerships with vets and animal hospitals there. I got a website and many volunteers.Since then we have been rescuing animals from the streets as well as abused animals. We have our Non Governamental Organization since 2007. I am a Law graduate and I am in charge of the NGO as well as the website updating. My partner, Doctor Amorim, is the veterinary responsible for all the pets we rescue. My father plays a big role also; he has a large place where he takes care of many dogs and cats for us while waiting for adoption. We count on many volunteers who do believe we do a good job. I must say that we take “no money” as donation. My father has some quartz mines and a factory where they polish the gems and made jewelry, sculptures, etc…therefore whenever we need money it comes from my dad’s business or from me because I also make jewelry and sell them to help with the cost of treatment for sick rescues. Alicinha, Laika ( my schnauzer) and I moved into the US on 12/2007 because I got married here in NY. Since then I became a volunteer member for the ASPCA , the SPCA of Westechester, where my two dogs, Laika and Alicinha were approved to become Therapy Dogs in NY and for the American cancer society. We have been visiting a Nursing Home in Mount Vernon-NYwhere they make patients' day!

Alicinha was born on 07/15/98 and since then we were never far from each other more than 4 days. Whenever I travel abroad she goes with me. In NY I work as a Pet Nurse in a Pet Hospital, Banfield inYonkers. Alicinha, Laika and I are very happy here!