Prime-Time Pets

For the canine- and feline-inclined, Tuesday night is must-see TV.

It is, after all, the only night of the week to catch stars such as Montana, a tabby described by television hostess Laurie Bernie as a “real purr box.” There’s also Ally, a 12-week-old mixed pit bull puppy rescued by a good Samaritan from kids who were kicking her and pelting her with rocks.

Then there’s Sinclair, a longhaired black-and-white-tuxedo kitty, who prefers “to be the only animal in the family so that he can get all the love and attention to himself,” Bernie said.

They are just a few of the furry stars featured on an unusual television show produced by Agoura-based LIFE Animal Rescue, an organization credited with saving the lives of hundreds of cats and dogs. (LIFE stands for Living Is For Everyone.)

The show’s plot is simple: profile adorable animals in need of loving homes in hopes they will be adopted by sympathetic viewers.

Rescue volunteer Vince Curtis said he pitched the idea of producing the show to Bernie and her daughters, Shauna and Emily--who run the rescue operation--after hearing about a similar program in another part of the country. Curtis, a graduate of Cal State Northridge, where he studied radio, TV and film, said he knew the show would be fairly easy to produce.

Besides, he thought, who could resist a show with puppies?

“The faces of the dogs and cats are simply mesmerizing,” said Curtis, a real estate appraiser from Oak Park. “One thing Shauna has noticed is that if I zoom in on the face of a cat, it will get more calls.”

The show has been carried weekly over the past eight months on two cable access channels. It reaches thousands of homes in the west San Fernando Valley and the Conejo Valley in eastern Ventura County.

The show begins each week with a slick introduction featuring action shots of cats and dogs, accompanied by a brief explanation about the rescue group and its goals. Next come roughly two dozen pet profiles.

New installments are taped monthly at the Bernies’ Agoura ranch, home to as many as 25 dogs and cats in the family’s care. Curtis said he originally envisioned filming the animals running around or acting playful but soon gave up the idea.

“The dogs would run out of the frame and the cats wouldn’t do anything,” he said.

Instead, Shauna holds the animals while Laurie describes them.

“This is Nelly. She is very affectionate and would love to follow you everywhere you go. And she is very playful,” Laurie said during a recent taping.

As the director, Curtis waves props, including stuffed mice and other toys, to catch his stars’ attention. Later in the show comes Rachel, an 11-week-old black chow chow puppy who, Bernie tells viewers, was found abandoned at 3 a.m. at a bus stop.

Each of the animals has its own personality, and the Bernies seem to know them all. There’s Sinclair, the tuxedo kitty, who doesn’t get along well with other animals. Sienna the Abyssinian likes dogs, not other cats.

“We get them out of the shelter and analyze them and get to know them so we can place them in the right home,” said Shauna, a full-time equestrian trainer who works part time as a waitress.

The show also gives the Bernies a chance to tell viewers about pet diseases, such as feline AIDS and feline leukemia, as well as the importance of spaying and neutering.

During a recent taping, Shauna pulled out a pocket inhaler and took a quick burst of asthma medicine. She handles hundreds of cats even though she is allergic to them.

In the five years the Bernies have been operating LIFE Animal Rescue, they estimate they have helped place more than 1,200 animals.

“Sometimes they’ve gotten no phone calls based on the show,” Curtis said. “Other times they’ve gotten 20 to 30 calls.”

Last year, adoptions were down. Cat adoptions, for example, dropped from 400 in 1996 to 280 last year. The decline prompted Shauna to speculate that the rescue effort has saturated the Conejo Valley, home to most of the adopted pets. She hopes the show’s exposure to San Fernando Valley viewers will boost adoptions.

West Valley viewers can watch the show Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. on Channel 27. In the Conejo Valley area, the show can be seen Tuesdays on Channel 8 at 9 p.m.

LIFE Animal Rescue offers cats and dogs for adoption every Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Thousand Oaks Petco at 104 W. Hillcrest Drive. For more information, call (818) 707-6186.