Holiday highway greeting for the love of pets

One Maricopa couple has good tidings to bring to you and your pets – in a big way.

A festive display of Christmas decor on the back of their Maricopa Groves’ home is not just meant to deliver holiday cheer to drivers traveling the Maricopa-Casa Grande Highway, but to send a reminder to spay and neuter your pets.

“There are just too many animals being euthanized right now,” said Rhonda Kuehn, the woman behind the decorations and co-founder of Maricopa-based Helping Orphaned Hounds Shelter. “Any way we can get that message out; we’re going to try it.”

The big blown-up decorations on Kuehn’s roof include a Santa Claus and two dogs wearing Santa hats while holding Christmas stockings that read: “Merry Christmas.”

Kuehn said it was her passion for rescuing dogs that inspired the message behind the decorations.

“We pull (dogs) primarily from Pinal shelter, and Casa Grande is a kill shelter, so we pull them when they get put on the euthanasia list,” Kuehn said. “And that’s how come you see dogs in the backyard and not reindeer.”

Kuehn said there are about 150 dogs in her shelter now, and that the shelter is foster based.

“The minute we pull them from the shelter, they go right into a foster home. And it goes throughout the Valley,” Kuehn said.

Kuehn said she has decorated her house every year for Christmas, and this is the first year she has brought dogs into the mix. She said it’s not very common to find large Christmas decorations relating to dogs.

“I’m shocked that we found these,” Kuehn said. “We’re hoping to find a different breed of dogs every year.”

For next year, Kuehn said she wants to use a projector to project images on the back of her house of dogs that need to be rescued in the shelter and have the message, “Spay and neuter your pets.”