The Dog Days of Summer are upon us and, with temperatures pushing three digits, dogs are looking for the shade and probably wondering why these hot, sultry days of summer are “their” days

But in Pike County, dogs are recognized and honored throughout the year on the Humane Society of Pike County’s Pet Photo Calendar.

Dogs, along with cats, ducks, mules and other pets, are pictured on the calendar and recognized for their importance in the lives of their owners.

The humane society’s 2017 Pet Photo Contest is underway and the deadline for entry has been extended until August 10 to give pet owners additional time to enter their companion pets or yard animas.

Donna Brockmann, humane society president, said the 2017 Pet Photo Calendar will feature the Pet Photo Contest winner on the cover, 13 monthly winners and 52 weekly winners.

“We will also feature pets as honorable mentions,” Brockmann said. “We can have as many pets featured on our calendar as we have entries and the more entries we have the more funds will be raised to support our spay/neuter, feral cat and Families-in-Need programs.

“What this means is that any resident of Pike County can go to one of the four veterinarians in our county and have an animal spayed or neutered and the program will pay the first $50 towards that procedure.”

Last year, the Pet Photo Contest raised about $11,000 and the Humane Society of Pike County allocated $13,000 for it spay/neuter program.

“We thank everyone who helped to make the Pet Photo Contest a great success and encourage pet owners to enter their pets in this year’s contest and we also encourage animal lovers to vote, vote and vote.”

Brockman said spay and neutering is the best way to control the population of abandoned and neglected animals.

“The humane society’s spay/neuter program is going a long way in reducing the number of abandoned and neglected dogs and cats in Pike County but we still have more to do,” Brockmann.

“Every entry in the Pet Photo Contest and every vote cast means a reduction in the number of unwanted animals.”

The entry for pets in the Pet Photo Contest is $10 and each vote is just $1.

The deadline for voting is Aug. 20.

For registration and voting information visit the Humane Society of Pike County’s website at www.pikehumane.org.