With the fading days of summer and the ringing on the school bells, it would have been easy to forget to enter one’s pet in the Humane Society of Pike County’s 2019 Pet Photo Contest.

But never whimper, said Donna Brockmann, humane society president – the contest deadline is being extended until midnight Tuesday, August 21.

“We don’t want any precious pets to be left out of the 2019 Pet Photo Calendar,” she said. “We are celebrating the Alabama Bicentennial in 2019 so this will be a keepsake calendar. Every pet owner will want their pet to be a part of the Alabama 200 celebration.”

Brockman said 66 entries are needed to fill the cover, the month and week photo slots and there is plenty of space for every pet entered to be included.

“Right now, we have 50 entries and there’s no limit to the number of entries we could have,” she said. “Wouldn’t it be amazing if we had 200 entries in our 200th year.”

While that might be pie-in-the-sky hopes, Brockmann said every entry in the Pet Photo Contest helps to reduce the number of unwanted and unloved animals in the county through the Humane Society of Pike County’s spay and neuter program. That alone is reason to enter a pet.

And the contest is shaping up to be a lot of fun.

“We now have a peacock that is showing its true colors and a calf, Bad-Bad Leroy Brown,” Brockmann said. “The ratio of cats to dogs is 23-27. Currently, Pepper, who is loved by Emma Dickey, is in the lead with 307 votes. In second, Lyra loved by Dr. Patricia Block is in second place with 190 votes and Cocoa, loved by Breanna Barron is in third with 100 votes.”

Brockmann said there are numerous “in memory” pets in the photo contest.

“That is a nice way to remember a family pet,” she said.

Brockmann encourages all pet owners to enter their pet in the 2019 Pet Photo Contest so that no pet will be “blue” for having been left out of the Alabama Bicentennial red, white and blue edition of this annual fundraiser for the Humane Society of Pike County.

Entries are $10 each and votes are $1. The deadline for entry is now August 21. Voting deadline remains at 5 p.m. September 1.

There are two ways to enter a pet, by submitting online at www.pikehumane.org or picking up entry forms and leaving photos at Guynn’s Income Tax and Bookkeeping Service, Jinright’s Hillside Antiques, The Little Framery or Three Notch Antiques (formerly Troy Antiques), all in Troy.

The pet with the greatest number of votes will be featured on the cover of the 2019 Pet Photo Calendar. The pets with the 13 next highest votes will be honored as the monthly winners. There will be 52 weekly winners and the honorable mentions. All pets entered in the Pet Photo Contest will be pictured on the 2019 Pet Photo Calendar.