By Gwyneth J. Saunders

By the July 31 voting deadline, Friends of the Bluffton Dog Park had a long way to go to get close to the leaders in the PetSafe Bark for your Park contest.
Having made it through the first stage, park supporters made a huge push for the $100,000 first prize, but the town trailed by more than 100,000 votes. That’s not stopping work on funding the park, a dog lovers’ project that has been in the works for more than six years.
“It was a small group of dedicated ladies who started this and we’re going to keep working on it,” said Board of Directors President William Grooms. “Just building the park isn’t where our financial responsibility ends.”
Grooms said the site in the Buckwalter sports complex will require payment on a million dollar insurance policy and continued maintenance and upkeep.
“We’ve been working on a fundraiser at Station 300 that is tentatively set for the end of August (Editor’s note: keep an eye on www.hiltonheadmonthly.com for updates). There’s the annual Bark in the Park in early November,” Grooms said, “and we are looking at maybe a golf tournament early in 2013.”

Parris Island mascot Lance Cpl. Legend, reporting for duty.

By Barry Kaufman

Following a ferocious assault by invading Marines, retreating German soldiers reportedly branded their attackers “Teufel Hunden,” roughly translated as “Devil Dogs,” due to their overwhelming tenacity in battle.
It was a name earned through blood and relentless courage and granted through the terror of their enemies. As you can imagine, it stuck.
Just four years later, an English Bulldog by the name of Jiggs was enlisted to the Corps, where the young private rose to the rank of Sgt. Major within two short years. Sergeant Major Jiggs served as the public face of the Corps, appearing in the film “Tell it to the Marines,” with Lon Chaney, and serving as spokesman for the Marines. When he died in 1927, he was buried with full military honors at a service attended by Marine guards and scores of mourners.

Most Valuable Pet award goes to Buddy, who touches the lives of those in need

Anyone who has ever struggled with mental illness knows just how much the smallest gestures can mean. How one understanding look, say, from the dark eyes of a tiny puffball with a wagging tail, can change everything.

Sarah Kaminskas was one such person. In February of last year, Kaminskas’ battles with brain chemistry-related illnesses, including depression, anxiety and ADHD, led to her to resign from the job she loved. She found herself seemingly lost after abandoning a career in education she’d built over the course of a lifetime.

Hilton Head Island dog owners are still waiting to hear whether they will continue to be allowed to let their canines run leash-free.

At press time for this issue of Hilton Head Monthly, town officials were awaiting a final ruling from the state Attorney General’s Office on the issue that arose earlier this year when the town became aware that its local ordinances regarding pets on the beach was at odds with a state leash law. While Hilton Head allows dogs to run free on the beaches during the off-season and before 10 a.m. and after 5 p.m. during the summer, state law dictates all dogs must be on leashes whenever they are off their owner’s property.