Thanks for joining us for this weekly joint meeting of the mayor and Denver City Council.

Follow along as the Mayor and City Council members hear updates from city agencies and projects, discuss important city matters, and hear about what's happening across the Mile High City.

Gentlemen.

Aaron Council is now in session.

It's you.

All righty.

Thank you, everybody.

We are live on television.

You are watching from home.

You should be thinking about adopting a cat or a dog.

Like truffles, which is this fantastic one right here.

So uh let's start with introductions before I lose track of the narrative.

Distinguished gentleman to my right, could you begin?

Oh, we already introduced Trump.

I am not truffles, uh, I represent South Dendra District Six.

Uh, good morning, everyone.

Uh, Sadana Gonzalez Gutierrez.

Uh, one of your council members at large, and I don't know this little guy's name or this little one's name.

It might be Misty.

Oh, I get to name it.

Misty.

Yeah.

Hi, everyone.

I'm in a story, District Five plus Puppy.

Good morning, Florida Libres.

Uh, good morning, Daryl Watson, fine, district nine.

Good morning, Diana Romero Campbell, Southeast Denver District Four.

Great to see you.

We are we do have a general session this morning from our friends at the animal shelter.

We're gonna talk a little about all the amazing work that they're doing to help you connect to loved animals that need to be loved by you.

And then we do have an executive session today as well.

But start with any announcements if folks have them for the Good of the Order fellow members of the listening public, any announcements from our council members.

You're distracted by the dog.

I have just uh one one quick one.

Um, the the libraries in Southeast Denver um are going to be closed for renovations.

We're excited about the renovations and the plan for closure.

So Hampton Library is closed.

Uh Ross University Hills uh will be closed for the renovations on the twentieth.

Uh Denver Public Library has been working with us um to have a um bookmobile and sprint van.

Uh that schedule will come out uh later this week.

You can visit uh Denver Public Library.org forward slash southeast for more information in the different libraries' um times and programs that will be available.

Any other announcements?

Well, yes, please.

Uh, do part two as some of our libraries in uh Southeast and South Denver are closing, trying to fill in the gaps.

The Virginia Village Library at Dahlia in Florida will be open seven days.

Come on, and then I still have books on the shelf.

Thank you, Councilman.

Councilman Alvidris.

Thank you.

Um, I wanted to thank the Athmar Park Center for their work organizing an event that's going to be really special.

So you can join us in celebrating the spirit of the season.

Um, the Christmas market that will be coming up is a free event that gives each child in attendance the opportunity to select a meaningful gift to give up to two people in their family.

They will get to wrap it themselves and experience the joy of surprising someone they love.

This will be happening next Monday, December 22nd from 4 to 6 p.m.

at Athmar Park Rec Center.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Any other announcements?

Great.

Melanie and team, do you want to come up and tell us all the amazing things that are happening at the animal shelter that we should know about?

Um first I want to introduce.

We have our dream team here, staff.

I want to do this.

This is Lauren Law.

He's our manager of community programs.

That's Aiden McMarrell, who is our community engagement administrator, and Lorraine Laycock, who is our behavior and specialist.

Um we also have uh Rocky here, he's a four-year-old Pitbull.

Um, do you want to talk about him a little bit?

Sure.

He's adorable.

Um, all of our volunteers love him.

He's really good on all of our testing, so even our junior volunteers who came out with him.

And he was an owner surrender, which we're seeing a lot of these days.

And owner just identified they've been traveling a lot with work and didn't have enough time for it.

So he's looking for it at home.

And then we have puppies.

The puppies came in with So we've heard the puppies came in as an owner surrender because um the mom had a stump puppy when she was giving birth, and so needed emergency surgery, so the owner surrendered to us, our veterinarians at C section, and uh stayed renewed puppies, and they're now in foster.

So they'll be, they have another two weeks before they're eight weeks old and ready for adoption, and the mom and puppies will be up for adoption in about two weeks.

And then we have a letter of kittens.

I don't know if we have the backstory on the kittens.

Okay.

We have beautiful kittens that are up for adoption as well, and they're eight weeks old.

Um, so I just I also just want to give a shout out to all of our staff.

You know, our staff worked really, really hard 365 days a year.

They don't take snow days, they work weekends, they were holidays.

We've had an exceptional year this year with a um record number of animals that have come in.

We're gonna have over 10,000 animals this year.

So they've done an amazing job, and I just want to um acknowledge that.

And now we have we're gonna show you.

We had a donor um this year come forward.

He adopted a dog from us.

It was his favorite dog.

He's had dogs his whole life in 2008.

He was a boxer.

So he approached us because he wanted to do a promotional video for adoptions at the shelter.

So he paid for a professional um videographer.

A whole crew came in with the whole like $100,000 worth of equipment, and they made this professional video.

He originally wanted to do only adoptions, but we asked him if we could highlight all of our services.

So, what this video does, we have three versions.

There's a three minute video for social media, there's a five minute version, the eight-minute version.

I believe this is the five-minute video version.

This one shows kind of the journey of a puppy coming in, being rescued by an officer, and the journey through the shelter, and and then the the ending is a happy adoption.

So we will show that right now.

I know.

Okay, give me a tissue's ready.

And it's silent at the beginning, so the sound doesn't work.

Take a chance, you can take a chance, and chance, give a chance, you can chance, you can take a chance, chance, you can chance, you can chance, you can take a chance, you can chance to challenge the chance, and the chance, and you can take a chance, we can take a chance to get the chance to chance to get chances, and the chance to get a chance to get to the channel, take a chance, and the chance, and chance, and that's all I ask of you.

Come on, keep it right there.

I'm not going to be able to do that.

This is my personal computer for the record.

I'm happy, but I can't wake up the dog.

Fantastic work.

Thank you all so much.

Are there any questions that council members have around services or supports or things that they want to know for constituents who are just where they can sign up?

Councilman Flynn.

Thank you.

Just another note that uh my two-minute talk videos included a visit to the animal shelter about two years ago.

And it's amazing the range of animals that they care for there.

Uh we we showcased a rabbit, a huge rabbit.

Turtles, all kinds of animals, and so thank you for everything you do.

It's a lot more than just dogs and cats.

Great point.

Yes, Councilman Sawyer.

Yeah, thank you.

Um, just wanted to say happy holidays and thank you.

You guys are open 365 days a year, which means someone is gonna be there over the holidays.

Um just wanted to acknowledge the staff and say how much we appreciate you for that.

And also just wanted to thank the voters of Denver for approving the vibrant Denver bonds because um some upgrades to our Denver Animal Shelter were included in those bonds.

So um, really excited for that to come for you guys as well.

Thanks.

Um, I also wanted to thank you.

I'm not sure if folks know this, but when we faced about a month ago the prospect of families all across Denver losing snap benefits, which means they didn't have food.

We were also worried about families that have to choose between feeding their family or feeding their pets, and so we didn't know if we would be able to support pets, and so the animal shelter helped organize a food drive for pets as well during that uh process.

I think supported hundreds of families who would otherwise not have been able to support their pets as they weren't about how to feed their kids, and so thank you all so much for stepping in as you always do in the difficult times.

We're really grateful.

Yes, Councilman Cashman.

A few years ago, we passed the regulation requirements for pit bulls, which all these incredibly adorable beasts around the room are as far as where's all that going?

Is it effective?

Is it doing anything positive for the city?

Uh in a word, no.

It's uh it's it's pretty much a waste of resources, um, and it's uh really is not the the Denver ordinance has a dangerous dog ordinance, and it's it's a pretty strict ordinance, and so that's all you need because all dogs could be dangerous, all dogs can, so it's very redundant, it's it's not necessary, and it takes up a lot of our staff time to implement this and administer it.

Are people registering as the ordinance had intended?

No, no, it's usually um we have when animals come into the shelter, we then evaluate them and register them, but very few people proactively register the same thing as pet licenses, very few people get the systems.

So it's kind of the same thing.

Thank you for that.

How do they call or find you if people are interested in adopting or volunteering?

Uh on the city website, we have um how to uh apply to adopt, excuse me, apply to volunteer.

We have one a month, and then we're open, you know, 365 days, except holidays for adoption.

Um, and so and also for owner surrenders and for turning in straight animals.

So even when we're closed, people can um relinquish animals in our night job, or if they find an animal on the street, they can put in a safekeeping so it's a car and the elements of it.

So for every parent who is looking to fill out that Christmas or Hanukkah shopping list, we have your options right here.

Best gift ever.

Um, thank you all so much for all your incredible work and thank you for being here today.

We will bring these beautiful animals back to you.

Um, sleep.

Snoring.

Great.

That is all we have actually on our general session this morning.

We do have an executive session, and so really grateful for the team that came.

I will now entertain a motion to move us into an executive session pursuant to DRMC 234A.

Sections three and seven.

The purpose of receiving legal advice related to city resembling laws.

All in favor.

Any opposed?

Great.

We are adjourned.

We will enter executive session.

Go ahead and unravel.

Find your way back to tabletop position.

Raise that left arm out to the side.

Exhale, slide it under your right.

Feel free to wrap with your right arm.

Find your way back to tabletop position.

Flat back.

Alright, we're gonna take a deep breath in on our exhale.

We're gonna watch out for the pups, but we're gonna send the left leg straight back.

You're gonna set this knee down on the other side of your right knee.

If you're feeling it, you can come down on the forearms.

Cradled puppy.

After this lesson, all these babies will be exhausted, and you'll have a bunch of cradled puppies.

Find your way back to tabletop position.

Extend that right leg back, watch out for a pup.

Set it down on the other side of your left knee.

Your forearms can find the floor.

Cradled pub, go ahead and unravel.

Find your way back to tabletop position.

Flat back.

Alright, we're gonna continue to do like the puppies do.

We're gonna pee on fire hydrates.

We're gonna bring this leg back.

Just to try to bring our elbow to our or our knee to our elbow.

Elbow to knee would be impressive.

Go ahead and release back.

We're gonna do this two more times.

Feel free to go at your own pace.

Feel free to pee at your own pace.

The puppy sure do.

Alrighty, when you're ready, release that limb down.

We're gonna extend our right leg back.

Three times on this side.

Knee to elbow.

When you're ready, find neutral tabletop position, flat back.

We're gonna take a deep breath in, drop the belly, look to the sky.

Cow pose.

Exhale, chin to chest, back is rounded.

Cut.

You can look at your belly button.

Deep breath in, drop your belly.

Look to the sky.

Cow pose.

Exhale, chin to chest, back is rounded.

Cut.

We're gonna do this two more times at our own pace.

Cat how our inverse of each other.

Make sure you're feeling the two extremes at the top and at the bottom.

When you're feeling it, find a neutral flat back.

Go ahead and tuck those toes.

Hips go up and back downward facing dog.

We're finally getting to do some down dog with some down dogs.

Feel free to pedal your feet.

Walk your dog.

Push into your palms.

Stretch out your shoulders and upper back.

When you're ready, we're gonna walk our toes to meet our fingertips.

Finding a forward fold.

Head, neck, shoulders.

Relax down.

Feel free to grab each elbow.

Let everything swing.

You could interlock your hands behind your back, stretch out your shoulders.

You could grab each ankle, pull yourself deeper.

However you're feeling.

When you're ready, we're gonna roll up slowly but surely.

Bring both hands over high.

Tadasinam out in pose.

Go ahead and bring those hands together, small bend in the upper back.

We're gonna lean to our right side, hinging from the natural waist.

Slowly but surely on to the other side.

Deep breath in, both hands overhead.

We're gonna cactus those arms back till your chest towards the sun, dive over your cactus.

Full fold, head neck, shoulders relax down.

There's at least a micro bend in your knees.

Inhale, half lift, flat back.

Exhale, full fold.

Go ahead and plant those hands.

Walk or tiptoe back, plate position.

Watch out for the pups.

We're gonna lower those hips down to the floor.

Tops of your feet, find the mat, thighs do not roll those shoulders down your spine.

When you're ready, tuck those toes, hips, go up and back downward facing dog.

If you're feeling a challenge, we're gonna take our right hand, reach for the outside of our left ankle, twisty dog.

Go ahead and return that right hand back to the top of your mat.

Reach with your left hand to the outside of your right ankle or leg.

Go ahead and return that limb back to the top of your mat.

We're in regular down dog.

We're gonna bring our toes to touch.

Let your knees fall on the mat wide.

Child's pose.

Sit back on those heels, lock your fingertips to the top of the mat.

Everything else is relaxed.

We're gonna take three deep breaths here.

Feel free to sink into the floor with each exhale.

Feel free to call a puppy.

When you're ready, we're gonna plant our foreheads on the floor.

You're gonna walk your hands down to your toes, grab your ankles or your feet.

Just a new form of child's pose.

If you want to try a little bit of a challenge, go ahead and interlock those hands behind your back.

Bring your hands over your head.

Like some bunny ears.

We're in rabbit pose.

When you're ready, release those hands down next to your ankles.

Go ahead and walk your left hand all the way to the top of your mat.

Try to let each fingertip touch the ground five times before you get all the way up there.

Maybe a puppy will follow your fingers.

Go ahead and plant that hand at the top.

Start now with your right hand.

Slowly but surely walk your way to the top.

When you're ready, we're gonna find our way to a belly-down position.

Hands underneath shoulders.

Go ahead and push up cobra.

Elbows into ribs.

Oh.

Our forearms find the floor.

Feel free to pit or pat or call a puppy.

Feel free to take a drink break.

And if you want a challenge, we can take our left hand, reach back towards those left toes, really stretch out that hamke.

We're in one legged frog.

Go and release that limb down.

Plant your left forearm.

Reach back with your right hand towards those right toes.

Go ahead and release your one legged frog, plant those forearms.

Feel free to stay here, but I want to opt for one more puppy pose.

Come up on those knees.

You can make two fists for a modified puppy pose.

Or you could arch your back, chin or chest, find the floor.

Full puppy.

Feel free to pit or pat or call a pup.

Sit back into child.

Feel free to pit or patter call your pub one last time unless you want to adopt them and call them forever.

Find your way to your belly down position.

We're gonna bring our hands around our faces this time, lay down prone.

Hi, bully.

We're in belly down shivasanya.

Shivasanya is dead man's pose, so feel free to just relax.

You could also bend your knees, do some windshield wipers.

When you're ready, find some stillness in your bodies.

Find some stillness in your minds.

But maybe we take this time to be extra present to really appreciate every aspect of this experience.

Maybe you want to take this time to set an intention.

Maybe you want to set an intention for one of these lovely puppies.

Maybe you could set an intention for yourself.

Or adopt.

Wiggle those toes.

When you're ready, bring some movement back into your body.

Slowly but surely.

And find your way to a comfortable seated position.

Feel free to stretch your body how you feel necessary after your practice.

Ooh.

When you're ready, we're gonna meet with hands at Heart Center.

The animal lover in me recognizes the animal lover in you.

Thank you so much.

Thank you, puppies.

You guys are cute, sweet, talented, adorable, adoptable.

Did I say adoptable?

Alright, guys.

We really appreciate you practicing with us.

We don't have anything else to ask of you except please tag us.

We're at rescue puppy yoga on absolutely everything.

Please shoot us a follow or a subscribe on YouTube.

Every level of support does so much for these babies.

Maybe they say 40 yogis today, but if we all post on our social media, they could see upwards of 40,000 possible adopters.

And just know that you guys just being here with these puppies just for an hour does so much for them.

And we really, really, really appreciate you.

And now it's your time.

Get that perfect picture.

Feel free to ask us.

Do not strain yourself for the selfies, guys.