Alpha and Omega Pet Celebration Day at Total Pet Care is a 'Howling' Success

The Alpha and Omega Pet Celebration Day was brought to the Sachem community courtesy of "Alpha Host" Ashley Maier, a cashier at Total Pet Care in Holbrook, on Saturday.

Sponsored by Patch.com and AOL, on behalf of Lionsgate Films' release of Alpha and Omega in theaters everywhere September 17, several participating communities shared in the festivities which included crafts, activity books, word searches and contests for kids. 

Ear headbands were given out to customers, and worn by the good-natured and knowledgeable Total Pet Care team.  Participating communities will be entered to win a complimentary 3-D screening of the movie in their local town; businesses taking part each got four free movie tickets.

Alpha and Omega is an animated family, action-packed, comedy.  It's about two young wolves at opposite ends of their pack's social stratum that are thrown together by fate.  They are taken away from their natural habitat, and brought to a foreign land.  There they must work together to find their way back home; encountering many adventures along the way, not the least of which is a love that complicates everything.  It features a cast of celebrity voices including:  Hayden Panettiere, Danny Glover, Justin Long and the late Dennis Hopper.

Total Pet care was an ideal setting for the day's happenings. It's a place where pets are always welcome. The enormous animal supply emporium is a mecca of food, training equipment, grooming supplies and more.

"They're so nice in there," said Nancy Dietrich from Sayville. "We like coming here, if you don't see something, they order it for you.  They're very customer-oriented."

"It's a great store.  It's a warehouse.  I get all my pet food there; they're very, very good.  I shop in bulk," said Diana, a Bayport resident who participates in animal rescue with feral cats, and has a rescue dog of her own.

Maier, 21, said, "I love working here.  I love everyone that works here; I literally consider them my second family ... Everyone knows I'm kind of a kid at heart, so one of the managers asked if I wanted to host the event.  I love little kids, so I thought the interaction with them would be fun."

Total Pet Care Owner, Joe Manzi has been in the business for about 30 years as a wholesaler, and has been serving the pet owning public since 1992.  Manzi detailed what sets his store apart from other retailers, "We offer a high level of service; we carry food out to the car.  We have great prices, and very, very large inventory.  We appeal to the customer with a lot of pets.   We're like the Price Club for pets.  The attached warehouse holds about 100,000 pounds of food," he said.

The caring and professional staff that genuinely seems to like animals, people and their jobs definitely puts Total Pet Care at the head of the pack.