FAST FACTS:

Age: 40
Marital status: Married for 18 years
Children: Two, ages 9 and 15
Tattoos: Ten — including a tribal design, a cross, an angel, a panther and his children’s names
His beloved dog: Boss, a 2-year-old Olde English bulldog
Favourite food: Seafood
His hero: Barack Obama
Favourite movie: “Heat”
Biggest fear: Not being able to provide for his family

George “G” Perry has led the life of a first responder to animals since he was a kid growing up in Connecticut. He was always bringing home stray dogs and cats, begging his parents to let him keep them and nurse them back to health. Now, the Rescue Ink team relies on his street smarts as they venture into some of New York City’s roughest neighbourhoods. He thinks people who abuse animals are simply weak … and he will tell that straight to any thug’s face.

An industrial firefighter, G is trained to work in danger zones like chemical spills, fires and also on medical calls and other high-pressured situations. And his methodical, calming approach serves him well when rescuing abused animals that feel threatened.

He also takes a lot of abuse himself — the good-natured kind — from the other guys. In this gang of Harley lovers, he rides a Suzuki Hayabusa and is proud to say that his bike can hit 320 kilometres an hour, leaving the Harleys in the dust. His passion for motorcycles actually brought him to Rescue Ink, when he met Big Ant one day at a bike shop and they started talking about bikes, tattoos and … of course animals!

G stresses to everyone the importance of being a responsible pet owner and doing the research before choosing a new pet. No one should make a spur-of-the-moment decision in a pet store: See the cute furry face in the window, fall in love and plunk down your credit card. That is how we end up with so many dogs that need rescuing. And he believes that part of being a good owner is learning to train your dog effectively. His bible of dog training is “Good Owners, Great Dogs” by Brian Kilcommons, which he used years ago to train his first Rottweiler, Shabba, and continues to lend out each time a friend gets a new dog.