Another day, crossing my fingers and hoping for another adoption.

Today I started with the dogs and I have to say, because of all of the recent adoptions there really aren't that many of them to clean. Mind you that doesn't mean the ones that are there didn't make a mess!

I was able to get all of the dogs taken care of rather quickly and back up to their kennels to eat just after ten. Of course that doesn't mean the cleaning is done. Next you have to make sure that all of the yards are scooped and also hosed out, don't want those flies hanging around. Once everything was done with the dogs I headed over to the rabbitat where I was met by another staff member. It's amazing when there are two of you how fast you can get things done.

Once all of the animals were looked after it was on to the daily do's of taking out the garbage, starting the laundry, and of course washing some dog dishes. Thank goodness for the staff we have because even before the doors opened we had finished everything.

With all of the kittens we currently have at the shelter it was no surprise that the showings kept on coming for them. Throughout the day it seemed there was always a kitten heading to their new home. Even though I wish it were the cats as well, we have so many kittens on foster waiting to get into the shelter so it is good that we are gaining a little more kennel space for the little guys.

My first "quasi" showing of the day was with one of the new second chance dogs that have been here a little over a week. I call it a quasi showing because I was actually leaving it up to one of the new guys and chiming in when necessary. The showing ended up going great and the new adoption counselor did his part very well. In the end the young gentleman ended up being the perfect home for our little Megabyte and the adoption was a go. I wish the little guy was able to go home now but because he still needs to be neutered it might not be until next week.

I had only one more showing the rest of the day and it was a father and his two young children who initially wanted to look at Waylin the puppy. The big problem that I see is that there are constantly grandchildren that visit the household and with the puppies current behavioral issues this might be a problem. In the end they completely understood and decided to take a look at Bobbie, a sweet 10 month old lab mix. They ended up falling in love and the match was perfect to say the least. The only problem is the mother still needs to come and meet. Luckily they were able to get a hold of her and they agreed that she will be in first thing tomorrow morning. I explained that we don't put holds on animals but because it was so late in the afternoon it should work out fine. Hopefully she shows up in the morning and this sweet little girl can find her new forever home.

Another day down and a few more adoptions to account for. Not sure it the shelter can be an economic gauge but things are definitely seeming on the up and up with all of the adoptions this past week. I truly hope that it continues because unfortunately there isn't a shortage of dogs that we can find homes for. Thanks for reading as always and I look forward to you comments everyone.

Staying busy all day long

Typical Monday's consist of playing catch up from the weekend and of course a whole lot of cleaning. Well, that is exactly how today started, especially since we were one staff member short. I began with cleaning cats today since I really don't know to many of our feline friends.

After a quick morning of scooping boxes and getting climbed all over I headed over to our isolation unit to take care of the sick guys, or rather one guy now since everyone else is back in the regular cattery. I did have one extra attendee today, she is a sweet cat that had been adopted about six months ago and was back because she ended up biting someone and had to go on quarantine. She seemed fine to me except for one thing, she was completely covered in poop! Now usually I am my selfish self and do nothing but complain about the smell but I really did feel bad for this cat, she was so scared that she really couldn't help herself. Because she is healthy we decided to set up a larger kennel in dog iso so she has some room to stretch her legs on her ten day sentence. Hopefully it flies by and she is able to go home in a flash.

Once all of the cats were finished I headed over to the rabbitat where I was met by a senior volunteer whom I always see at the shelter. She is a big bunnie fan but typically spends her time with the cats. Of course though I always feel that the rabbits never get out enough and explained to her that in the mornings, especially when we are short staffed, we just don't have the time to get them out to their runs. She was more than willing to help out though which put a smile on my face, these animals can never have enough love given to them.

Early on I was greeted by the same woman who had come in yesterday to visit with the schnauzer I like to call Grandma Kelly. This time though she brought her husband. They both absolutely love her but still have some concerns because their dog is a bit of a handful. After spending some time asking the right questions and seeing Kelly run around they came to the conclusion that once the holidays are over and they will not be traveling they will bring in their dog to meet. They don't want to do it now because in either case they don't want to bring her home now because they feel that they don't have the time at home to make her adjustment as easy as possible. I have to say, I really enjoy these types of showings, where you know whatever dog these families have, they are going to be well taken care of.

The rest of my day was spent trying to find a good mentor for a puppy named Walyn, who is a bit of a handful to say the least. He is absolutely the cutest thing with great kennel presence but when introducing him to other animals he ends up being a little to pushy and not taking direction well. Luckily we finally found a dog that he listened to, a seven month old male lab. They seemed to be doing great in the yard and it was good to know that this puppy could go home to a household with another dog, all be it the "right" dog.

Of course as soon as we find the puppy a play mate, the play mate and his sister get adopted out together. One of those bitter sweet moments, well, more sweet than bitter. While all of this was going on I was in another showing with a great family. They were looking at one of our second chance dogs named Turtle, a sweet old beagle. Luckily the family already had a beagle so I didn't need to explain to much of the breeds needs. We ended up doing an interaction and the pair got along great. Turtle can't go home yet because he still needs to be neutered, but come Thursday he should be in his new home.

Once again we have yet to catch up from the weekend, luckily thought most everything did get done today with the help of a solid staff and of course some great volunteers helping out. In the end all I can say is that we have actually run out of adoption signs, a first for me. Today I will be going home with a smile on my face.

Oh yeah, the picture up top is our blind little Annie with her new seeing eye collar. It looks funny and ridiculous but it actually helps her not bump her head into things. Thanks for reading everyone and if you're not already following on Facebook or Google I would really appreciate it, the more people are informed about the great animals at shelters the more we can save.

Coming back to a different place today

I truly enjoy coming back to work and finding out that absolutely no cleaning got done the day before for one simply reason, it means there were a lot of showings. Today was one of those days and I had no complaints. I found out that yesterday was a barrage of showings from the moment they opened the doors to the moment they shut them with an enormous amount of adoptions to show for it.

Just about every dog that was a "long termer" here got adopted yesterday, that's including Copernicus, Bogey, and even Hannah. I don't have all of the details on the adoptions just yet but I have no doubt that they all went to wonderful homes. On top of those three dogs there were probably a good six more from the new bunch that just came in as well as a few cats. For the staff yesterday I commend you for working so hard and like I said before, it was one of those days today where I like the place to be a mess.

Luckily we had a full staff and were able to catch up with everything in the shelter pretty quickly. Even though we caught up we still had a fair amount of showings today as well so tomorrow might need a little extra attention to the laundry.

My first showing was a continuation of one from yesterday. It was with a relinquished Jack Russel named Lexie. Originally when she came in we set pretty high ages for family members just because of her issues with restraint and her mouthiness, but because she has gotten better we were opening up a few more age groups. I start with this because the biggest issue the adoption counselor saw yesterday is the same thing that I saw today, that the family has a nine year old son and if not properly informed Lexie could become a bit of a handful. Luckily the family was very receptive and understanding of Lexie and after a good while in the showing everyone knew it was the right fit. Not sure what it is about this weekend but we will soon be an empty shelter once again waiting for some new arrivals, you can't see my face right now but there is a huge smile on it.

The rest of the day was pretty steady with a few more dog showings and a lot of kitten showings. There were a total of three kittens that got to go home today and there would have been more if we had allowed them to. The biggest issue with kittens is denying potential adopters if they plan on declawing or making the cat an indoor/outdoor one, this immediately disqualifies them.

My last showing of the day was with a very nice woman who came to look at Kelly, our resident grandma Schnauzer. The woman had heard about the dog from a friend who volunteers at the shelter and had to come and meet her. She immediately fell in love but there were a few concerns, mainly with the woman's dog at home who she felt my corrupt our Kelly. I explained to her the adoption process and how we wouldn't send home an animal if everyone didn't get along and she was very receptive to this. Hopefully she will be back soon to do a dog introduction and we can say goodbye to our favorite little Schnauzer.

I was happy to come into work today and learn of all the adoptions, of course it was a little bitter sweet because I never got to say goodbye but that's just me being selfish. I love seeing empty kennels as well because I know there is no shortage of dogs that are waiting to get into our shelter, I just hope some day that places like this humane society aren't needed because every animal will have a home of their own. Thanks for reading everyone and keep your fingers crossed for Kelly!

I'm beginning to see a trend

Usually I start this blog off with what I cleaned but today it's going to be a little different. I'm going to discuss a something that has happened yet again making it three days in a row. What I am talking about is the abandoned animals that keep showing up at our front gate. For the last three days I have seen everything from two chickens on Sunday, a kitten in a box on Monday, and a sweet little chihuahua mix today.

I'm not sure if it's the economy that is fueling this issue or over crowding at other shelters, either way it is a problem. I understand that people can be put into very difficult situations where they are forced to relinquish their animals, but there are the proper ways of doing it. Our shelter being private we are very strict on the animals that we take in and the process can take a while but it is possible. I think if people didn't wait until the last second to find a home for their pets they might not have to leave them all alone hoping that they will be alright.

Now I hope I don't sound like I'm complaining because there are far worse things that these people can do to their animals. At least they are giving them a chance rather than dropping them off on the side of the road, but I'm not sure that these individuals know what they are putting their pets through. When you drop off an animal at our shelter all we do is put them in a kennel with some food and have county pick them up as a stray. I wish they we could keep them all but because we are private and these animals are considered strays it is our job to get them to county. Now just imagine if you were that animal, first you're left all alone in a dark cold box for who knows how long, then you are dragged into this jail like setting where you are put into a kennel, next a truck comes and picks you up to transfer you to yet a smaller "cell". If you knew all of this, would you put in a little more effort to find your pet a new home?

As far as legality goes, it is against the law to abandon your animal with a fine reaching up to 5,000 dollars. The issue than will be actually catching the person that does it and of course prosecuting. I am no legal expert but it might be tough to convict someone when they are abandoning their animal at a safe shelter rather than the middle of the road.

So that is my vent for the day, now on to a great showing I had with our boy Bogey. He is a sweet lab mix who has been at the shelter for some time because of his lupus. It's nothing to serious but when people hear that they tend to veer away. In any case, he seemed like a perfect fit for this potential adopter and hopefully after he talks to his vet about Bogey's condition he will be back to adopt, so cross your fingers everyone.

At least I ended on a good note after my rant about people leaving their animals at the gate these last three days. I hope everyone that reads this, and I have no doubt, realizes the need to adopt shelter animals, not only to save one, but because they make such great pets. Thanks for reading and spread the word about all of the great animals that need a good home. Oh yeah, the picture up top is the latest surprise that was found at our gate.

Another day, another surprise left at the front gate

Today I decided to clean the cattery again to better get aquatinted with our feline friends at the shelter. I always tend to focus on the dogs and really never keep up with new arrivals and adoptions when it comes to cats, well this week I'm changing that.

The nice thing about cleaning cats, in addition to spending time with them, is that your socks don't get wet. Now this is just the added perk since so many of our cats are sociable animals. While I was cleaning Molly in our visitation room, and yes, she gets her own room, she actually jumped on my back while I was scooping her litter box and she started to clean my hair. I have to say I was a little freaked out but she really is such a nice cat. Once I got all of the healthy cats taken care of and fed I headed over to the isolation unit where there are still six cats.

Our medical staff has certainly stayed on top of those sickies and I can now say that they are certainly getting better. I remember when they could barely open their eyes because they were caked with so many eye boogers from their URIs. Now they are up and about and very talkative. It was sad to see a young bonded pair, Laverne and Shirley, separated and just crying out for each other. When I would let one out of their kennel they would immediately go to the other's and just paw at them, it really was sad. Hopefully soon they will be able to go back to the healthy side and to bigger kennels.

Of course once I took care of the cats I headed over to the rabbitat where I made quick work of changing out hay boxes, blankets, and water. Surprisingly enough though for some odd reason my allergies acted up on me and once I was in the small little building that houses our rabbits I couldn't stop sneezing. All I have to say is that I hope it was allergies!

You know it wouldn't be a Monday without taking care of poop buckets. Thank goodness we are running a little short on 150 pound dogs this week! Since we have all little guys it was pretty easy to take care of all of the runs with just two people, but we still had to disinfect the four fake grass yards since we were to be getting some new arrivals later on in the afternoon.

Once we got everything set up for the new arrivals I headed into our break area where I heard the unmistakable cry of a hungry kitten. Sure enough, there was one in a postal box literally covered in fleas. Once again someone had just dropped of this animal in front of our gate hoping that he would be found. Now this is better than the alternative of leaving the animal in a canyon or out in the wild but couldn't you take better care of it in the first place and at least leave it with some water and food. In any case his new name is now Huku, which is apparently Hawaiian for flea or lice, not as cute when you hear the meaning.

With all of the commotion I learned later that there had been a showing with my good buddy Skeeter and Taxi. It turns out the reason I didn't hear about it because it was such a long showing and I had no idea it was going on. Unbelievably it turns out that our staff members were actually introducing them to each other and they ended up getting along great. Because of this the potential adopter is actually going to be adopting both. Not a bad Monday afternoon I have to say. In addition to this great news, another adoption counselor was showing a little poodle named Monty and the family absolutely fell in love and ended up adoption too. Now this adoption is a win/win as well because in all honesty this little guy has a scream that will cut right down to your bones!

Closing the day out the new arrivals came in. After their four hour van ride they were a little shaken up but seemed to be adjusting just fine. Of course there are a few more puppies and several other dogs that for some reason look exactly like ones that we have gotten in the past. In fact one staff member said we should contact the AKC to get these little guys recognized because literally every time we bring dogs from this shelter there is always one that looks like this basset hound, dachshund, chihuahua mix.

Well, hopefully I can give you a better update on the new guys tomorrow and also have some more great adoption stories.

I have to keep telling myself I am not a people hater

Luckily today I got to work a little earlier than usual so I was able to sign up for the cats. Usually I won't say this but it was actually a lot easier and less stinky than taking care of the dogs today. It's a pretty simple philosophy, when we have puppies, make sure you sign up for cats.

I took care of the surrounding rooms in the cattery first and then made my way to the south cattery. I was really surprised to see so many empty kennels. Apparently in the last two days there was a total of about seven cat adoptions which is unheard of. In any case I was not only glad that so many great felines found new homes but that I had less cats to clean up after. I did however have to disinfect about six of the kennels which took some time. Once I finished with that room I headed over to the isolation room. With six cats in here I had my work cut out for me. Apparently one of the rooms broke with URI and that's why we have so many sickies. In any case, there was a whole lot of kitty diarrhea and I was wrong about having to clean up after puppies, it's a lot stinkier cleaning up after six cats with liquid poop.

I went back in to check out if anyone had signed up for the rabbits yet when a volunteer came in to ask for my help. It seemed pretty urgent from the look on her face, when I asked her what she needed I was a little surprised by what came out of her mouth. Apparently a black SUV had pulled up to the front gate and threw out several chickens. I couldn't believe my ears but then again very few things can surprise me at the shelter so I grabbed another staff member, a small cage and headed up to the front. Interestingly enough the chickens were very easy to catch and seemed very socialized. I talked to one of the witness and they said the vehicle came up, opened their door and simply threw the animals out. This is one of those instances that I have to tell myself that I am not a people hater. I mean, how difficult is it to either look online or even open a phonebook to see where you could actually drop off these animals. Rather than taking five minutes out of your day to think about animals you simply throw them out of your car and expect someone else to take care of your problem.

Oh well, we caught the chickens and got them some feed. They seemed pretty content and eating well and we at the shelter were almost tempted to keep them out of our sheer love for all animals. In any case, it wouldn't be feasible for them to stay here but luckily we found them a good home and they are now living with several other chickens who have the full run of about an acre. Good ending to a bad beginning for these little guys, it seems that's kind of a motif around here, starting tough and ending with a smile.

The rest of the day was pretty hectic and seemed to fly by. Another bonded pair of cats that have been at the shelter for some time got adopted and put the total for the last three days at close to ten. Funny how these things come in waves.

I was called to a showing with my girl Chloe, a sweet Jack Russel mix who was actually adopted out of the shelter about a month ago but was returned because of her destructive behavior. Of course the dog was left in an apartment for ten plus hours by herself with nothing to do, but I blame the dog right? Anyways, I am not a people hater. The family that came to look at her today had actually adopted a dog named Wally from us about two months ago and they were looking to add to their family. Immediately they fell in love with Chloe and it came down to the interact with the two dogs. When we all went down to the yard we couldn't believe our eyes, Chloe was playing like we had never seen her play. It was a perfect match and the adoption was a go. This is one that really puts a smile on my face.

The rest of the day was pretty uneventful. I did get to spend some time with Copernicus and Bogey which will always put a smile on my face. I had a few more showings late in the day but the matches just weren't there. Hopefully the trend will continue for adoptions and these week we will empty out the place. Thanks for reading as always and I truly do appreciate the comments.

A nice phone call and a few new dogs

For some reason, today I was motivated to clean cats. Not sure if it was the fact that I didn't want to get my socks wet or I actually wanted to enjoy a cup of coffee at work but in any case I took care of the felines today.

It had been a while since I cleaned the cattery and I have to say it was pretty nice. There was the instant though when I took care of the kittery and as soon as I changed the litter one of the little guys let out a nice stinky one that took over the whole room. Then of course once I cleaned it again they knocked over their food bowl, hey, kids, what can you do.

Once the cattery was cleaned I headed over to the rabbitat where a volunteer already had out several of the bunnies for a little early morning exercise. I can't even explain how much easier it is to clean when the cages are empty. Since the volunteer was there I was able to knock it out before eleven which is unheard of. Of course there is the laundry, dishes, and garbage to take care of but the four of us working this morning had no trouble getting all of the morning duties taken care of.

I had a few showings today but nothing too exciting and no one overly interested in adopting. I think rather everyone that I spoke to really just wanted to hang out and play with some of the animals. I really don't mind this, especially on slow days, but when there is stuff to do I would rather people who are seriously interested in the animals take the time to interact with them. Oh well, at least the little guys got a little extra loving.

So none of the showings I had panned out today but I did get a phone call from a woman that I had shown a dog to on Sunday. He is our little Shitzu that is going to require eye medicine for the rest of his life. She had come in with her husband and other dog to interact but the humping kind of steered her away. I told her to think about it because there is no rush in making this decision. Surprisingly enough she called back today and said that when she woke up this morning she knew that he was the one. Put another one in the books, a great adoptions for a great dog.

Later I was asked to help out in the med room, without hesitation I went. When I entered the room I saw a large dog that had just been euthanized. I froze and became speechless because he looked exactly like a dog that I have grown close to at the shelter. I also hadn't seen him all day so you know my thought process went quickly to the worst outcome. Of course as soon as the medical staff saw my face they explained to me that this was a euthanasia by request or EBR. Apparently the poor old guy was on his last leg and the owner felt that it was time to stop his suffering. I was just there to help carry him out because he was so large. It was one of those bitter sweet moments if you know what I mean, no matter what it was a horribly sad moment but I was still glad it wasn't the dog that I thought it was.

Trying to close on a good note our behaviorist was able to take in five new dogs from a county shelter today. They were all adorable and well behaved as always but one in particular stood out, as she would to anyone. She is a ten month old Shitzu that apparently had some head trauma as a puppy and the shelter was forced to remove both of her eyes. I know it sounds horrible but she is still a spunky little girl that loves her rawhides, playing with dogs, and sleeping in your lap. I have no doubt that this little angel will find a home as soon as she becomes available. Here is a picture, but be warned, it is a little freaky the first time you see it.

Thanks for reading everyone and to all of the volunteers at any shelter, thank you for the time and love that you give.