Without the Tough Days there Wouldn't be the Easy Ones

Business as usual, sign up for a certain area of kennels and get to work bringing the dogs down to the runs for their morning potty breaks. You should always get the ones that held it all night out first and the ones that couldn't last. Except when one is 80 pounds and has diarrhea and proceeds to jump in it and spread it six feet up every wall in their kennel. It's tough to explain what it looked like so just Google Jackson Pollack and you can get an idea. And that was how my day started. I thought about putting some Vick's vapor rub under my nose just to mask the smell but I got used to it.

After a good two hours of scrubbing and sanitizing two or three times, the east and west kennels were clean. This might have gone faster but we had a kennel staff call in so it would essentially just be two and a half of us. I really don't mind when there is less of us (and it's not the weekend) because it really does make the day go by faster when you are busy.

Once I got the laundry started I soaked all of the dog dishes and went inside. I saw Hank, a dog that I had spent some time with at the shelter because he was stressed. I was happy to see him because I didn't have a chance to say goodbye when he got adopted yesterday. Bad news though, the idiot that adopted him had no idea what he was getting into by adopting a 50 pound dog and was returning him. It broke my heart to see him back at the shelter but hopefully the new adopter won't lie to the shelter and tell us he will be an indoor dog when they really plan on keeping him outdoors. There is a reason that our shelter has the policies that it does, to give our animals the best living situation that they can have and in turn make them great pets.

Same old stuff the rest of the day except for a few minor anomalies. One of our staff members had brought in their boxer mixes to play with a boxer/sharpei mix that is in the shelter. It was hilarious to watch these two go at it. I have never seen such agility from a 70 dog let alone two. They would literally box and do somersaults and spins all over the yard. It is always nice when you can actually see a dog smiling.

After the play date I turned my attention to the cattery where I was assigned with washing the outside windows. I'm not going to lie, I thought it was going to take a while and I would have some time to jam to my music. In reality there was a squeegee that made the job very easy and quick. I was actually pretty surprised that they were as clean as they were to begin with.

Of course with two of the staff members leaving there was an issue today about schedules. Me being me I offered up my flexibility, as long as I still get my days with my fiancee. It's funny when you offer up any help that might make your life more difficult, people tend to help you more. It's kind of like scrubbing the worst mess everyday for a month and then other people feeling like they need to pitch in and you never have to do it again, at least for a while!

I always thought that people in general are patient, I was proven wrong today by yet another animal coming back into the shelter. Now I see why there are such stringent guidelines on getting our animals adopted. When we take care of them and love them they tend to become a large part in our lives, and of course, we want them to have the best possible home with the best owner. So when you go to your local shelter and you are turned away from a certain animal because criteria isn't met, just remember, we want the best for these guys and just because they weren't the right fit doesn't mean that the right one isn't out there.