Glad I Can Still Lift My Arms

With a physically demanding week done I am glad I can still walk. I really can't remember the last time I have gotten home and stayed in the shower for such a long time. I do enjoy a good workout but this week was something else. If you haven't read the last three days than I will give you a quick update. We were completely short handed and everyone that was at work did about double the physical work as normal. What does that mean for me, my arms and legs never got a chance to recover from the previous day.

So on to today. With the majority of the staff still at their training class there was once again a limited amount of people here to do the job today. On we went taking all of the dogs down making sure that one of the staff didn't handle any sick dogs in order to deal with the two puppies that are here. You never want to compromise their tiny immune systems so everyday there is one person that is "assigned" to them. After bringing all of the dogs down and making sure the iso dogs got out it was time to clean. Luckily two of the front desk people helped out and we were able to knock out the cleaning in no time. When we finished up I decided to take a quick breather.

As I was sitting there one of the front desk people came in and jokingly said there were 20 people lined up outside. I kind of laughed until I realized she was telling the truth. Today was the day that the seven new dogs were available for adoption and since we don't put holds on any animals the people were lining up. When the crowd came in we also noticed one of the recently adopted dogs was back. Turns out that the little guy was picking on his new brother too much so they had to bring him back. Luck has it though that one of the new adopters had originally wanted the returned dog but was adopted by the time they came for him, talk about good timing. By the end of the day the little guy found the right home and was able to leave after spending a short time back at the shelter.

With a our little guy getting to go home it was time to focus on all of the other adopters. It's a little unnerving when there are a number of people lining up for one dog. You want to scream that there are a bunch of other great dogs that are available as well but it's like talking to a brick wall. This happened with the little five year old Cocker Spaniel. There were two people that were looking to adopt her. The problem was we need everyone here that is in the household to meet the animal to make sure that it was a good fit. Without everyone there it became a game of who could get there fastest. The first couple was calling around and finally got the other member of their family to come in. The issue arrised when after about an hour they still weren't there while the second person in line was still waiting to hear if she had the chance to adopt. After some tense waiting the first couple got their other family member there and were able to adopt. I feel bad for the other couple but there are policies for just such occasions. If she hadn't waited and the first couple not worked out she would have been out a dog. I'm just glad at least one of them worked out and the little girl was able to find a great home.

After all of the excitement I have to say I was trying to do as little as possible. I was so tired and burnt out from this week that I felt like the clock was moving backwards and I would never make it to five o'clock. Luckily I was able to keep myself busy with laundry and a little time with the animals. It is always nice to take a dog for a walk or sit with them in their kennel. Spending time with the animals in a quite situation is what this job is all about. When you're not running around trying to get all of the busy work done you kind of forget what you are actually doing...helping the animals.

You always hope that there will never be those tough days but during today's work piled on top of my experiences this week I realized that work is work. There are those days when you are so motivated and happy to be making a difference that you couldn't imagine haveing a bad day. Then there are those days that ask yourself what the hell am I doing here. You always have to take a step back and say without those crappy days you wouldn't have the great days to compare them to. That's life and once you realize that it all becomes a lot easier.