A little of this and a little of that

I always start these entries about cleaning and I keep on saying that I am going to change that. Well, today we cleaned and picked up poo. After that it was a little different. Not sure if it was the 90 degrees or that we were really close to being out of supplies but I was asked to go shopping with the kennel supervisor for all of the necessities.

It was a simple trip. Get stocked up on all of the things that we use everyday here at the shelter. The trip included heading to three stores to stock up. We ended up buying a whole lot of bleach, 240 pounds of kitty litter, some gold bond (to keep the ants away), detergent, and a whole lot more. It was kind of nice to get away for a while but I was anxious to get back to the animals. One other thing we bought was a nice little luxury item of ice cold popsicles.

After getting back to the shelter I got a little help unloading the truck and got back to business. Now I am not a huge fan of emptying the poo buckets in all of the yards but doing it in scorching hot weather is not my favorite thing to do. I never mind getting my hands dirty but I was certainly glad that I had two other staff members helping me. I truly did enjoy the popsicle I had after wards.

OK, so I'm done talking about all of the cleaning. Except for one more thing, we had to disinfect one kennel because one of our little guys has kennel cough and needed to be moved to the iso unit. While doing all of this we also had to set up new kennels on our West side for the new second chance dogs that are being picked up from other shelters.

Not sure if it was all of my nagging or what but I was asked to help out in the medical office after lunch. I always want to learn as much as possible and I have been constantly asking to help out with intakes any way I can. My persistence paid off, I was asked to help intake the new dogs that arrived yesterday. I was a little nervous and excited at the same time. When I went into the med office it was no slacking in there. The intake of the dogs is pretty similar to cats with just a few size differences. I began by weighing the dog then thoroughly checking the animal over. Looking at the ears, teeth, coat (checking for any bumps or abnormalities), and the bung hole. It doesn't sound to exciting but assessing the dogs is an important process here at the shelter. After the physical examination it was time to scan for a chip. None of the animals brought in were chipped so it was something to add to the checklist. After the evaluations it was time to chip the animals and draw blood. There would be vaccinations but luckily all of the dogs were up to date. All of the guys seemed pretty healthy minus a little pug that just had his eye removed and a lab that his teeth were completely worn down, not to mention his nose looked completely sunburned which could be a sign of lupus. I'm crossing my fingers that the biopsy will turn out a little too much sun exposure.

After my learning experience it was time to welcome in the new second chance dogs. There was a total of ten new guys that all seem like they will be very hot commodities when they become available for adoption. It was funny because I had a list of the dogs that were coming in and I ran into a gentleman that had been in a few weeks ago looking at our pit puppy. Unfortunately because he was a renter that the dog was not a good fit for him. I told him to keep checking back because it was puppy season and that was what he was looking for. When I saw him in today I let him know that there were a few puppies coming in this afternoon and he should check back tomorrow. Hopefully he'll be back because there is such a cute little boxer puppy that I think it would be the perfect fit.

Even though I didn't get to do any showings or have too much time to spend with the animals it was still a very good day. I was able to learn a little more of the ins and outs of the shelter and at the same time help out my fellow staff members. My one hope is that all of the animals that we have taken in in the last few days all check out physically and behaviorally.