Did I say the washing machine was broken?

Heading over to the kennels in the early part of the morning I was surprised to see that a good number of dogs were able to hold it all night. What that means is not only there less mess to pick up but the sooner we can get the guys out to their yards the better chance we have of keeping it that much cleaner. Good thing for us it was raining today so we decided to take all of the dogs out to their covered yards with a little fake grass. They aren't the biggest areas but it is a lot easier to keep the mud off of them there.

After a quick disinfecting of the kennels we were able to drop the food down and of course pile the dirty laundry just a little higher in the back area. The volunteers were here this morning and were able to help put all of the dogs back in their respective areas which meant that we could knock out the rabbitat and cattery without a problem. The rabbitat was covered so I headed over to the North cattery. Definitely not as bad as yesterday but I am still getting used to the smell of cat poop. A couple of the cats got to go home yesterday that were waiting on surgery holds so the job got done rather quickly. I swept up, put the garbage away, and of course piled a little more dirty laundry on the pile.

Next I went into the rabbitat to help finish out the last few cages. I have to say, since being bitten by the dog a few weeks ago I am still a little on edge, even when a sweet little bunny moves too quickly. I really hope my reactions change because in all of my life I have never felt this way and I truly do not like it. Anyways, I took care of two of the last cages while another attendant covered the bunnies in ISO. I swept up and added some more poo stained towels to the pile of laundry.

With all of the morning duties out of the way we took the garbage out, washed the dishes, and assessed the laundry situation. If you could ever categorize a laundry situation as dire this would be the time. All we could do is merely watch the pile get higher and messier. We were lucky enough to have a couple of loads done at the local laundromat by some volunteers but if you want to talk about a drop in the bucket. I have included a picture below just to give you an idea of what sort of problem we are dealing with here. Mind you, this area is usually completely free of any sort of clutter.



For some reason today was pretty relaxed. There really wasn't too much traffic coming into the shelter but we were still able to squeeze out an adoption. I'll be honest, most of the adopters today were no gos for a few reasons from keeping the animals outside to not haveing rental agreement, and my favorite was cat testing a dog that really didn't like the felines too much. Even with all of this a woman came back into the shelter after visiting with a little terrier mix that had broken its pelvis some time back. We're not sure when or how it happened because he came into the shelter that way but the woman still fell in love with him. He is a sweet little guy that has loads of energy and just has about five more days on light duty to allow is injury to heal. The woman spent some more time with him and came to the conclusion that she wanted the little guy for a friend. It was an easy showing since our behaviorist had already done the showing with her and in big bold letters wrote "OK to Adopt". All that meant for me was to talk a bit about training and give her some time alone with the animal to let him work his magic. The woman decided to take him home and we were all able to say our goodbyes which was nice.

That was pretty much it for the afternoon. There were a few more showings with other counselers but none of them really panned out. People wanting dogs for the way they looked rather than the way they behave which is usually not a great fit. Today was a bit better than yesterday in the fact that I wasn't in such a crabby mood after cleaning up poo for a good solid three hours. We also had a great adoption and of course I ventured to ground zero (the laundry room) as little as possible just so I didn't have to be reminded of what was to come. There was one more crazy thing that happened towards closing time. An elderly adopter had brought back her dog to visit with the staff when she tripped outside in the parking area. She got a little broozed up and was bleeding pretty bad so an ambulance was called. We were able to keep her calm and she seemed fine but went to the hospital anyway. The even sadder part was that her dog has to stay at the shelter once again until she is able to come back and claim her. At least this time I get to say goodbye to the old girl that I grew attached too about two months ago and was off when she went home. Thanks for reading everyone and keep the comments coming. Tell a friend as well, the more people that know what goes on in a shelter and how many great pets are here might just get that many more adopted.