Back from three days off

It's always nice when you can go into work with a refreshed attitude and a big smile. Unfortunately after about three hours today it seemed to wear off. The day began with me being told that I would disinfect the south yards and kennels, by myself. Not a huge task but the first time I have ever heard it being done by one person since I began working here. I started by taking all of the dogs out to their yards. Next I scooped up all of the poo, which seemed to be worse than better since the last time I took care of these guys. After that I sprayed down all of the kennels with a mix of water and a green foaming cleanser. Once that had sat in there for a few minutes it was time to start scrubbing, and scrubbing I did. From top to bottom and even on my hands and knees I had to make sure there was no inch not covered because all of the dogs came back clean for hook worm and we had to make sure that they weren't going to catch it again. Once I scrubbed I rinsed and then continued to spray the entire kennel down with a bleach solution, but this time I have smelled poo, disinfectant, and now bleach...not a good combo when it comes to odors. After the bleach solution sat for about ten minutes in each kennel I rinsed it out again and squeegeed out all of the water.

Luckily at this point a staff member had come out to help and she was able to set up all of the beds and help me get their morning breakfasts. Once all of the food was down it was time to bring the dogs back. I started with the first two and when I was about to put them in their kennel I turned around and there were two of the dogs that had apparently gotten so excited and jumped so much they were able to lift the latch on their gate. It's not unheard of but it was funny that they ran right to me and there was no need to chase them around everywhere. After all of the dogs were back in their kennels and eating their breakfast it was time to disinfect the yards that the dogs go to breaks in. We have to make sure there is no chance that any parasites can be transmitted again so it was time for a little more bleach and the pooper scooper.

Time to move on to the rest of the days tasks. It was now past eleven and the public was filing in. There were already showings in progress so I decided to take out the large number of garbage bags and empty bleach containers. Once that was done I headed over to the "pet kitchen" where I washed the already soaking dishes and tried getting the place organized. I know Saturday's are hands down our busiest day but I felt like today nothing was getting done. I do have to say at least we don't have to worry about the laundry. It turns out the machine will be up and running tomorrow after they replace the concrete beneath the machine in order to keep the whole building from being shaken down in the washer's spin cycle.

Once all of the morning chores were done the shelter had slowed down quite a bit. It was nice that I had some time to go and spend with a few dogs. I started with a friendly little guy named Spud who is a mix of some sort of hound and something else with a really big head. He is so sweet though when you go into his kennel and all he wants is attention. The only problem I have is that he is a real kisser and if you give him the opportunity he won't hesitate to plant one on you. After a few minutes of his attention seeking behavior he calmed down a bit and began to relax. He ended up falling asleep next to me after I rubbed his belly for a while. I can't even imagine the lack of sleep all of these animals have do to the incredibly stressful environment that they have been thrown into.



I learned later in the day that one of the adoptions that I had done about a month ago got returned. He was a sweet guy that I would best describe as a majestic animal. Well, it turns out they kept him in the garage and because it was hot one day they had it raised up a bit to let some air in. Well, apparently someone was walking by and the dog came out of the garage (not leashed) and ended up biting the individual. It was very unfortunate but it seems the dog did go out of his way to do this and from what I am told it was unprovoked. I really don't want to say anything else because I will really get upset but hopefully after a quarantine and some observation he will be good to go.

Finally I have a showing. It is with a beautiful black shephard mix that a family was eying since her arrival at the shelter. This is actually one of the Mississippi dogs and today was their first day that they were available for adoption. The family seemed like a good fit from their profile and we decided to head back to the south yard. Immediately I could tell the dog was very intimidated. She would cower and run over to me. I know that they haven't had that much interaction lately but this was still a little unusual. After a bit she got more comfortable and started interacting a bit better. Everything was going well until she got spooked by the young 10 year old son. She even showed a little aggression and was barking very loudly. At that point I decided that this was not a good fit and this would be the end of the showing. It was unfortunate but better to see here than having it happen in someones home.

That's about it for today. Sorry I could have had a little more to talk about rather than cleaning but that's the way it goes sometimes. I'll also have to update you on the adoptions today because I have no idea myself how many or what type of animals got adopted today. I do want to say thanks for reading and commenting. You never know if anyone is actually going to be reading this but for those of you that are thank you, and spread the word and educate others on the importance of altering your animals.