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Thursday, July 9, 2009

Ahhh, my Friday

It's always nice when you have one of those weeks to know that it is coming to a relaxing end. I have to say the more I work at the shelter, the more I appreciate my breaks from it. I am not saying I don't love my job, but a few days away from the hardships is nice for a more positive outlook on the day to day happenings.


I started my day as the later shift and was surprised at how quickly cleaning can go when you are only doing it for an hour and a half. Since I came in at 9:30 I wasn't able to attend to the dogs but rather the cats and rabbits. We teamed up and took care of the cats in a flash and quickly moved onto the rabbits. Usually I am a morning person and feel like I can get more accomplished the earlier I get to work but today coming in late was nice in the sense that cleaning was cut in half.

Of course once all of the animals were taken care of it was on to the normal chores. Surprise surprise there was still no propane for the tankless water heater so no laundry and washing all of the dishes in the cattery. To give you an idea of how quickly the laundry can accumulate here is a picture of it piled up outside, this isn't even close to what is piled up in the laundry room itself.

After all of the cleaning was done it was pretty much a relaxing day of hanging out with the animals. I first attended to my Mississippi girl Liza. I have to say she isn't completely comfortable with humans but she is certainly getting better. In the morning she is at the front of the kennel wagging her but ready to head outside with her doggy friends. As the day progresses though and there is more traffic through the shelter she becomes more fearful and deeper into her kennel. The good thing was though when I sat with her in the kennel she ate in front of me and even came out of her crate to say hello. You try not to expect to much from animals like this but when there is that glimmer of hope that they are becoming a little more comfortable with their environment it is a great thing to experience.

The remainder of the day was pretty uneventful until the late afternoon when we began taking out the dogs for their afternoon break. Along with taking the dogs out it was time for all of the surgery dogs to return to their kennels. It is a little amusing to see the doped up dogs laid out in their kennels wondering what the hell just happened. While we were feeding the surgery guys I was asked to help out with an dog introduction. The dog the family was looking was a sweet little female chihuahua named Apple. The showing went great and the schnauzer and our dog played like there was no tomorrow. The family and the adoption counselor agreed that it was a good match and it was a good finish to our day. It was also the first adoption that occurred late in the days with our extended hours.

2 comments:

  1. Beautiful Liza! She may benefit from being fostered in a home environment if your shelter participates in a program like that. Hounds especially do not do well mentally when they are not around people 24/7. Rhyden was a wreck when I brought him home from the shelter- after a 6 month stay! Very shy, skittish, clingy. Having another dog at home to show him the ropes really helped him transition from the stress of the shelter to a home environment.
    Liza will come around- I have complete faith in her. It will just take a very special individual or family to see she is just a gem that needs a little polishing ;)

    -sam

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  2. Thank you so much for the comment. We do have a great foster program but like you said, she really needs to be with another dog that can not only make her more comfortable but also more confident. It is great to hear a positive story and I truly do appreciate the input and would love to hear some ideas we might be able to use in addition to the fostering to make Liza a little more adoptable.

    Nick

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