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Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Is this day almost over?

The days that I have at the shelter where I am so glad to be home are few and far between, but today was one of those days. It began early one when instead of five kennel staff members we learned that there would only be three of us. Luckily the staff that we did have there was solid and we were luckily able to knock out all of the morning tasks by opening time.

Surprisingly enough, once all of the normal opening duties were done we were actually pretty slow for the day. We even had a little time to catch up on laundry and attempt to whittle down the huge pile that has been taking up a kennel since the new year began. Once all of the laundry was going I even had a little time to spend with a little schnauzer/italian greyhound mix named Cooper. A big spaz until you sit down and all he wants to do is sit in your lap. Here is a picture of the little guy below.

Just when I was getting comfortable though the showings started to roll in. Initially it was kind of nice with some great potential forever homes for our animals to go home to. In fact Spice, a long term kitty finally found the perfect place to call home. In addition to that a sweet lab that just became available today also got adopted but will stay under our care until we finish up a few more tests. This was all great until I got the worst showing I have yet to have at the shelter. Initially the profile looked alright, a few red flags showed up but nothing that would keep them from finding the right animal that would fit into their family. The more simple one is that we would need rental agreement to verify that the family would be allowed pets, easy enough. The second was that they were undecided if they would de-claw the animal. I went over the entire profile and asked under what circumstances would they de-claw. she then replied well if it was scratching things up. I then asked if she understood what the process entails and she then explained that it was a surgical process. Once all of the details came out I told the woman that because of this we would only adopt to her a cat that has already been de-clawed. Then came the storm of screaming and accusations that I asked trick questions and that I didn't trust that the woman was allowed pets by asking for rental agreement. I was actually surprised at myself, more taken back, at how calm I was and continued to explain that they I have no doubt that they would have been a good home, it just needed to be the right cat. Well, according to them there was no time to debate. After all of the ruckus they got into their car and I headed into the front office. That's when the woman came back in, put her hand in my face, pulled some kind of dog whisperer shush and proceeded to scream at our new staff member about me. Now that I am writing all of this it does seem rather funny, but at the time I was pretty annoyed at how immature a fifty five year old woman can be. Oh well, I reiterated my name and if she had any questions or concerns to feel free and call.

Of course there were still showings and denials to be done, so I couldn't focus on it to long. I did vent a little to a few staff members who thankfully listened and then got back to work. The rest of the afternoon went by pretty fast and before I knew it it was already past closing and dogs were still being brought up. For a busy day today took forever. I really hope tomorrow is a typical day at the shelter when I can go home with a smile on my face rather than me rethinking an event that there is nothing that can be done about it.

Thanks for reading everyone and listening to me rant and I look forward to your comments, good and bad :)

3 comments:

  1. hi there,
    lately i've had some scary potential adopters as well! i'm fostering a lovely german shephered mix pup and a lady wanted to adopt her as a guard dog for a house that she has just purchased. the house is empty and the dog would be fed daily but alone. Naturally i said hell noooo and anyway this pup is sooo not a guard dog type of doggie despite looking like one. well the lady wouldn't take no for an answer and has been calling me relentlessly, the other day up to 11 times in a row. i've already found a much better adopter for this pup, someone who wants her as a beloved pet, not a working dog but the crazy lady continues to harass me, even showing up unannounced outside my home monday evening. i'm sorry you had such a bad experience so just wanted to show you that you're not alone. in malaysia, where i live, we have lots of scary people too.

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  2. Wow, that is absolutely crazy! I'm glad to hear that you found a great home for the pup and I'm sorry you had to deal with a person like that. I really don't get how people could think that was O.K., good for you for putting up with it but I would certainly spread the word to other shelters and organizations not to adopt to that woman. Thanks for commenting and sharing your story.
    Nick

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  3. I can't figure out for the life of my WHY people have to act like that. I guess it keeps life interesting :)

    -B

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