Handy Man

I began the day as the early shift which means in at eight and out at 4:30. It's nice to be able to get home a little earlier but at the same time it definitely is a little strange from the normal routine that I am used to. What the change means to me is that if you are the early shift it is a whole lot more running dogs down to the yards. It doesn't necessarily mean more cleaning but it feels like it.

Of course today we got to clean all of the dog kennels out and disinfect a few at the same time. We also had to do some rearranging in order to make room for the ten dogs that would be arriving from a county shelter as well, our second chance dogs. Once we got all of the kennels taken care of I got asked to go up to the front where a few people had brought in a stray that they had found over the fourth of July weekend. The family spoke no English so I was asked to translate. You could tell the animal was from a home with the invisible fence collar on but it still had no tags. Luckily it was micro chipped and we were able to leave a few voice mails on the owners machines. It turns out that during the fireworks the family thought it was better to have the dogs outside than in and once the explosions started the dog flipped out and ran right through the invisible fence. It really annoyed me when she said that it was humane and got me red under the collar when she said that she has lost two of her five dogs the same way. You would think that you might get a clue to do something different but I have to remind myself that I am not a people hater.

After the morning chores we got a call from our behavioral therapist giving some descriptions and names of the dogs that she would be bringing in. This is important so we know where and how to set up the kennels for the incoming animals. Turns out there were ten total and rather than the usually chihuahua mixes we actually had some large breeds as well. Here is a picture of a beautiful, yet hyper, weimeriner doberman mix. I learned quickly that she could lift the latch on the fence which is definitely something that you want to spread the word about.

Even with all of the dogs coming in and a few finally going home that were medically cleared I got on the task of bringing in our new refrigerator into the staff kitchen. You think that it would be easy but when you have ten people telling you to do it ten different ways it can get a little confusing. What we ended up doing was taking the door into the kitchen off the hinges as well as the doors on the refrigerator. It ended up going in pretty easily but required a lot of screws and screwdrivers. I'm not complaining though, it was something a little different than the normal scooping and taking out garbage.

Another highlight for the day came in the afternoon when our little 11 year old schnauzer who is on medical foster came back in for a blood test. She has been in the shelter's care for some time now but has been "on loan" to a loving family that takes very good care of her. She seems to be doing great and is her typical sweet grandma self. Hopefully all her levels in her blood work improving and she will continue to live a long and healthy life.

One thing I have to add is my good friend Liza the treeing coon hound from Mississippi. If you have read in the past several weeks I have spoken of her and how timid she is towards humans. The same holds true today when you have her in her kennel but when you get her out to the yards it is a different story. She will run, play, and even come up to you on command. In fact yesterday she even jumped up on me and gave me a kiss, not sure if it was nervous lip licking though. Anyways, she is progressing and getting a little better but I am not keeping my hopes up just because I don't want to be disappointed.