It's been a few weeks and there has been a lot of changes

I have been meaning to sit down and share some of the new experiences I am having at the shelter but it has honestly been tough to sit down and focus myself for the time that it takes to collect my thoughts on the week. I'll do my best to catch up on some of the projects I have been working on here at a local humane society.

My main focus lately has been spreading the word about how unique and special our private little humane society is. I'm not taking the traditional approach but rather the grass roots one. Because we have been around our town for so long the best way to get people involved is to physically go out and talk to those people. In doing so I am learning their perspectives on things as well as new ways that their business or time might better serve our community and shelter at large.

Recently I have been working on a few local events to promote adoptions as well as educate people on what the mission of our shelter and many others around the county. I have learned that tying in like businesses is a great way to make a successful event as well as build the relationships that are necessary for our shelter to grow.

With all of this going on a lot of my time is still spent on our largest fundraiser of the year. We are currently working on sponsorships so my cold calling, pop ins, and sales skills are finally coming in handy again. This is kind of the bitter/sweet part of it all. I love helping the shelter and I am 110% confident in what we do but when it comes down to it I am still selling a product and unfortunately not getting as much time with the animals.

All in all I have to say that this new position is a great fit for me. It is allowing me to use my skills and knowledge of the shelter to help it grow and continue to be successful. I just hope that once I settle in I will get some time to go and hang with some animals because I really do miss that aspect of it all.

Hopefully it won't be to long before the next installment and I appreciate everyone reading. By the way, if any of you have any ideas for some sponsorships I would love to hear them. Keep up the great work everyone!

My last day as an adoption counselor

When I first began this job I honestly didn't think that it was going to last as long as it has. There were so many things that I really had to adjust to when I first began over a year ago. I have to say it was more the pay than anything else that took the real adjusting, the poop and manual labor was pretty easy to get accustomed to.

It has been an amazing experience to work hands on in not only taking care of the animals but more importantly helping them find their forever homes. It has certainly been a roller coaster with a lot of tears shed and even more smiles smiled.

I have seen everything and every type of dog there is to see. I was amazed at how much I actually learned in the past year or so working in the kennels. I gained a better appreciation for the volunteers that spend their time with the animals and also for the kennel staff themselves and how much work actually goes into maintaining a working shelter.

There are a lot of things that I am going to miss moving into my new position. It's hard to actually name just a few because this job has to be one of the most rewarding there is. From hanging out with the animals and loving on them to making sure that they are healthy and feeling well. Selfish me of though is going to say that I will miss adoption out the dogs the most. The feeling that I got when one of these animals found their new home was a new high for me. It was amazing to know that I played a part in making sure that the rest of their life was going to be the best one that it could be.

With all of this came those down times too. The days where all you wanted to do was lock your self in a kennel and pet a dog all day long. Those days were few and far between but when they came they came with force.

Closing out, I have learned more at this job than almost anything else I have done professionally. I have grown as a person by leaps and bounds working with these amazing animals. You might ask why I am no longer going to do it and I have a pretty simple answer. I think that I can help more animals in a new position that would bring more awareness to our shelter as well as more funding. I know that there are going to be those days that I wish I could just go back to the kennels and hang out and maybe I will but my focus now is letting everyone in our community know how special our rescue is and how we have now been doing this for fifty years. I will try and continue to blog even though it's not as exciting as getting animals adopted but I have a feeling there are going to be some highs worth sharing. Thanks everyone for all of the comments and support that you have given me. I look forward to you comments and of course reading your stories about all of the good work that you do in your area. Oh yeah, the picture up top is some of our senior one eyed dogs that all love to play together, not to many places you get to see that in life!