Just a Little Love and Caring CAN Make a Huge Difference

[Hound dog]

Our volunteers for the county dog pound are some pretty awesome people. We used to have one of the highest kill rates around and a zero adoption rate.

Not only do they come in twice a week to clean out crates and walk the dogs, play with the dogs, photograph the dogs to get them online for adoption.....with a whole huge group of people passing that info on, they work super hard at getting them into various rescues as well. The goal is to keep them well socialized as possible...and of course let them know someone still cares about them.

Our adoption / rescue rate is soaring. Over the past year we dropped that sky high kill rate down to 10 percent of what it used to be. Our pound now has a higher adoption rate than the no kill shelter next door. (for good reasons too, those animals are usually sick)

They've also worked hard to get the gas chamber, which is how dogs were once euthanized, shut down and replaced with a more humane way of putting them down. They finally were able to do so.....and it is my vets who come and humanely put those very few to sleep. So I know it is done with kindness and caring.

Shoot, even Lost dogs are found at a higher rate than ever before because the pound volunteers physically pass that information on among hundreds of people while also keeping an actively look out for the missing pet.

This just makes me so warm inside.

All it took was a dog warden who actually cared firing up her community.

And yes, I'm going out today to clean crates and walk, play, and socialize the dogs. LOL Only downer to it is that Maggie smells the other dogs on me........and she starts looking around for a new playmate like I've brought one home.

 

[Hound dog]

I should also add that these same folks will scrape together the cash to get a dog treated if it is sick or injured. I've seen someone desperately wanting to either rescue a dog by adoption who couldn't afford the adoption fee and groups of folks coming together to donate that fee so that dog gets a good home. I've seen them do the same for someone who's dog has wound up in the pound and can't afford to spring them too. I've seen so many step up and foster.......taking on all the medication/vet needs of the dog or dogs if it is a mom and pups.

Just awesome caring people.

 

[dstc_99]

There is nothing better than people who give a ****! They can move mountains

 

[InsaneCdn]

Our local shelter doesn't WANT volunteers who want to spend time with the animals. There's too many more important things to do (paperwork, fundraising... ). Ya right.

Which is why we went to a different city to adopt ours... to a shelter that takes every single dog-walker, cat-cuddler and general animal-interacting volunteer they can get their hands on. It makes a HUGE difference.

 

[Hound dog]

IC Nichole has tried to volunteer at both the humane society and the dog pound in her area and neither want volunteers. Go figure. Doesn't make sense to me. If you make a dog more adoptable, your adoption rate is going to increase. Ours even works with the dogs to help them do as well on the leash as possible during their stay, assess them for being housebroken ect.

And it's just a fun thing to do, honestly. I hope to take Kayla with me soon as I know she would just love it. Darrin will be starting once the weather warms up.

 

[TerryJ2]

Very good! The great part is that their hearts, minds, and actions are all in the same place and they get things done. Bravo!
Thank you for the good news note.

 

[BusynMember]

Ah, Lisa. Bless you. I love our furry friends SO MUCH and I thank you for helping out the homeless ones. You are a hero!

 

[1905]

It's not only good for the dogs, the people who volunteer get so much out of it! I think it's great you'll be taking the grands, it'll teach them some good values.

 

[donna723]

Our little shelter here BEGS for volunteers. It's something I've thought about doing since I retired but I just can't make myself do it. I've donated money, pet food, unused crates, collars, harnesses and leashes, and I would foster if I didn't already have four of my own. But as far as working directly with the animals, I know myself well enough to know I could never do that. Maybe in a no-kill shelter, but not in ours. They still have to euthanize way too many dogs and cats. Lisa, if you can do that, you have my undying admiration! I just couldn't handle it. I can't even look at all those Facebook posts of sad looking dogs in shelters with the captions that read, "He dies tomorrow unless you come and get him!" I have to "Hide" all of those posts. I just can't look at them. And I KNOW that I svck at fostering ... my one foster, my little Trace, is still here three years later. No way I could pass him along to someone else. If I had fostered a dozen dogs, I'd have fifteen of them running around my living room now!

There is one thing I did have a hand in doing that I'm rather proud of. About a year ago someone on Facebook proposed having a local pet page, a place to buy and sell both pet supplies and live PETS! And everybody chimed in and thought it was a wonderful idea! I don't usually get involved in things like that but I just had to say something. I said that it wasn't a good idea to encourage people to breed their pets to make a quick buck selling puppies while thousands die every day in shelters, that people should be spaying and neutering their pets instead. And then one lady who works at a shelter chimed in to back me up, then another and another. And pretty soon the ones who were all for it shut up! The page did start up and is going strong but it is now a page for area shelters and rescue organizations to list available pets they have for adoption, for local adoption events, and to list pets that have been lost or found. And listings for pets for sale are not allowed.

 

[Hound dog]

Good for you donna!

I'm not against responsible breeders by any means. I'm not even against say a person who realizes their pure bred / mutt has some amazing qualities and wants to pass it on to another generation, as long as they do so responsibly and not to make a quick buck or breed the poor dog like a puppy mill. (there were many times I'd wished I had had the foresight to have bred Molly and Rowdy....now those would've been some amazing pups, mixed or not)

Sadly we do have a pet page.........although it's for the tri-state area and so not really local. It doesn't do that well. Puppy mills come to the surface fast and you realize who they are in short order...also breeders who breed too often for that matter. And we get a lot of folks who try to claim their mixed pups are some new crazy breed..........until I call them out on the fact it's just a mixed dog and anyone paying 100-300.00 for a mixed dog needs to have their head examined when they can go to the pound, no kill shelter, and rescues. ugh

Donna I've also seen the flip side to no kill shelters. Ours has several dogs that were never adopted. These dogs came in as young pups. They're terrified of people, sad, and miserable. They've lived their entire lives in a kennel. You can see the suffering on their faces. Would rather see a dog/cat cross the rainbow bridge than face that fate for years on end. So while euthanasia does bother me, I can deal with it on some level. We just work really hard to prevent any dog from meeting that fate. As long as there are open cages in the shelter, dog warden refuses to put a dog down no matter how long they are there......volunteers bring in food/treats so that the country isn't footing the entire bill and can't complain. The 5 days doesn't start until the pound is over crowded, then volunteers kick it into high gear trying to at least get the dogs to rescues.

Pounds, no kill shelters, and rescues need all the help they can get. Not everyone can work with the dogs directly, but bringing in old blankets/towels, food, treats, collars/leashes....ect is just as important as working with the dogs themselves. We even have a few volunteers who drive dogs to the rescues as their work schedules allow them to do little else.

There are 2 dogs at the pound right now who are tugging at my heart something terrible. One is a pit / shepard mix pup with an amazing personality who no rescue will accept because he is part pit (verified, owner submit) he's just 3 months old and tons of love. The other is a bonafide hero who just saved his disabled owner from a fire that destroyed their home. If it hadn't been for the dog......the owner would've surely died. Owner went to live with family who told him dog could not come........so now? As his reward for showing his loyalty and devotion/love to his owner.......we have a beautiful red lab mix dog sitting in the pound depressed and confused. "Red" which is his name is just making my soul ache, I'll tell ya. He deserves better. Not only is he a hero, but he is an all around great dog, house broken, gentle, has had some obedience training............omg His adoption fee has already been paid by a volunteer. If I see him too close to euthanasia, I will probably go and get him. At the very least foster him, but like you.......I'd get attached and he'd never leave. lol

Most of the time though, I can enjoy them there and then come home and enjoy Maggie more knowing that at least she never had that experience. All but one of her sibs were adopted to good families thanks to a good friend of mine.......and the one who went to the pound? She made it to rescue. She would've never been put down cuz I was ready to get in my car right before the rescue called and accepted her. I did a whew phew. But I just would not have let that happen. I might not have kept Maggie's sis long term......but no way would I allow her to be put down either. Not with what an amazing dog Maggie is.

So yeah, there is always the risk you'll wind up adding to the family. Most volunteers have managed to do so at least once. LOL

 

[DammitJanet]

I could never work with dogs either. I would have a million like those hoarder dog people. And thats bad because Im not able to take care of them! I hate those stupid ASPCA commercials and have to turn them off. I just consider my family is doing its part for that...lol. As an aside to that, do any of you watch Animal Planets Animal Cops? There is a blond SPCA animal cop on some episode. I dont watch the show so I have no idea if its the Houston, Miami or NY show but if one of you is an active watcher you would know. Its a female cop. Anyway...if you know which cop this is, Jamie trained with her and had no clue she was on TV until he was flipping through channels one night and saw her on TV...lol. by the way....he doesnt watch Animal Cops on TV. He doesnt come home and watch his job. LOL.

 

[Star*]

Thats nice.