What a wonderful day at the shelter yesterday! We had over 25 people visit the shelter yesterday afternoon. We had two different families out looking to adopt dogs, both families picked out hounds they would like to adopt. One family is certain. We are getting the redbone hound Lana/Dutchess spayed Thursday to go to her new home. The second family is still considering, since the dog they picked out is unfortunately, heartworm positive and we havent treated her yet. A nice couple drove out looking for a dog as a playmate for their chihuahua, Ziggys adopter drove down with a friend to pick him up, Scooters adopter came out to get him microchipped, Aces owner came to pick him up and several people who showed up to walk dogs and help out at the shelter. All of the dogs that we let volunteers walk were walked at the shelter yesterday. Maggie, the shy blue heeler, was too afraid to go on a walk, but then Kim Glass and her daughter showed up specifically to see and spend time with Maggie. We carried Maggie outside to the shade and set up a couple of straw bales for Kim and her daughter to sit on and just pet Maggie, who at first, just laid flat on the ground. After a while, Maggie perked up enough that they took her on a walk on the trail. It was sweet to see Maggie standing by them happily after they got back from a walk. We plan to HW test Maggie and send her to spay Thursday, then she can go to foster at Kims house, which looks like it might turn into a forever home if it all works out. Around 3:00 Mallory, the pregnant border collie cross, had a puppy on her bed in the shelter and that put us all in high gear, getting the first puppy dried off and warmed up, because in the few minutes before it was noticed it was already getting cold. We dried it and tucked it under our shirts next to our belly to warm until Arletta called her mother to bring a heating pad to the shelter. We set up a box with a heating pad for the puppies until we could get the mama dog set up in a whelping box with enough room to nurse the pups. The shelter itself is tiny (750 sq. ft.) and run down, but the community we serve will gather in the parking lot of even that humble little building and do what they can to help lost and abandoned animals from our community. I cant wait until the bigger building and bigger lobby on the blueprints becomes a reality for volunteers and adopters to gather in. Watching volunteers visit in the parking lot while walking dogs and working on projects reminds me that we all know one another in our community or are only a few steps removed. We are all connected. It does my heart good to see a dark place that noone wanted to go to unless they had to transforming into a place of hope, a hub of volunteerism which adds far more to our community than just animal control. I have to keep believing that everything is going as it is supposed to go and that all will work out for the best in the end. This whole build a new shelter project is a giant leap of faith, and right now we are mid leap. We are going to build a new shelter because our community needs a new shelter so badly, because what we have is so woefully inadequate. We are going to build a new shelter simply because we believe so passionately it has to be done. Our driving principles have been pretty simple: If you see something that is broken, fix it. If you see something that needs done, do it. If what is broken and needs done is beyond you, do all that you can and then ask for help. We started out thinking we were going to get a shelter on a platter, which all seemed too easy, and in fact, turned into a mirage for our local animal shelter. What we will end up with instead is the shelter that our community built (whether that turns out to be a handful of people or 5000 people) and by extension, we hope, the shelter that our community cares about, visits, and enjoys. Thank you for being a part of this great big dream we have. Thank you for caring. I say it time and again, but mean it every time, with your help we are making a difference!
Posted on: Mon, 27 Oct 2014 13:58:13 +0000
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