This week my pick of the litter is our adult/senior Shepherd mix, Burton. Burton has been with us for 2 months and all he wants is to be with people. He is a very clean dog, does not potty in his pen, walks very good on the leash and loves to ‘talk’ to you in a quiet way. The whole time I was taking his pictures, he was ‘woo-wooing me’ as if to say “Hey, I am supposed to be by your side, not tied up to this table with you taking pictures of me!” He is very gentle and calm and would do well in most any home. Even though he is older, he has allot to give to some lucky family. Don’t let his age put you off. Everyone who volunteers here just loves Burton.

We are open by appointment only, so call to make an appointment to see this great guy.

 

                                                                                                          

There was marching on the street, though the crowd was sparse and we didn’t see any homemade signs, and it won’t make the headlines in the newspaper or even be on the local news. All of that and an old fashion sit-in! Wow what a morning!! Ok, there was no protest, but lots of supporters, ok there were 4, but it all was exciting and thrilling as anything we have done here in a long time.

 Each volunteer took about 25 minutes with each dog devoted all their energy just to them. The dogs got a short walk, then were separated so they wouldn’t be distracted by having another dog close by, got brushed then got some brain stimulation with a game of ‘find it’, which was hiding treats under the bowl and asking the dogs to ‘find-it’. Lady, Comet and Mia were great at ‘find it’.

Giving the dogs personal people time is what keeps the dogs people engaged and adoptable. We only wish that every day we could spend this amount of with all the dogs. Without the wonderful volunteers today, our sit-in would never have happened. Thank you Kelly, Taylor, Jean and Michelle.

 

 

 

There isn’t really a litter of puppies, but being we all feel like the dogs here are like our babies, they all are part of our litter.  Today at the shelter Hildie really stood out as THE dog who really needed a real forever home soon.  (They all deserve homes so I will try and do a pick of the litter each week and spotlight that one.)

 My pick this week is Hildie, the Akita mix (we think). She is such a nice dog. She is quiet, but watchful, loving yet can be playful has a beautiful disposition and a soft coat. She is smart and loves puzzles. She figured out how to get the kibble out of the jug right away and it kept her busy for quiet awhile.

So Hildie is the one I would take home if I could.

 

 

Somedays here are just busy, busy, busy. That’s life at an animal shelter. But with the help of Diane G coming out yesterday, Wednesday, I had real time to spend with the dogs. Hildie is such a quiet dog, soft and gentle. Jennings is another gentle dog who loves everyone. Korman and Katie are more high energy but loved their people time with me. And I swear that Mia knew exactly what I was saying with the way she cocked her head and looked at me with her intelligent eyes.

If only everyone could actually see all the great dogs we have. Seeing them in person is sooooo much better than just a photograph.

 

 

Pink slips. I really dislike pink slips! When I came into the shelter on Saturday and looked into the common dog pen area, all I could see was pink slips on ALL the clipboards by the pens. “ Not a good sign Pat” I said to myself. “Not a good sign at all.”

So off to work I went, praying that Kelly, Taylor and Jean would come early. I was so glad to see them, all smiling and happy. You can’t have a bad day when they come! So after oooing and ahhing over the new dogs, we got to work. After the dogs got walked, they came to the picture taking, vacation giving and now grooming table to be brushed by Kelly.

 

 

The question was ‘Do you walk your dog or dogs even when it rains?’ 64% of those who voted said “Yes!” 20% of those who voted said “No Way! My dog(s) hates to get wet!!” 7% said “We don't even walk when the sun shines!” We had a total of 14 votes! WOW! To get that total up I voted several times, and that’s ok to do. SO, VOTE EARLY AND VOTE OFTEN! If you think you have a good poll question, write the webmaster and she will get your questions to me. I will have a new poll up in a day or so.

Well, today, Saturday, when I went to the shelter to work, I knew that all the dogs were inside due to the newest flood. I even knew that there were new dogs that came in that had to housed in crates, because we didn’t have any pens open. But even knowing all of this, when I opened the shelter door, after removing the sandbags, I felt despair, a feeling of almost hopelessness. In my 5 years of working at the shelter, I never had that feeling before. It was awful of almost not knowing what to do. Do we go ahead and clean the outside pens, knowing it just might flood again tonite? The grounds are so wet, and it is starting to rain again, do we try and walk the dogs, giving them some time out of the cramped pens?

Thank goodness, our wonderful volunteers showed up just then. I wasn’t alone, taking on the world of the shelter. We made a plan to walk all the dogs, take them to the outside muddy pens for extra time with Kelly, then back inside to their clean pens and some breakfast.

The day worked as planned and I even had time to give an interview after Debbie did hers for Channel 7 the Redding News station who came to do a story about our flooding and the shelter. We even got the pens cleaned up again, and the junior volunteers frolicked in the ‘parking lot pond’ before heading home.

Boy what a morning!! Here are some pictures of our day.

See ‘Volunteer Voices’ Kelly’s blog for what she thought of the day. Our volunteers are Kelly, Jean, Taylor, Diane and Alexis.