Sabrina enjoys a sunny afternoon in the backyard.
I am a very lucky girl, with a very lucky dog. Every morning I wake up - at the behest of my canine - around 6:30. After stumbling down the stairs and going outside with Sabrina, we both make our way back upstairs for our morning dance around the kitchen. As I pour the kibble into the waiting doggie bowl by the door, Sabrina patiently waits for my command to have at it. While she eagerly - and by eagerly I really mean voraciously - consumes the cup of food, I make my cup of coffee. After she's done eating we make our way to the living room, and while I'm sipping my cup of joe we watch a bit of news. Sabrina likes the Today Show, so I oblige her by flipping to NBC. After an hour of news, it's time for our daily walk - usually 30-45 minutes in the local park. On Mondays and Tuesdays, Sabrina enjoys the hours after our walk by pacing after me around the house as I clean up. On Wednesdays and Thursdays she's left to her own devices as I leave her and make my way up to Crocker to work at the animal shelter. On Friday mornings she usually looks at me with wonderment while I write a witty blog about our latest adventure, and then somehow cons me into taking her for another walk - partly because I feel guilty she's been laying around all morning/partly because she's got the most pathetic puppy face. All of our afternoons are spent either: running errands, taking cooking classes, exploring the wilds of Missouri, playing the piano, attempting to make a pillow with my new sewing machine, watering flowers, doing yoga, and/or prepping for dinner. Our evenings and weekends are spent as a family, usually doing yard work, lazing around the house, or taking hikes on nearby trails. It's a wonderful life I'm leading right now, and it's a wonderful new life for Sabrina....but that wasn't always the case for our sweet little dog.
Three months ago I started working at Loving Paws Adoption Center. I've always had a special place in my heart for animals. I had two dogs growing up: Hatler - a Bassett Hound, in my Elementary School Years, and Hoosier - a Yellow Lab, in my Middle School and High School Years. Both were purebreds, both were puppies, and both had little life experience away from the mothers. Still, while I cared about animals, until I began working at the shelter I didn't realize how much I could love and care about animals, and how cruel and heartless so many people are to thousands of cats and dogs who just want to be part of a family (pack).
I've seen nearly 60 dogs and cats come in and out of the shelter in Crocker since my start in February. Every now and then a couple of puppies or kittens will find their way to our facility. However, most of the dogs and cats that we take in are 2 years or older; dogs that have been left behind by transitioning families, dogs rescued from puppy mills and crack houses, dogs and cats that were once puppies and kittens, but who lost their appeal or were never trained by their families and just became a nuisance to their owners. While some were abused physically, almost all were abused emotionally. Every now and then we'll get a family who uses our services because they have received orders to go to Hawaii and don't want to put their animals in quarantine for 4 months, and they just want to find a good home for their pets - I wish this happened more often than it does. Currently we have ten dogs, 3 cats, 1 puppy and 2 kittens at the shelter, all of them rescues.
Yesterday, I experienced a first at the shelter. As I was coming in from cleaning the outside runs, an older gentleman in a Club Car Golf Cart, with what I assumed was his toddler granddaughter seated next to him, pulled up. I smiled at him, waved at the little girl, and asked if I could help him with anything. The following conversation ensued:
Him: "You all have any bunnies?"
Me: "No, we don't."
Him: "None?"
Me: "We're a shelter that only takes in cats and dogs, but let me ask Dawn - the manager - if any of the other shelters in the county have any."
**I open the front door and stick my head in and ask if any of the other shelters have rabbits. The answer is no, but she gives me the name of a local farm that may have some.**
Me: "Sir, none of the other shelters have bunnies, but she says you may want to check Eircels."
Him: "Hmm, alright. Yeah, I was hoping you may have some. I have four at home that I came across the other day. One's a nice big buck, probably about 7 or 8 pounds. He'd probably make good for mating."
Me: "Hmmm."
Him: "Yeah. I was looking round to see if anybody mighta wanted 'em, but then I started thinking about how the buck would be good to keep. So, for now looks like the others will be getting stocked in my freezer. I'll be eating good this week. Still, hoping I can maybe find some more."
Me: "Well sir, sorry, but not here. Have a nice day."
Him: "Mmrrmmph...you too."
**I then turned and went into the shelter."
Me: "Dawn, I thought that man had brought his grand-daughter here to look for a pet bunny-rabbit. He was just looking to shop for food at an animal shelter! Ugh."
Dawn: **shakes her head** - "These people..."
Unfortunately, "these people" are all over "these parts." They are the kind of people that leave their dogs tied to trees and never feed them, or leave them to just run as they will without any vaccinations. Loving Paws takes in as many as we can. It is a no-kill shelter, sponsored by the Pulaski County Humane Society, funded solely by donations, and run by an all-volunteer staff. All cats and dogs that come to the shelter receive necessary vaccinations and are spayed or neutered. We try to give them a bit of a home, until they can find their forever families. Some of them stay longer than others. Sabrina, for example, had been at the shelter for 6 months, living in a 4x12 indoor/outdoor run; that's no life for a dog. And yet, for some of them, it's a better life than what they had.
Sabrina had been in a home for a couple of months prior to her stay at Loving Paws, but when the family she had previously lived with decided to get a pit bull who didn't care too much for Sabrina, they decided to get rid of her. Prior to her two month household stint she had been in the Waynesville shelter, prior to that a stray, and prior to that we don't know. It's been a long couple of years for our pup, but she's finally in a good place.
Despite the sad state in which I see some of the animals come to our shelter, I love what I'm doing, and there are many days I come home to tell Matt about the sweetest dog that is weedling its way into my heart - much the same way Sabrina did. But, more often than not, the pooch that I start falling for gets adopted within a few weeks and finds his or her perfect family.
In addition to my typical shelter duties, I have become the resident photographer for the adoption center. When we get a new dog/cat in, and once they have been with us for at least a week (enough time to get them vaccinated and groomed), we take them out for their "official photo shoot." I take a series of pictures, come home and edit them, and then send them to the Vice President of the Humane Society, who loads them onto PetFinder and the Loving Paws website. It's quickly become one of my favorite pastimes.
So, in honor of the cats and dogs that I get to help take care of every week, I thought I'd share some of my favorites with all of you.
Pluto came to us as a stray with a collar, but no tags or microchip to identify him. After being with us for two weeks, we received a phone call from his family who saw his photo on PetFinder. Apparently the big lug had been let outside and broken his tether. The family had been looking for him and were so happy when they found his picture. This was a happy reunion.
Misty was a stray found along a local county road. She stayed with us for three weeks and then was adopted by a nice, older woman.
Sammy has become the "shelter cat." He's been at the facility since I've been there. He's a sweet guy, but nobody seems to want him because he's too old.
Trixie came to us as a two month old puppy. She quickly got adopted.
If I could have brought home another dog, it would have been Socks. Socks lived at the shelter for nearly two months. He came to the facility with his mother (Poochie) and brother (Chip), who were found tied to a tree and left to fend for themselves. He finally got adopted by a great family who had a young son that just wanted to run and play with him, which was great because the Border Collie in Socks wanted to play ALL THE TIME!
Our resident "old guy," Pedro came to us as a stray who was hurting from arthritis in his 9 year old bones. He was at the shelter for nearly three months when we received a phone call from a lady saying she was looking online at photos on PetFinder and Pedro looked an awful lot like her next door neighbors lost dog. As the family who had previously owned Pedro didn't have the internet, she told them she thought he was at Loving Paws. There was a happy reunion with the dog and his family in early April. Despite the arthritis, the old man somehow found it in his legs to jump straight into the arms of his lost parents.
Dodger is a Rottweiler mix who has been at the shelter for the past month. He is an extremely laid back guy, despite his hulking exterior and serious looking face. The vet believes Dodger is 5 years old. He has only 4 teeth partially remaining in his mouth. All of his other teeth have been worn down from excessive chewing and grinding - probably from being tied up for a long period of time and trying to gnaw through a chain.
Checkers is our resident hound-dog. He was picked up by the Crocker P.D. last week, running wild in the countryside. He had no collar and no manners when he came to the shelter, which makes us think if he's ever been anybody's, he's never been inside a home. However, he's quickly learning that there are perks to having human companions - food twice a day, a warm place to stay at night, a comfy blanket (changed daily), treats and toys, and of course lots of love and affection. Still, Checkers' primary M.O. is to take people for a walk, not have people take him for a walk. This guy is a pureblood Blue Tick Coonhound so his nose is usually always on the ground and in hot pursuit of whatever it is he smells!
Kip has only been at the shelter for a few days, and he's REALLY in need of his appointment at Pampered Paws - his hair is a hot mess! However, I couldn't resist taking a picture of the little guy yesterday because he's just so darn grungy and cute. We think he's a Shih Tzu or a Lhasa Apso....were not too sure...but whatever he is I truly believe he could pull off being a Jerry Garcia look-alike in a Grateful Dead tribute band.
These are just a few of the cute critters I get to work with twice weekly. If I tried to put all of their pictures on this blog it would undoubtedly take way too long to load and twice as long for me to write. In the coming months, however, I plan on keeping you all updated about some of my latest charges, and let you know if those still at the shelter get adopted. For those that have been adopted, I am grateful that they have found their forever homes, and for those that are still at the shelter, I hope we can help them feel loved again and ready to be part of the families which they so desperately deserve.
Contentment...
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