A Penny For My Thoughts

When I arrived at the shelter this morning Selena was already in the play yard with Penny (Jr Volunteer shows up the old guy).  I brought out Jo so we could let them frolic together.  That Jo just harasses Penny mercilessly, nipping her on the legs and any other extremity she could get her teeth on, including hanging from Penny's poor tongue....yowch!!!  Penny is so good natured though she put up with Jo and would just roll her over when she got tired of it.  Penny has everything you would want in a good dog.  She's beautiful, she's medium size, she's kid friendly, she enjoys playing with other dogs, and she exudes sweetness.  We're gonna have to make sure that the person or family that adopts Penny is capable of realizing just what a gift she is.

Selena and I took our pretty red head Georgia for a walk.  I explained to Selena that although Georgia is a good looking dog, and can be a good walk, she also can be quirky and that's why she's been difficult to place.  She'll get there though.  We have noticed this week that Katie and Georgia have a dislike for each other.  I don't know if they've been making faces at each other or trash talking but they will go red zone if they focus on each other.

We also took the new poodle mix out to the yard for a meet and great.  He appears nice enough, cute, doesn't mind being handled.  He's not officially our yet so is not available for outside walks yet.  We took old Dallas out to the yard to lounge around.  Veronica and her group of men showed up and showered Dallas with attention and he was drooling with contentment.

We did not get over to the dogs being kept at Augusta's.  It was hot and I was still tuckered out from going several rounds with Joey yesterday.  I'm off tomorrow, taking my Miss Beans to the vet.  I'm hoping they can give her something to make her remaining time a little more comfortable.     

Until next time...be kind.

Saturday With Penny

I don't normally visit the shelter on Saturdays, unless I'm trying to duck some chores at my house, which is why I stopped by today.  That and it's a beautiful day, my own dog Miss Beans who is in the sunset of her days is crashed out on the front room floor, so why not pay a visit?

It would be nice if I arrived at the shelter to find the parking lot full of visitors, but I found just the staff finishing up their morning routine.  I'm thinking we need to find a way to make our shelter a popular place for the public to visit on the weekend...a place that makes kids ask their
parents, "Can we go see the doggies today?".  I think we have a beautiful site with a very hard working staff and friendly dogs to show, we just need to draw in more people.

Anyway, Melissa tells me we have a new adoption dog that just arrived, and she's very cute and friendly, her name is Penny.  She says it's a Shepherd/Husky mix, on the smaller side for this mix, and she has matching beauty marks on both sides of her muzzle.  I had just been feeding a dog in one of the outside yards and I thought I saw a new face out there, but I thought it was a client's dog being boarded, but it was Penny.  I hurried back to my boss Augusta, "Can I take Penny out to the play yard?"  Smiling, Augusta said it would be fine, so I stuffed my pocket with biscuits and jerky sticks, and went to retrieve Penny.

Penny was all tail wags as I went into her pen to put a leash her.  No hesitation at all, she was ready to go.  In the yard I took Penny off leash and let her go on the required sniffy inspection of the yard.  On calling her name, Penny came running back to me, ready to play.  You could tell she was well socialized, having come from a family with young kids and other dogs, and she hasn't had the chance of developing any negative complexes that can sometimes creep up when dog has been in a shelter too long.  We played and worked on the "sit" command and just got acquainted with touch and smell...and lots of kisses.  Penny will not be a big dog, but she has smaller size German Shepherd structure and wonderful straight up nicely formed ears.  Penny should be easy to adopt out and I know our other volunteers will fall in love with her.  I regret that I didn't take a camera with me so I could have included a picture of her, but look for her on future blogs.

That's it for now..peace and make the world a better place.

Why Volunteer?



Volunteers



Volunteers are sometimes hard to come by so just being able to see three of our dogs out at the same time is a very welcome sight.  Here, Veronica on your right, her son in the middle, and Selena on the left, walk Riley, Jo, and Mick.  Veronica leads a very busy life with her young kids and her regular job but she comes in as much as she can.  Selena is our new volunteer who is throwing her young heart into her volunteer work.  Our other regular volunteer during the week is Tom.  Tom currently has his butt planted in the sand in Hawaii, but I know he's itching to get back to his pals.  We have volunteers who mostly work the weekends because they have full time jobs during the week.  Every little bit helps and is greatly appreciated by the paid staff and mostly by the dogs.

There must be a million dogs sitting in shelters with little human contact other than being fed and moved from one pen to another.  A volunteer can free that lonesome soul from the wire pen and let them experience the outside world.  You can allow them to really stretch their legs and smell an alfalfa field, or gaze at a horizon, or feel the warmth of your body...perhaps reminding them of a life they used to live.  I've sat quietly along the side of the road with these dogs, and just watched as they quietly looked about, seeming to be memorizing the sights and smells of the land.  And the next time you walk by their pen in the shelter you will see something new in their eyes...you will see hope.  Hope that you will share the world with them once again today.  That look in their eyes is something you will find very difficult to walk away from, and something that will keep you coming back to help ease some of their loneliness.  Even if all you can do is give one hour of your time a week, I guarantee you those dogs will be very happy to see you, and that my friend, is why you should volunteer.

Goodnight all.



Kodi Gets Adopted and Four More Show Up



Kodi



I walked into the lobby this morning and found a man and young boy standing there.  Knowing that the staff might be busy in the kennel area I asked the man who was holding a leash if he had been helped yet.  My thought was that they were here to pick up a boarded dog.  He said that they were here for Kodi, which stumped me for a moment.  "Our Kodi or your Kodi?" I asked.  He indicated the Kodi that was posted up on our adoption wall.  Then I remembered my boss Augusta had mentioned a family had met Kodi and were interested in adopting him.  Alright, seeing one of our friends get adopted is always good news.  On my way to work I was going over in my head who I might walk today, and I thought I would begin with Kodi, because he's such an easy walk.  Now, Kodi belongs to someone else.  Perfect.



Augusta was busy with chores at her end of the property so she asked me to complete the adoption paperwork.  I have done two adoptions solo I believe and both of them were a year ago so I was a little rusty, but we got it done.  The adoption list just got a little shorter.  Until....

Until a tall man appeared in the lobby.  "Here to pick up a dog?" I asked.  Not so.  The man explained that our local vet Robyn had been in touch with Augusta after this man found four very large pups abandoned by a neighbor on his property.  Augusta said to have the man bring the dogs to the shelter and we would take a look at them.  Augusta was still busy over at her place so I asked the man to show me the dogs which were crated in his truck.  I don't usually get too goo goo eyed over new dogs brought to the shelter but I took a look in that large crate and OMG...these pups are adorable.  Three black and one black and white, all from the same litter, maybe three to four months old.  If it wasn't for the multi colored one I would have thought they were black Labs but maybe they are a Lab/Pointer mix. Whatever, they are pretty darn cute. The new arrivals will be housed over at Augusta's, away from the main shelter, because pups can carry some nasty bugs.  So it's quarantine and an add will be placed in the paper should someone want to claim ownership of the dogs.  If no one steps forward the dogs will be placed in our adoption program.  I'll post pictures of the dogs once I know they belong to us.

That's it from me tonight, I wonder what tomorrow will bring.

Zack Gets Adopted

Zack

I mentioned in my last blog that things constantly change at the shelter and today was no exception.  Today, after our adoption dogs were taken care of I thought I'd walk a couple of the dogs we board for other shelters.  So I go to find Zack, a Tree Walker Coonhound I've befriended, and he's missing.  I ask Melissa if she knew where Zack was being kept (the dogs don't always have the same pen) and she said he'd been gone for a couple of days, but she wasn't sure where.  I hook up Ringo the German Shepherd and on my way out I ask my boss Augusta where Zack was.  She told me Zack went back to his rescue group because they found a home for him.  It's such a satisfying moment when we hear that one of our friends has found a real home, even if we don't get to say goodbye to them.  Good luck Zack!

Compared to last week, the weather today was wonderful, high of about 85.  On my way to work I noticed that the corn in the fields was about 4' tall now.  A month ago it was about 8" tall.  Soon on our walks the view of distant farms and trees will be blocked by giant corn stalks.  For someone who spent a 30 yr career working in a windowless room, being surrounded by cornstalks is something I look forward to.  Not to mention I have an overactive imagination and who knows what's hiding in those rows of corn that seem to go on forever.

During my walk with Ringo we passed by Veronica and Selena, two of our other volunteers, who were taking Spike, one of our latest adoption dogs, out for his first walk.  This is the first time Ringo and I have had contact with another dog while out on a walk so I wasn't sure how he would behave.  He noticed Spike from a distance and I could see him start to focus and pull ahead a little.  I stopped him and told him to sit while turning him slightly away from the oncoming Spike.  Ringo did sit but only having to be told about three times, so I sense some reluctance on his part to submit totally to this handler.  Which probably has a lot to say about my training abilities, but I'm working on it.  Also, for my fellow volunteers at our shelter there seems to be a dislike between Ringo and Kodi.  Not unlike some humans, some dogs
seem to judge a book by it's cover, and just decide they don't like another dog.

I better close for now before I blog everyone to sleep.  Goodnight!

Friday At the Shelter

Driving to the shelter takes me down country roads past fields of juvenile corn and tomatoes.  It's warm already at 8:45 in the morning, my truck thermometer showing 80 degrees.  My drive is only about twelve minutes but it's such a welcome change to go from my a bustling little town to the quiet of the country.

Each day is different at the shelter.  Sometimes it a new arrival, either a local citizen bringing in a found stray or maybe another shelter asking us to board one of their dogs.  Or maybe one of our dogs got adopted after I left the day before.  Sometimes it's an illness breaking out amongst the dogs, or maybe a nasty incident with an angry dog.  Today my boss Augusta is happy because one of her Belgian Malinois has been adopted by a dog loving family. A successful adoption always lifts our spirits.

I started my day off walking Kodi, our 1yr old black shepherd mix.  I didn't have much appreciation for Kodi when he first came to the shelter because he was always barking at me....."Everybody loves me baby, what's the matter with you?"  But, now I know that Kodi just barks because he's excited and ready to go have some fun.  Kodi is now our easiest walker and he knows how to sit, stay, and shake hands.  We're working on down and developing a good recall.

There's other dogs to walk, but I stop to wash a large stack of food bowls.  Augusta doesn't tell us we have to wash dishes, but you soon learn that this is a group effort.  If I wash bowls then it makes the day a little bit easier for the paid staff, and believe me, they work a a lot harder than I do.  Next I walk Riley, a two year old border collie terrier mix.  Our biggest complaint with Riley is she often zones in on other dogs , acting crazy on the leash, and getting everyone out of our comfort zone.  I'm working solo today, so I don't take time to work on her behavior problem, I just walk her for exercise and affection, sometimes it's just easier that way.

Next I take out Katie, our Catahoula, for her daily swim in the pool.  Katie is a pain to walk but she loves to swim, and on a hot summer day it's a relief for us both.  Katie was almost adopted a few months ago, but the arrangement fell apart, and she continues to be our longest held adoption dog.  My last dog for the day was Ringo, a five yr old German Shepherd.  Ringo belongs to another rescue group who is boarding him at our facility.  We don't have to walk or spend time with dogs not in our group but I think all the dogs need at least a minimal amount of human-dog interaction beyond just housing and feeding them.  When I go in Ringo's pen to leash him I can tell he's agitated.  He ducks the leash and looks up at me and barks.  Something is different.  I look around and see Pheonix in a pen across from us.  Pheonix is the Malinois that was just adopted and she has a very high pitched almost squealing bark...maybe that has Ringo on edge.  We get out on the road and it is plain hot now, well in the 90's.  The air is hot and thick but we walk on.  Ringo is well muscled, long and built low to the ground, and he walks with that typical stalking type gait that Shepherds have.  At the end of our walk we go back to our outside play area to cool off a bit, and to bond.  Ringo flips over for a belly rub....we're both happy.

Next I wash up a few more bowls and say goodbye to our paid staff Melissa and Cristal and my day is done.  I leave the shelter slowly, taking my time once more on the beat up country roads, hesitant to return to my other life.  I can't wait till Monday comes.   

Dog Walker

My name is Bill.  I am a 58year old retiree who has found my purpose in life...working with rescue dogs and helping to prepare them for adoption. I volunteer at Westside Animals For Adoption in Patterson, CA and it is the time I spend with the occupants of the shelter that opens my heart and thoughts to our wonderful dog friends.