Animal Control Alumni

edited June 2008 in Rescue
Piglet attends obedience class on Sundays, and this past Sunday there were a bunch of dogs who I worked with at Animal control.

I wanted to share some of the happy stories.

Those if you who work at shelters who euthanize pits, feel free to forward this one, ALL of these dogs have been or are in the process of being CGC'd. Many are now owned by cops and politicians!

Annie (formerly Sugar)
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Annie and her dad Tom (police officer)
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Remember Lily? Now Faith, with Sue my trainer.
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Teddy, we never thought he would find a home, now he lives with and awesome family and has his own pet boy! He also has a crush on Piglet
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Scooby, another one we were afraid wouldn't get a chance. YAY he has really nice parents.
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Tinkerbell, now Tinka. I cried when I saw how happy and beautiful she looks. I love her family so much for loving her as much as I do.
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And Piglet of course, my baby who used to be Belle and who is snoring next to me as I type this.
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Comments

  • edited November -1
    It so good to hear about those happy endings!
  • edited November -1
    You are lucky to get to see so many of them with their new families. All of them are looking great! I just cannot keep track of where all the dogs go that go through DCHS.

    Do you work with all of the dogs that go through? Do you help facilitate adoptions too? How many dogs go through your place a year?

    Sorry for the line of questions, I'm just trying to get a grip on how big your place is. I guess the fact that you volunteer way more hours per week than I do would also allow you to be more involved. I put in about 5 hours a week on two different days. They have different volunteers for all roles, some volunteers just help people find the right dogs, some volunteers just walk level 1 dogs, some level 2, some level 3. Then there the Pre-Adopt people (that's what I do) who just do what we can to get all the dog some time outside. We are packed right now.

    If you don't want this cluttering your thread, just whisper to me, or we could talk about it over e-mail and I'll delete all of this out of here.
  • edited June 2008
    Jessica, you are a special person!

    If I might share a short Pit Bull story of my own. My neighborhood backs up to a lower income housing project. There is an 8 foot high fence that separates us. One evening a pit bull from over the fence broke it's chain where apparently he had been tied outside. The neighbors called police, police arrived, chased the dog with guns drawn, and somehow the pit alluded police by either climbing that 8 foot fence into my back yard or tunneling (which I never could find where that was possible).

    When I saw the dog in my backyard I knew where it had come from as he paced along the back fenceline. I could see his broken leather collar, which I cut off because it was on so tight. I gave him water and drove back to that neighborhood looking for the owner. Never once did the dog give me anything to be freightened of with his demeanor towards me, although their stares can be intense. I gave him the benefit of the doubt and he never showed aggression.

    Anyway, after much searching, I did locate the owners the next day, on their way to work. They said 'oh, thank you! we can't come get him now, but we will be over right after work'. I left him food (chicken and rice was all I had cooked up because at the time I did not have a dog), tons of water and he made hisself at home, never pooping in the yard, but always going to the nature area to do his business.

    When they came that afternoon to pick him up, he acted as if he didn't want to leave with them. They even made that comment! They also said "weren't you afraid of him?" I said 'he gave me no reason to be scared of him". I always wonder whether I did the right thing in returning him, but at the same time, I know they loved him, in their own way.
  • edited November -1
    This is awesome, I am definitely forwarding this to the NEPA Muscle Breed Education Coalition - I know they are getting a major campaign together for "Ban the deed not the breed" in response to PA trying to pass Breed Specific Legislations..

    Incredible work - you must be very, very proud of the doggies and their people! Bravo, Jessica!!!!!!!
  • edited November -1
    That's great Jessica! Thanks for brightening my day. :-)
  • edited November -1
    It's great to hear stories of success, especially about such discriminated breeds. They all have happy looks on their faces!
    Geez, Tink is a great looking dog!
  • edited November -1
    Jess, that was lovely.
  • edited November -1
    Awww, thats wonderful!!! Im so glad so many of them were able to find good homes :)
  • edited November -1
    On a sadder scarier note, one of our dogs MAY have distemper. If that is the case, the dogs at the shelter will ALL get put down. I will keep you updated on that.

    We have also found 2 rabid foxes, and a rabid racoon. Keep an eye on your pups outside please.

    Brandon,
    I don't know how many dogs pass through in a year. Adoptions have gone up consistently since they have let volunteers do the placement and work closely with the dogs. I meet with prospective adopters, introduce them to dogs, take them out, and if they own dogs I facilitate meet and greets between the shelter dogs and their pets. I work closely with the adoption coordinator to insure that when dogs DO need to get put down, we save as many of the good ones as possible. We pick by temperment, not by cuteness or youth. I work with all of the dogs with the exception of the dogs in quarentine. Those are dogs that have bitten and they are not allowed to be dealt with by civilians.
  • edited November -1
    That's a great post! Thanx Jessica, its nice to see them doing so well. Tinka looks GREAT!

    It must make you feel great, all your hard work, then you get to see the results. Very special!

    ----
  • edited November -1
    Waa? I thought I commented but I don't see it. Probably closed the tab before clicking "add your comments"

    I'm so glad to see Lily found a new home along with everyone else.

    Uh oh, I hope no one has distemper. When do you find out? Wish the dogs luck.
  • edited November -1
    Oh wow, how did I miss the distemper thing ... that's terrible. :-( When will you know?
  • edited November -1
    I'm really sorry to hear about the possible distemper case, that would be awful.


    It seems that your place really lacks the resources and depth of staff/volunteers that we have. DCHS has about 500 volunteers, not all of which that come in consistently, but there are a lot of us. Different volunteers for dogs, cats, reptiles, bunnies, small critters, barn yard animals, birds, etc. The staff is also pretty big. There are behaviorists, front office people, administrative, animal caretakers, vets, vet techs, it's really a pretty large operation. DCHS has about 7,000 animals come through the door each year. DCHS also started a program last year where non-violent offenders from a nearby correctional facility come in and do all of the kennel cleaning, dish washing, and laundry each morning. It's a great program, as long as the guys get some training first. Many of them have no skills with animals and I have caught a few of them pushing terrified dogs through kennel doors with their feet, and once even with a broom. I reported what I saw to anyone who would listen and have not seen that behavior in awhile.

    Tonight is a volunteer meeting and following that will be a small memorial service for a large group of pitbulls (47) that spent like 9 months at DCHS. They were brought in from a guy who was breeding/fighting and they were evidence forever. They were all euthanized. Their ashes are going to be spread on the property and a new bench is going to be dedicated. Their time there, and the way things had to end was hard on a lot of volunteers and staff members.


    Congrats again on all of your hard work paying off, and it's so great that you get to see some of your old friends again after they have left.
  • edited November -1
    I'm really sorry to hear about the possible distemper, how horrible...
  • edited November -1
    Holy crap Brandon. DCHS sounds like paradise compared to the Cobb County Animal Shelter. We have two "Animal Care Specialists" that double as caretakers, vet techs, and sometimes even work as front office people on the weekends. There is no such thing as a "volunteer meeting", in fact more than half of the volunteers don't even have t-shirts because they don't have money in the budget to order new ones right now. I'm jealous.
  • edited November -1
    Yeah, Providence is the state Capital and we have a payed staff of 8 and maybe 6 volunteers. Safe to say it is an uphill battle.
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