Hi Everybody

Susan and Rebecca and I are all at the Petsmart Conference learning lots in Pittsburg. It's a full day. We have our next transport in two weeks. Yesterday we spent the day with a leading shelter vet discussing mainly vaccines, cleaning protocols and shelter medicine. Then a wonderful PR person. Guess what we're about the only HS with a blog. Good for us. thanks Linda!!! and the only one as well with YouTube videos. Thanks to Rebecca and Linda. We looked good!! Lots of good info to bring back. Got to meet the folks in Maryland, Lollypop, and Erie who actually work with our dogs. Thanks to all there who are holding down the farm. I understand that we got lots more cats yesterday. Thanks Jennifer for checking out our Siamese. More later.............

Prayers for Imogene

Wednesday Sept. 19, 2007.
Thank you, Barb, for the reminder. Imogene had her surgery this morning. I was forwarded the email written from her husband on her update--everything sounds very positive, including her already quick recovery. I personally have not had the pleasure in meeting her yet, however I feel as if I already know her and what an amazing woman she is by all incredible things people say about her. So Imogene, get well soon and hang in there! All the furry fans of you here at the shelter say "hi" and that they miss you! All of us human folk are keeping you in our prayers and we can't wait to have you home again!

Wednesday, Sept. 19th Office

Hello all--
Rita, it was great to FINALLY meet you too!! Alright, enough with the boring black font....changing NOW- oh yes, Univ. of Tennessee Volunteer Orange is more like it! It has actually been very quiet today (extremely unusual for a Weds.). No adoptions today...

We did have a guy come in and play with our condo kitties for a good hour and a half. He's in love with Taylor and went home to talk it over with his wife. Taylor would be the lone cat in the household and the man acted like a special diet for him would be no big deal. (One of our volunteers Gloria Mabe has sweetened the deal and said she would buy any cat with a special diet a month's worth of food if adopted!) Also, Taylor was out running around--he shouldn't be due to IBS (but he was in cage 8 and should've been in cage 9- he and Tex were switched. Let's all be careful to update the meds book--no need for messy diarrhea if we can avoid it!)--but maybe the honest mistake got him a home?? Keep your fingers crossed, everyone!

I also had an approved home lined up for Brewsky, but due to weight requirements, it fell through. He's a cutie--I'm sure it won't take him long to find his forever home.

Ginger got herself a wonderful bath from Bill today. I'm not sure who ended up more soaked. But Ginger certainly did appreciate it as she was prissing around after that- you could see her confidence in her step! We may also have a foster for her (this is where everyone now crosses their fingers for the second time).

Like the 2 puppies, we are also only down to 2 grey kittens needing homes. I'm taking Lilo to her pre-approved home today after I get off of work. She has over $150 worth of toys and such waiting on her at her new house!

That's about it--it was great seeing everyone!
And keep Joanne in your prayers- she's going in for hand surgery tomorrow!

Have a wonderful rest of "Talk Like a Pirate" Wednesday--

Keely

Weekend Update

Hi gang! I haven't posted an update in a while, and sadly, I don't think I have much to report today.

There was only one adoption on Saturday that I know of, but this excellent family adopted 2 of Allie's puppies! New mom and dad helped me give them baths before taking them straight to the vet to be checked out. They told me their previous 2 dogs passed away--they got the dogs from a "free to good home" ad 15 years ago! Very rarely are animals lucky enough to go to good homes from these ads. Check this out for more information and to learn ways to stop these ads.

I came in on Saturday fully intending to train dogs, but I was only able to get to Precious and Ginger. They are very motivated by hot dogs, so if you would like to reinforce the "sit" lesson, there are hot dogs in the office fridge. I've been trying to teach them hand signals, so if you want them to sit, point to their little dog bums, then give a piece of hot dog and praise as soon as bum-touches-ground (I point with my hot dog hand; they are looking at that hand anyway!). No command necessary, but you can say "sit" when you point if you want to. Please do not acknowledge Ginger if she jumps on you! We want this behavior to stop, so if you have Ginger out and she's jumping, turn your back, fold your arms, and do not make eye contact. Don't pay her one bit of attention until the jumping stops!

It was great to finally meet Keely, and I also met Shauna, who I hear is a super dog walker! I hope to have more shelter time in the future and get to hang out with these ladies more often! I was hoping to see Nicole, as there were several dogs that I thought needed baths (insert sideways winking smiley face here).

I spent the rest of Saturday cleaning litter boxes and kennels, showing folks around, and getting my leg humped by Sweet Pea, the shaggy black dog on the front row. This poor guy is very frustrated because he is not neutered! If only people knew the facts (and the myths) about spaying/neutering and why they should neuter their animals.


Everyone, meet Ranger. He's been at the shelter for a few days. Anita mentioned him in Thursday's blog (he is the big dog that she and Joanne gave a bath--way to go girls!). I can't imagine what this sweet boy's life was like before being brought to the shelter. He's emaciated, has sarcoptic mange, was infested with intestinal parasites, is covered in sores (resulting in infection), has overgrown toenails, and has callouses on his elbows and hip bones from not having any cushion between him and the cold ground.




According to the "human" who allegedly did this to him, he is aggressive towards women, as depicted in the picture to the right. See how he is pinning my lap to the ground with his head? It was reported that the ladies at one of the local vet's offices found him to be just as vicious.


Ranger is a testament to the resiliency and forgiving nature of animals. He was treated worse than garbage by a human, more than likely chained up as far as possible from his human's dwelling with probably less than weekly contact from anyone, his veterinary needs being blatantly ignored. I wonder how long ago it was that Ranger's "caretaker" last fed him. Ranger would be perfectily justified in hating or being wary of humans. But today, Billy took him for a walk and was kind to him. And when Billy went inside to get the camera, Ranger stared at the door, awaiting his return. And when Billy came back, Ranger's tail was wagging. That breaks my heart.

Be sure to tell ACO Lorton thank you for bringing Ranger home to "the family." (It would appear that he has some sort of "Rottie Radar").

All the links in today's post lead to printable pages, just in case you know someone who could use this information. Hope to see everyone at the board meeting tomorrow!

Thursday Office

Hey folks Susan has left some posters that need to be placed around your area about the adoptathon Sept. 30. They are in the office so please grab some and post where possible. I left them on book shelf behind chair.

I received a call from the new owner of Stitch and Boots that were adopted out yesterday. Seems Stitch grabbed his finger and bit it. The fellow was worried about rabies. I reassured him that the Kittens first did not yet have rabies vaccines because they were too small. Secondly the kittens had been with us since 8/8/07 and had not demonstrated any illness. Usually after a 10 day quarantine something would have shown up. And they have been with us over a month. I told him he could contact the health department to report the bite. ( Julie told me that) I did explain they are baby kittens and these lil kittens have very sharp teeth and he was probably just playing.

Nicole was in for a little bit and walked dogs.

There is a dog in back a Rotti. He is in bad shape. Joanne and I gave him a bath with the yellow medicated shampoo, treated his eyes, started panaur, and gave some stat. He is very skinny. And his skin is terrible. AC has already taken dog to vet. Because the dog is so big we muzzled him during his bath. He did very good and actually seemed to enjoy the bath. We placed a nice clean blanket in his cage and he got 1 1/2 cans of dog food. He lapped it up in no time. Lets see if we can nurse this poor dog back to health.

Well Basha one of Allie's pups left with her new owner today. The new owner gave it a flea bath before it left. Even after all the flea baths we have given the pups and mom they still have a couple. He was taking it directly to vet to get a check up and capstar. A big Thumbs up to this young man.

I don't recall anybody else getting adopted today.

Keely tried to do all you asked on the notes you left me.

Judith will be away from shelter next week monday through friday.
Laura, Rebecca, and Susan will be gone wednesday, thursday and friday.
If you need to ask any questions get them before they leave.

Bob Small was in yesterday he collected funds from banks. He is taking it slow and improving daily it was so good to see him up and about.

Hoping Imogene has a speedy recovery. We all miss ya Imogene.

Tuesday Sept. 11, 2007

Well I got back to shelter today. My purpose was to clean and sterilize all the cages and cat carriers in preparation for spay clinic tomorrow. Animal Control had to move 3 cats from the stainless steel cages.

The back was full of cats so nine had to be removed and the new immate grabbed the newly sterile blue cages. I quickly stopped him and explained why they can not use the blue carriers.

I told him they can only use the pet taxis that are meant for the purposes he needed them. We certainly do not want any illneses transfered to our surgical pets. BTW the new immate is named Will. He likes animals even had a couple of cats that lived to age 18.

I helped him sterilize used litter pans, and the feeding bowls. Put away unused dog bowls into cupboard, washed outside of frig in food prep room tossing out some old opened dog food cans. We do have lids now for the cans so if you have to use only a 1/2 can please try to put a lid on remainder.

I checked on the grey kitten in the ed room he seems to be doing better still a bit wobbly. But should be good to put back in condo later this week. What a cutie. But for future please if a cat or kitten take a fall please make a note in the book. So we can all watch it for any signs of trouble. I know my slef we have some who leap out of cages when we go to clean. It is bound to happen. But it could save us a trip to the vet and the cost for checking it.

A lock smith came in and removed the punch keypad from condo door. The door now opens with a key which is on the back door attached to the keyring that holds the well key. A spare key should be in petty cash bag.

I managed to get all the dogs in puppy room except Flea out for some exercise. Spud 1 the small white terrier has been adopted and will get fixed in spay clinic tomorrow. Spud the bigger poodle mix is being adopted tomorrow after he gets fixed.

Cuddles went to rescue, Rose was adopted out by AC as was Bambi, Cody, and Bell 2.

The sad news is that Bell 2 was not pregnant but was full of heartworms. The new owner took her to the vet. His vet feels the first treatment will kill her telling owner this is the worst case of heartworm he has seen. So the vet has suggested she be euth. New owner has incurred a large vet bill already. Laura and Julie are working with the new owner so he can still get a dog.

I did not see Sammie or Sara so I am assuming Ac adopted out. Boss who came in with them still needs a good home.

I moved Peanut from back to second row front room and have him advertised online. I have also put Flea online.

When I spoke to Rebecca earlier she was at shelter getting things ready for the spay clinic tomorrow. Please note there is a mop in there that is ONLY used for surgery room and spay office. Rebecca was getting the rabies vaccines ready for tomorrow.

I am looking for a volunteer who can help once a month on assisi van. It is usually the first tuesday of each month. If you know someone that is interested please have them contact me.

I need someone that can do pet discharges, wipe out cages, pack medical tool. We will train very simple procedures.

Joanne was in cleaning condo, medicating and getting the laundry done. We talked about the Newbern festival. She is going to look into a booth for that day. We could use a face painter unless Laura's son can do that for us. I will be spraying kids hair weird colors and selling items. If you can make some items to help us raise money please let us know. Dog Bandanas, Kitten mittens those felt toys with catnip in them was great. We also hope to get folks to sign up to get their pets fixed. Anything to help us use this event for educational purposes and fund raising.

Well I believe I have debriefed my self and updated you all.

Iam looking forward to AC website being updated this week. We have some really nice dogs I can get online.

I also wanted to point out to you that the Lost and Found site that Jason and Kim keep updated are also noting a new site. http://www.fidofinder.com/

Check it out. We may want to start letting folks know about that site if they are looking for a lost dog.

Till later hope everyone has a great week.

Sweet Pea's anniversary

Yesterday, September 9, was Sweet Pea's one year anniversary as my faithful companion. This picture to the left shows her the day I brought her home from Shenandoah County Animal Shelter (a lovely facility actually), where she was dumped because she looked like a pit bull after being adopted from us. Well, she had my heart from the beginning, especially with that totally cute underbite, a.k.a. "the shovel."

But let's be honest; her name isn't actually Sweet Pea anymore. She has gone through several names, including Karma and Yenta (a Yiddish word meaning "busybody"), until finally being saddled with Peepees. I try to make up for the name by giving her lots of love and pedicures!

Peepees never fails to make me laugh every day. She always lives life to the fullest, which reminds me to do the same. She always eats like it's the best meal she's ever had (but she's not food aggressive), she sleeps so heavily she's earned the nickname "the slug," she plays will all her heart and runs top speed. When she's coming at you, just get out of the way! She once knocked me flat on my butt and trampled me to the point that for a second, I thought I was in Pamplona!

She's my little girl, and I can't imagine life without her!

The Shelter was a little slower today as this week has been so hectic for everyone--not as many dogs and cats coming in. Judith was in doing the condo and meds, Keely and I working the office and Nicole getting everything ready for transport. Jeff, Shilo and Prissy going to Rescue. Rose had someone interested that is bringing her other dog back to meet her tomorrow. Cuddles will go to Rescue on Monday. Ginger and Buster may go later in the week. Thanks to Rebecca for all her work on this. I"ve learned this week that Rescue is totally time consuming. Hope everyone has a great weekend!! Keep posting.

A Week at the Shelter

Hey folks

This week at the shelter has been really busy. Unfortunately we are full and overflowing at the seams. Today we finally had three inmates and the shelter looks lots better. Spud got adopted today and Bambi is going tomorrow. Jeff and Shilo are going to rescue on Saturday!! Thanks so much to Nicole for the transport and of course to Rebecca for all the arrangments.

Thanks to Joann for doing meds today. She's so much smoother than me. It took me forever yesterday.

If anyone has extra time, even though we have Keely, we do need volunteers to be at the shelter working with the public and helping them choose pets, grooming and walking and so many other tasks. Please spend any time you have there. Feel free to ask Keely or the office person in charge what needs doing today.

Wanted to remind everyone to think about Bob who just had disc surgery and is out for awhile and also Anita who is with her mom having heart surgery today. Mom is doing fine. Anita should be back by next week.

Other goings on include applying for a grant with the Community Foundation to help ofset the cost of spays in our clinic. Thanks so much to Jane Bell for writing this and Becky for the financial info to go with it. Keep your fingers crossed. We've asked for $5000 to spay neuter pets of low income as well as designated some for pitbulls----Pit Snip anyone?

Precious and Ginger are still at the shelter and desperately need a loving home. Please tell all your friends. The good news is that our discount cat adoption fee resulted in 15 adoptions from the condo last month. YEAH!!!

Well, rest up until tomorrow.

Assisi Van

I can't believe we did so many dogs today. Over 30 dogs were altered today. We only had 3 cats. The van was there till 5 pm today.

Two dogs were returned to the shelter. One I knew about because the owner came in stated his living situation had changed so he was bringing the dog in to get fixed but would not be picking him up. Bobbie said it is a birddog and his name is Rusty.

The other I was waiting for its arrival and when Bobbie contacted the owner we learned he had returned it a few days before. Previously it was Hazel not sure what the name is now. This dog did not get on.

Tinker and Belle the 2 little puppies in front got row got adopted and put on van today. The new owners paid for booster shots and a dose of frontline because they had "friends" .

Sasha came in with 3 other puppies and was put in back row. She got adopted today as well. She will go on the Oct 2nd van.

Catrina stayed all day today and Lisa was there too both doing what they do best . So glad they know what has to be done. They are very valuable to the success of the van. We also got the new forms so please use these when signing pets up.

Tika, Terri, Cuddles, Sammie, Jackie, Dogy, Jeff, Boss, Sara, all got on the van. I have noted on their kennels cards the spays and nueters and date. These dogs have to be adopted out for $85.00 to recover the cost of medical and county fees. Spot in the puppy room was already spayed but I did not know that as it was not reflected on the kennel card. Peanut and Reese also are already nuetered. Reese had a bad case of "friends" so he got a capstar and 30 minutes later he got a fleabath with conditioner and his mats removed from his ears. Then he was placed outside to dry and he was loving life. He is supposed to be adopted tomorrow. Hope that goes well.

Jeff, Dogy, Rose and I believe Spot are all going to rescue. Rebecca has been hard at work attempting to save their lives. You go girl!!!!

While the girls worked on the van I was busy trying to clean the shelter, Laura popped in and she cleaned bowls, litter pans, feral cages. I even had a woman who had a dog on the van and wanting to kill some time helping me out. ( I almost fainted when she asked if there was something she could help with) Terry the immate gave it his all today also.

With many of the cages empty because the dogs were in Assisi Van we were able to clean.

The shelter actually looked a lot better then it has these last couple of days. But we all really worked hard today. Before everyone was returned to their cages they had fresh towels laid out, we made sure they all got a bowl of food.

Our ever faithful volunteer condo cleaner Joanne was in doing laundry and cleaning the condo and it looked and smelled great. It is always with pride we can take people in to show them our condo cats. If I can just remember the combo to the door!

So I want to say thanks to everybody who gave it their all today.

Having a full shelter and only one immate makes it very difficult to do a thorough job of cleaning.

If any body has anytime this week and can come help clean that would be great until they hire that cleaning person we have been approved for, the job is toooo big for one person. Julie has called and asked for more help but each day we get the one.

Susan was giving meds this evening , she was busy on the phone today and logging money we collected from services provided on the van. Oh I forget who was looking for those blue healer labs today but after looking online I figured out they are Judith, Laura, & Zeus. The people who called about them were giving you the ID number. If you can call them back and tell them we have them still.

At the end of the day another volunteer stopped in to walk the dogs who did not have surgery today . Unfortuantely I did not know her name. But thanks for taking the time to make these dogs happy. The dogs so needed to get out to just get fresh air and a little exercise.

Jackie had to have a wrap. There is a note on her kennel card to please remove it tomorrow.

I am advertising some of the dogs on nrvnew.com I have already had an inquiry about Cuddles.

Before the shelter opened we had a small office. There was not the day to day dealing with the dogs and cats . Many entered the shelter few found homes. Today we have a wonderful new shelter. We are vaccinating all the dogs to help eliminate the spread of disease, we provide many on hand services that were not provided previously. We can bath and groom them. We are more active in advertising the pets, getting the pets to rescues, we try to socialize those wild, or timid souls. Most importantly we are making sure the environment is safe and disease free.

It is impossible to do all this alone. It takes a tremedous amount of team effort. And all of us working towards one goal and that is to make things better for all that enter the shelter, humans and pets. Currently We Are The State Of The Art Facility that is being replicated in other areas.

We have something to be proud of and we are making a difference in the community.

Please note I did not say you , or I did it. I said we all do it collectively. We are so lucky to have a strong dedicated network of volunteers. I'm thankful for each and everyone of you. I have learned so much working with each and everyone of you. And yet I realize I know so little.

If I were a dog I would hope to come to our shelter where I know that the volunteers cared if I was ill, injured, hungry or just needed a bit of one on one with a human. I know they want me to have healthy life and happy home.

You all have a great week and keep up the good work!

PS: Catrina now has email.