How to be a Successful Open-Intake Animal Shelter in a Rural County

Benton County Animal Shelter in Camden, Tennessee is the poster child for a successful open intake shelter in a rural county. Their secret is a vibrant volunteer program and engaging their entire community in the shelter’s mission – from children to seniors.

Despite being open intake, the shelter rarely euthanizes for length of stay. In 2024, they handled about a thousand animals, half dogs, half cats, with a staff of two full-time employees (one director, one ACO officer) and four part-time kennel techs.

We always ask to see the longest stay dog and at BCAS that was Helga, a small black lab mix, who had been at the shelter 22 days. She came in very shut down, shivering in the back of her kennel, but now after nonstop attention from the plethora of committed volunteers, she harassed me for the treats in my bag.

Lisa has been the shelter director for the last two years. She started at the shelter three and a half years ago, volunteering in the cat room after losing a cat that was so dear to her heart that she has the cat’s image incorporated into a beautiful tattoo on her arm.

Volunteers Make ALL the Difference at Open-Intake Shelter

The shelter has about a dozen regular volunteers. Their unofficial head volunteer is Kim, who is there nearly every day. Their ACO, Derek, joked, “We don’t give her any days off or vacation time.”

Kim is a positive force whose enthusiasm for the work is contagious. She has brightened the shelter with her positivity and ideas. Another positive force, who is there almost daily, is Brittany, who handles the shelter’s social media and does a great job of keeping a positive vibe going. (Positive social media helps shelters far more than sad/guilt/blame-ridden messages.)

Brittany began volunteering only last October after her daughter asked to visit the shelter for her birthday. Now they both volunteer. Kids under 16 are allowed to volunteer as long as they bring their parent along with them. It was great to see kids at the shelter. They are a great way to engage the whole community. Even seniors are welcome to come to BCAS and simply sit with dogs who all benefit from human interaction.

Trusted volunteers are given access to the shelter even outside of regular shelter hours, so they can check on animals in the evening and keep the staff from having to come back after hours. That’s a rare thing—and a great benefit to the animals and the staff. Why more shelters don’t allow volunteers to come in outside of ‘public hours’ always baffles me.

Volunteers don’t just walk dogs and play with them, they also work on manners, teaching them to walk nicely on a leash, not jump up, and perform basic obedience commands. This helps their dogs be more successful when they are adopted and the shelter has very few returns.

Volunteers are also encouraged to take pictures and videos and post them on their own social media and actively help find homes for the dogs. Lisa said Kim is a bit of a matchmaker and helps steer adopters towards the best animal for them.

One of the reasons BCAS is able to have so many volunteers despite the rural location is that the staff and volunteers work hard to make it a welcoming place. The staff and volunteers make an effort to connect with every person who walks through their doors, helping them find the right animal or the right volunteer job for them. They want everyone to be on team BCAS.

That attitude makes a world of difference. The volunteers are the best advocates for the shelter.

Transparency Leads to Solutions and Support

Not long after our visit, the shelter found themselves in a crisis with too many long-stay animals. The staff was considering instituting a 75 day policy, euthanizing if the dog had no adopter or rescue. Lisa is an excellent leader, having been a volunteer herself, her transparency about the situation led to the volunteers asking for and the county agreeing to the shelter starting a foster program instead.

At the time, they only had a handful of fosters for high-risk animals like the newborn puppies who were being picked up as we arrived.

BCAS is incredibly blessed to have PAWS of Benton Co. TN, a nonprofit that supports its work. Dawn created and leads PAWS., She also owns the local cafe and an art gallery in downtown Camden, where we had a delicious lunch and a chance to talk with shelter volunteers and PAWS members after our visit at the shelter. Groups like PAWS are critical to any municipal shelter’s success because they can fundraise and purchase unbudgeted supplies or pay for unexpected medical needs.

PAWS has been responsible for many of the positive changes at the shelter, adding karunda beds, blankets, and toys (plus cute little baskets on the kennel doors to hold the toys). They’ve enriched the lives of the dogs by adding play yards and outdoor spaces, and enabled them to save lives by providing vaccines and paying for life-saving medical needs not covered in the county budget, which only covers spay/neuter and euthanasia.

Community Engagement is Key to Successful Open Intake Shelter

We were way-laid by traffic coming out of Memphis and didn’t arrive in time to see the vaccine clinic run by PAWS for community animals. Thanks to a Petco Love grant, they’d vaccinated 35-40 community-owned animals the morning of our visit. PAWS holds the clinics every three months.

One of the biggest reasons BCAS is so successful is that its community is engaged in its work and its success. In addition to the dozen or so committed volunteers and PAWS of Benton County, the local paper runs a weekly free ad for the shelter and the radio station also features them regularly.

Darlene, one of the shelter volunteers, works to get everything ready for the radio, newspaper, and county-wide free paper. Candy, a reporter for the Camden Chronicle was on hand for our visit and also is working on writing grants for the shelter. A local motorcycle club, Other Brothers, will be hosting Hogs for Dogs to benefit the shelter.

The Camden Animal Clinic performs the shelter animals’ spay/neuter surgeries (plus their rabies shot) for reasonable prices.

The county just purchased a new Animal Control vehicle for Derek to use, thanks to Camden Chevrolet. Prior to that, he was using the standard rural municipal ACO vehicle of a pick up truck with crates in the back.

There is so much good happening at Benton County Animal Shelter! I need to wrap this up, so I won’t keep going, but please consider encouraging their work by shopping their wishlists.

Amazon Wishlist for Benton County Animal Shelter

Chewy Wishlist for Benton County Animal Shelter

Make a donation to PAWS of Benton County

You can follow all their activities on the shelter’s Facebook page.

Until each one has a home,

Cara

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Who Will Let the Dogs Out: Stories and Solutions for Shelters and Rescues was published in January of 2025. It is filled with stories and ideas to help everyone be part of the solution. You can buy a hardback or paperback copy for yourself and/or buy a copy for a shelter or rescue through our website. It is also available on Amazon in paperback and ebook. We are looking for opportunities to share a presentation of the ideas in the book and facilitate conversations about how we can work together to find solutions for our shelters. If you have a dog-hearted group that would like to connect, contact Cara@wwldo.org.

To see our Emmy-nominated, award-winning short documentary, Amber’s Halfway Home, click here.

Did you know we have a podcast? I’m working at getting regular episodes up, including the audio version of the new book (narrated with additional info), and interviews with shelter heroes we meet. Find the podcast on Spotify and other podcast services.

For more information on any of our projects, to talk about rescue in your neck of the woods, or partner with us, please email cara@WWLDO.org.

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