Why are there so many dogs dying in our southern shelters? This is the question that has been posed to me again and again in podcast interviews, on social media, in emails, and quite often, in person. I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about that question and I don’t necessarily have a concise answer,…
Private animal shelters often are built near public shelters to do the job that the tax-payer funded shelter is not. They literally rescue dogs from the public shelter. Why is more not expected from a government run shelter? Why do citizens pay for two shelters – one with their taxes and the other with their donations (and hearts)? And why, pray tell, do we allow this to go on?
This past spring we visited Petersburg Animal Care & Control just outside of Richmond, Virginia. The shelter building is over sixty years old and shows it, but new director and ACO, Jenny, is doing all she can with what she’s got, and that means saving as many dogs as possible. Before Jenny took over in…
Imagine a shelter where, instead of cages, the dogs live in bedrooms with their buddies. Where they get to play in enormous play yards with pools and obstacles and Astro-turf (which is really good for itching your back).
After visiting nearly 80 shelters and rescues, I can tell a lot about a shelter just by walking through their kennels. At Gaston County Animal Care and Enforcement, it’s pretty peaceful in their kennel rooms….
After nearly two weeks in Georgia and Florida (with one quick stop in NC), we are home and I’m sifting through all that we learned. The chorus of too many dogs and not enough adopters, resources, or rescues were variations on the same theme. Just like other trips, we met heroic rescue coordinators, shelter directors,…
Private animal shelters often are built near public shelters to do the job that the tax-payer funded shelter is not. They literally rescue dogs from the public shelter. Why is more not expected from a government run shelter? Why do citizens pay for two shelters – one with their taxes and the other with their donations (and hearts)? And why, pray tell, do we allow this to go on?
Smart shelter practices that save every dog don’t have to cost a lot of money, but if money is what is needed here is a model for how local volunteers can help a public shelter
@savingcheathamanimals
Now that Who Will Let the Dogs Out (otherwise known as Waldo) is official, we need YOU. You knew this was coming, right? After all, I did warn you in my previous post.
We have BIG news! Read all about it….
