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…
After our day spent on the streets of Memphis with All 4s Rescue League, I lost track of how many dogs we fed, and how many times Suzy handed out spay/neuter information or left a note: ‘Sorry we missed you,…
The challenges of saving (or not saving) dogs at Memphis Animal Services Shelter are vast. MAS is struggling for multiple reasons and is euthanizing for space every week. In fact, they euthanized dogs while we were visiting them in February…
It’s been six years since I last visited this animal shelter in Tennessee, the Huntingdon Dog Pound. That was the day I found my darling pup, Miss Fanny Wiggles. She was emaciated and covered in poop. Now, she is a…
Every time we travel to Tennessee, we have the pleasure of staying with Laura Prechel, who runs CASA Transport which moves thousands of animals out of Tennessee to shelters and rescues in the north every year. With their CASA Clinic,…
The story at Maury County Animal Services in Columbia Tennessee, just southwest of Nashville is volunteers. Led by their new director, Kim, who started out as a volunteer at MCAS herself, they have transformed the shelter. Kim has been the…
The following post was written in 2019, right before Nancy and I formalized our work as Who Will Let the Dogs Out that December. It’s been five years, but the sentiment is still the same: What We’re Bringing is Hope…
This year marks five years for WWLDO, and we’re evaluating the impact we’ve had and mapping out a plan to greatly expand that impact. As part of that process, we recently polled some of the shelters we visited in the…
Until 2004, the Unicoi County Animal Shelter on the eastern edge of Tennessee was a traditional dog pound—no adoptions, very few live releases. Enter Ellen, a current board member who changed the story and helped that dog pound become a…
Last week’s shelter tour was inspiring. To be honest, I had braced myself, expecting the worst, as headline after headline declares shelters everywhere are overwhelmed. And yet, we met amazing people making the most of tough situations. For sure the…