Meredith's Visit

I had some spare time over a past weekend and decided that it would be nice to stop in for an hour or two so I could show Meredith around and introduce her to some of the dogs that I had been so enthusiastically talking about. The weather was nice and it was early afternoon, so the Center was very busy and there were plenty of people looking around for a little guy to take home, which was very nice to see.

Naturally we had to take Kenya out to the play area first as it must have seemed to Meredith that she was the only dog at the Center given how much time I spent with her and talking about her when I got home. Meredith took some wonderful pictures with her fantastic camera, so I will let them do most of the talking for this post

This is another one of the pit bull mixes at the Center.  He was new for this week and a bit frightened, which I feel you can see quite well in the picture.

Tell me that she doesn't look like a bat or a gremlin...I was very surprised that she actually managed to come down from her perch on the kennel was for long enough for Meredith to take a picture.

I love the group shot below from one of the back runs.  The dogs look like a group of small kids just briefly looking up for a group shot...like the Sandlot Kids.  There are all doing different things and giving different looks. Hilarious.  Especially the Great Dane mix.

Pit Bull Bound

As I have mentioned before, there are a handful of very tough looking Pit Bulls mixes at Pets, Inc. I am sure there are specific dogs in this world that I would prefer to stay away from, not from fear of the breed itself, but due to the nature in which the dog was raised and trained. Pit Bulls carry that mantra for plenty of people, however I feel very confident in the nature of the dog when they are calm and relaxed, just like any dog really.

Shyla is a one year old mix that was found wandering the streets and in pretty bad shape. Pets, Inc have done a wonderful job nourishing her back to shape and she is very nice and pleasant dog. The notes on the website say she would prefer to be the only dog in the household, which I am sure is true, however I find it very hard to be confident in a person or family that doesn't have a dog going to the Center and picking her to come home with them. She does have that distinctive look to her and her face and front legs carry the scares of a dog that has been fought many times.

When she is in her kennel she will not jump up and lean on the door to get closer to you like all of the other dogs. I have a feeling this behavior has a lot to do with how she was raised. I decided that leaning over confidently was the best way to leash her up and off we went to the play area.

Shyla had a great time sniffing around the fenced in area, there wasn't too much running around, not too much playing with any of the toys, however she did make time to come over to me and rest her head in my lap a number of times...just to make sure I was still there and still wanted to give her attention and affection. I believe the first picture of her is one of the best pictures I have from my time at Pets, Inc so far.


As I always do, I went in search of Nervous Ned, who was still jumping around in the medium dog room. There were are few new additions to the medium room...I don't believe they were new to the Center, I think they were just moved into Nervous' room. I managed to push my way through the door, while everyone inside was trying to get out. Except Ned. She was keeping a safe distance from all the activity and any me in particular. I had my leash ready for Ned and was determined to get her leashed up and out to play. Ned on the other hand had different ideas.

In what could have only been written in a story, I calmly tired to get the collar over Ned's head...to somewhat comical results. I was leaning down trying to get the collar around her neck, while she was quickly pacing in a circle around me just beyond my reach (all the while four other dogs are trying the get their heads in the collar or lick me in the face). After a few turns, I tried to change directions to fool Ned...no luck. After a number of changes in direction and the onset of dizziness, I managed to get her leashed up and ready to go. We got to the door, cracked it ever so slightly, shimmied out...and out squeezes one of the little Sheppards with us. Dog on the run.

Ned and I quickly wrangled up the little Sheppard and got a leash for him so I could walk him back to the room, however he had other ideas. He stopped dead about 10 feet from the door just like Kenya did the week before and I was stuck with Nervous trying the get back in the room and the little Sheppard doing exactly the opposite. Guess who had to go back in the room and not get walked? It's probably a good lesson for all things in life...no matter how great the opportunity and how much someone may be willing to help you, if you do not grasp the opportunity or embrace the help, you won't get anywhere.

As the sun went down, I managed to get a few minutes with Kenya in the play area. She was just as lovely as usual and I am convinced that if she were the same chocolate color that her brother was, she would have been adopted in a matter of days.

Guess who was up to her usual tricks again when I was in the kennel...can you spot the little guy having a peek over behind her?

Third Time's A Charm

For my first visit after the Fall time change, I tried to get out to the Center a little bit earlier than I normally do so I could catch the sun while it's still up. The sun seems to disappear before I normally turn around to check outside at the end of work now. I made decent time and the temperature was actually alright when I arrived, so things were looking up.

Vicious Tim is gone.

I wrestled with the guilty feelings again, I was sad that he was gone, but that's a very selfish way to feel at an Adoption Center and I should have been ecstatic at that moment. I suppose there is an emotional learning curve when you choose to be involved in an environment like Pets, Inc. Tim was an excellent and very good looking dog and I am sure he is lapping up the everyday attention of a new family, for which I am very happy. Nervous Ned however...still kickin' it.

I decided that it was time to make some new friends as I approached an outside pen with three medium size teenagers in it. The first girl that I notice was Kenya. Kenya is an eight month old Lab - Doberman mix (for which I have a very soft spot) and she is gorgeous! Her coat is like that of a doberman, it is very short and very deep black, while her body seems to be like a lab at first glance, however her features are more elongated and slender like a Doberman...with a huge nose. I took her out to the play area where she really showed off her teenage Doberman personality...extremely goofy with a overwhelming need for baby-like attention.

- Kenya's reaction to a little high pitch whistle with a pitch change. Buuuuuhhh?

After finishing up with Kenya I walked her back to her pen to put her back up, however about 10 feet away she just stopped dead. All four feet locked down, not moving. I tried to coax her without babying, but I ended up just having to pick her up...which I used to have to do on occasion with Jaeger when he was younger.

I had Kenya cradled in my arms while I opened the gate, all the while trying to keep the other two dogs back from the gate and in the pen, but a little guy slipped between my legs and got out! I put Kenya down, locked the gate and faced my biggest fear.

The last thing anyone wants to do is let a dog out of a pen, gate, door, and into the open. Especially when you are trying to be a positive assistant to a Adoption Center. Thankfully when I asked the little guy to come over and he saw the leash, he just flopped down and waited for me to come over and leash him up. He was another of the Sheppard - Something variety, however like all the dogs I have taken out, he was very excited to be playing and very appreciative of the time and attention that I was giving him....just make sure you have your eyes on the floor when you open the door to the pen.

It was getting dark quickly so I decided to move inside the kennel to take a look at some of the big runs in the back, where there are a handful of dogs in each space. There is a remarkable amount of space in the run, with about five or six dogs in the one I walked into, where three of the Lab - Hound mixes had 'treed' a squirrel. The three of them spent the whole time I was in there chasing a very unimpressed squirrel back and forth between trees. I spent my time laughing at a juvenile Great Dane who seem to be having enough trouble coordinating his legs rather than helping chase the squirrel.

I Couldn't Leave This Out

There are a handful of Pit Bulls at Pets, Inc. that seem to have come from tough backgrounds as one would assume.  I haven't walked any of them yet, however I do plan on it, I just want to make sure I have a discussion about them individually with the lady that runs the kennel.  They all seem fairly nice, as I have offered my hand to all of them and have reached over the door to pet a couple of them.

I was going over my pictures and just couldn't leave this picture out. The picture below is one of the Pit Bulls that has figured out a way to bounce up high enough to lodge himself in the top corner of his pen by his elbows so he can have a look around. From what I can tell, he does it quite a lot as he was told to get down in a tone that suggested repeat offending.

                                                                                    

Back For A Second Time

As I pulled up for my second visit, I had a slightly differnet feeling about coming to the Center...I don't know if it was more business-like and less idealistic because I was aware of the reality of Pets, Inc., or just that the first visit may have been more important to me than the dogs with whom I spent time.

The process of checking in was much more simple than my grouping with the juvies on my first visit, so I just signed in, said hello to the people at the desk and walked into the kennel to say hello to the tens of dogs barking at me. The lady that was in control of the kennel in week one wasn't there, so I just asked the young lad that cleans and stocks the pens if I could just grab a leash, which he said I could. I wasn't quite sure who needed to go out, so I went back to the medium dog room, opened the door and Vicious Tim was there looking at me.

As much as I wanted to take Vicious Tim out again, I felt a bit guilty picking favorites from a group where I hope to make everyone feel like a favorite, so I took out a yellow Lab I dubbed Pee Peein' Tom. I am sure many people have had many a male dog that can pee hundreds of times (one of which I have), but this guy was on fire. Letting him pee all over the play area probably wasn't the most constructive activity, however it made him happy and between dominating tree trunks, he came over and got some scratching from me.

After putting Pee Peein' Tom back in the medium dog room I couldn't resist taking Vicious Tim out again. He was just as good as last time and when I was walking him out a couple of the people that work at the Center came over and gave him and scratch and said hello and mentioned how good of a dog he was. I started to think how amazing it was that (even with the moon shaking howl) he was still at the Center. We did the usual out at the play area and had just as much fun as last time as I though how much fun he would be for a family. I found Vicious on the Pets, Inc. website if you want to read some of his story.

http://www.petsinc.org/availabledogs.php?showpets=1&pettype=1&petid=755&startpage=4

Back in the medium dog room there was a new little guy that managed to jump up and land a perfect poo footprint on my chest, so with that I decided that he deserved a walk too. When we got to the play area Richard Kimble was on the run again. Whomever was to take on Richard would need plenty of space, or plenty of energy, because he spent all but a few minutes running around as fast as he could. Most of my pictures of Dr. Kimble are blurs of him running by me at full speed, which he wholeheartedly enjoyed.

Nervous Ned was was the last of the four in the medium dog room, however she seemed a bit more nervous than usual, so I decided to venture out and take a few of the 'Lab + something' mixes for a short walk around the wooded area for a sniff, which they all seemed to enjoy. I also took out Lucky (clearly not my naming) who is a Catahoula Leopard Dog. I had never seen one before, so I figured I might as well take him out. http://www.petsinc.org/availabledogs.php?showpets=1&pettype=1&petid=758&startpage=2

- Nervous Ned, not exactly the picture of confidence

While the sun was now down, I came inside to say hello to the puppies. It was much colder than last week, so the pups were inside in their pens and there were a few knock out additions to the Center. The boxer pups were very young and hilarious. A family was adopting one of the white pups while I was inside.

I left thinking I didn't remember seeing anyone missing from the prior week, just more additions, which is how it goes I assumed...then again, I wasn't really that familiar with everyone that was there.

First Day On The Job

I made my way up to Pets, Inc. on time and on schedule for my first visit (10-27-2008), for which the young lady told me I could just fill out and application and get to helping the staff out...simple enough. After getting my information filled out (just the basics), the girl at the desk ask me to hold on and just stay with the group that came in after me.

I quickly figured out that the group next to me was a collection of kids doing community service. I remembered the reading I had done online about Pets, Inc. and how I could just come up there and be a companion and walk the dogs...I didn't fancy shoveling poo all afternoon with the juvies, so I quickly separated myself from them and let the girl at the desk know why I was there...and it was not to shovel poo with teenagers. After letting her know the deal, she told me to go back in to the kennel and ask the lady in the back if I could help.

It was very relaxed and I just mozied on back and found the lady who runs the kennel and she pointed me to the leashes and two dogs for me to take out and walk to the fenced in area they have at the side of the property. If you have never been in a good sized kennel at any point in your life (which I have plenty of times), they are extremely loud and smell like poo, so be ready if you ever choose to venture into one.

The first dogs that I took out were Rat Dog I and Rat Dog II. Now, those weren't their real names, there was a list of names on the wall, but they sounded good as Rat Dog I & II. I hate to say I was surprised how nice the dogs were, but they were really nice little guys and really appreciated the attention. I really apreciated the size of their ears.

After having a good time with the two small guys, I went back into the kennel and got Vicious Tim. Again, Vicious wasn't his real name and he was a really nice dog. His body looked like a slim female Lab, but his head and ears were very much German Sheppard Dog. I spent my time with Tim trying to figure out why someone would have abandoned him on the side of a road while I was scratching his massive ears (which he really enjoyed). When I put him back in the kennel, he began to howl like a wolf...figures.

After taking out three very social and very well behaved dogs, I got to Ned. Ned was actually a female and about the most nervous dog I have ever attempted to pet. When I moved my hand towards her, she would almost bow and then slowly roll over and just freeze. Once she figured out everything was okay, she was quite pleasant and open. After I put her back in the kennel, she showed me she could jump about the height of a door...

After playing with the dogs for a couple of hours, I made the move onto the puppies. It was a really nice day out, so the puppies were out in front of the building in little pens so everyone coming to the Center could see them first. They were all amazing, but here are a few pictures of my favorites.