Mama Betsy and some of her pups
I have served on the Heartland Board for the last five years. During that time, my efforts have largely been devoted to fundraising, helping at events, and participating in meetings and discussions pertaining to the management of the shelter. Working at the shelter was not my focus, and I’m not a micro-manager believing that when you hire good people, you let them do their jobs. But when some staff health issues left us short-handed, board members agreed to step in to help out during the interim. And so I was heading to the shelter to “help out” for the day.
Actually, I arrived fifteen minutes late, and I was a little grumpy about having to go in the first place. After all, I’m retired and tired. Why am I working this hard? The answer would become obvious by day’s end.
Let the whirlwind day begin…
Upon arriving, I met the sweetest older couple who were adopting a golden lab named Marley. They were so excited and appreciative nearly moving me to tears. Marley was exactly who they were searching for, and today she was going home with them to her forever home. Score for Marley!
Next a young man and his grandmother came in for a dog they had seen on our website. They learned that his choice was a dog whose adoption was pending, and his second choice was in the FIDO program, which stands for Federal Inmate Dog Obedience program. Gaining approval for this program took some doing, but we were able to get this program approved at the federal prison. Certain inmates and dogs are paired, and the inmate trains the dog for eight weeks and returned to Heartland totally trained. Not giving up, the young man completed the paper work so that when the right dog arrives, he will be ready to move through the adoption process.
Next a woman came in to spend time with a cat she saw on the website. She was falling in love with the cat, completed her paper work, and was sending her husband in to see if he loved the kitty as much as she. My prediction: Paula the kitty will be going home with her.
Throughout everything, the phone rings. I tried to help out with phone answering when needed although I know I dropped one call because I hit the wrong button. One lady I talked to wanted to visit about having to put down her cat. Having experienced the loss of pets, I could sympathize and let her talk. When it comes down to it, people just want someone to listen to them. Other phone calls were about specific cats, picking up foster dogs, and follow up on a cat’s surgery last week.
Next a responsible couple came to adopt a dog. I say they were responsible because they were thinking through the process wanting to make a good choice for their family, and they were patient about doing so. They were following up on two dogs they had seen on the web page. One of the dogs was in a foster home and another was in the kennels. They spent time with the little black Chihuahua and made plans to visit with the dog in a foster home after school when they could bring their two children to meet the dogs. Staff made a call to the gal who was fostering the other dog arranging for her to meet back at the shelter later in the day. Although we have room for many dogs at the shelter, we still have some surrendered dogs who benefit from in-home fostering, and we’re so grateful for our foster’s commitment.
When there was a moment, I walked through the kennel area and talked to the dogs there. We also had three dogs in quarantine awaiting their meeting with Dr. Erin Schroeder for their spay or neuter. Every dog and cat that we acquire is checked by our vet tech, microchipped, treated for any major issues, and spayed or neutered. Obviously, vet expenses are a big part of our budget, but having healthy animals is part of our mission.
What? Cats on the loose! Jaimy and Eddy and one other kitty managed to get out but we corralled them in the office and returned them safely to their kennel. Every day needs a little comic relief, right? Heartland currently has so many cats available for adoption, and they are all tame with distinctive personalities. Our staff does a great job writing up narratives about each cat and their likes and dislikes.
At 12:15 a man brought in a mother dog and eight (yes eight!) puppies that had been abandoned. The mama was friendly and the pups seemed to be doing all right. It was emotional for me knowing that someone had abandoned this mama and her pups and hadn’t spayed her in the first place. The mama has beautiful markings, and I remarked she looks like a Holstein so staff named her Betsy, everybody’s favorite cow name. Thankfully, we had a special foster gal agree to take the entire family home with her until the pups were old enough to be weaned from their mama. After the intake process, we gave the foster mom dry and canned dog food and loaded the family in her car, and she was on her way. God bless this woman!
Puppies go through intake process.
Records are kept.
Next I visited with a lovely eighty-eight year old couple from Nebraska who were looking for a Boston Terrier. I knew we didn’t have one, but they walked through the kennel area and were fun to visit. I took their contact information. People shouldn’t let their age stop them from loving more dogs and cats. God willing, I hope I’m still loving pets at age 88.
Another lady down on her luck came in for food for her pet. She also had questions about boarding her pet. She needed to go to a hospital for medical treatment and didn’t know what she could do with her pet. Many people are unaware that Heartland supplies food to seniors and other pet owners who are facing financial struggle. Many donors provide this food. We also help with pet care in cases of domestic violence or families who are devastated by homelessness. I’m not going to argue with anyone who might say that poor people shouldn’t have pets; I just know that cats and dogs need to eat too.
Throughout the day, I visited with volunteers. We would be nothing without them. People who feed the cats and dogs, play with cats, and walk the dogs. We also have two inmates from the federal prison who help with specific chores like laundry, litter box cleaning and kennel cleaning. Regardless, of what you think of this group of men, they have been invaluable to keeping our shelter running. One of the inmates visited with us about the washing machine that was acting up. We do many loads of laundry a day. I did three loads of laundry there and made a small dent in the pile.
Another couple came in because their cat was missing. Our staff put a picture of the cat on our Facebook page. One good thing about Facebook is the number of lost pets that can be returned to their homes because people have identified them and made contact.
By the way, the toilet sticks in the women’s bathroom. Thankfully, one of our staff is married to a plumber. LOL!
The family mentioned earlier returned to the shelter with their kids to meet with the dog they met earlier and the dog in foster care. It was a great meeting and now they love both dogs. Stay tuned.
The staff had been waiting on a man from Nebraska who was delivering three dogs he had found abandoned along a gravel road. He kept them for about a month trying to track down their owners, which is a great effort on his part, but now he was giving them to us so that we could find them homes. They were three little dogs—a little poodle and two scruffy little terrier types—all males and all needing a bath and neutering. I am a sucker for little dogs, and this just about did me in. Who drops off dogs along a gravel road? I dreamed about them that night and decided they should be named Larry, Mo, and Curly. If only dogs and cats could talk and tell us what they knew. We don’t even know what their names are.
Mo?
Larry?
Curlie?
By this time, it was after 5:00, and things were finally winding down. I enjoyed getting to know our new staff Melissa and Dana and visiting with veteran employee Jeanette, who is a fount of information. All did their jobs with joy, which as a board member is important to me. As I drove away, I was reminded of why I became involved with this organization in the first place. There is a need in our world to help our four-legged friends. Spending the day here put our community’s pet needs in my face moving them beyond the sanitized discussions often experienced by board members. It was my reminder of the work we do and a motivation to continue helping these beautiful creatures.
Yes, I am retired and still tired, but I now remember why I am doing it.
The last couple days have been a whirlwind as I enjoyed the company of nieces Mercedes and Jetta. They arrived Tuesday midday so Mercedes could finish her t-shirt quilt and and another UFO she started. Mercedes is going to start her sophomore year of college, and Jetta is going to be a high school freshman. Miss Lucy decided to roll about in all the T-shirt scraps.
What was little sister doing you might ask? Well, she took a few naps, but when she was rested, we persuaded her to make a pillow out of T-shirt scraps.
So much fun! Love these girls!
Sandysayssew 