www.ShannonLHill.com

People ask me regularly why it’s so hard to prosecute animal cruelty.

The simplest answer is that laws to protect animals do not take into account the depths of human cruelty, nor do they completely take into account the change in human attitudes toward animals over the last century. Many laws still treat all animals as property, no different than a car or a piece of furniture, and even those laws that do try to protect animals are often poorly written and/or fail to distinguish between companion animals and livestock.

That said, every year we keep trying to improve the laws that govern the care of our pets. One example would be the law that allows Harris County to prohibit roadside sales of animals. I’m thrilled that Harris County has been able to make this important step forward. I just would like to see Montgomery County (and every other county) do likewise. As it stands, when Harris County ran the roadside puppy sellers out of town, they all came up the road to Montgomery County. And here, it’s unfortunately legal, because our population is less than the number specified in Texas law to enable us to ban them.

We came close last year to updating that law, but Governor Perry vetoed it because it was poorly written and would have been easily interpreted to include ANY roadside vendors, not just puppy selling scum. We’ll try again. And we’ll keep trying till we get there. I would also like to see improvements to the laws that specify minimum standards of care for pets.

Right now, under Texas Health and Safety Code 42.092, nonlivestock (companion) animals must have access to “food, water, care, or shelter provided to the extent required to maintain the animal in a state of good health.” Unfortunately, I can’t find anything that specifies what these adequate provisions would consist of.

Care and shelter would seem to be the grayest areas here. My understanding is that the animal must have access to someplace that will offer protection from the weather. But is the someplace supposed to be an insulated dog house, or a cardboard box? Or a place on the sofa? (Obviously!) I have seen people claim that an abandoned car on blocks in their yard constitutes adequate shelter, and with the way the law is currently written, they may well be able to convince a judge that no law has been broken.

Care is another issue. Those of us who live and breathe animal welfare understand the importance of regular veterinary care, vaccinations, and grooming. But the law does not. Separate laws require rabies vaccinations – for the protection of humans and livestock, not for the protection of the actual dogs and cats. It is, as I understand it, illegal to allow a sick or injured animal to linger on in pain without treatment, but perfectly legal to shoot the animal to end its suffering, even if the ailment or injury could easily be treated, as long as the shooter is the animal’s legal custodian. And that’s just wrong.

We see many animals surrendered to the shelter with untreated illnesses or injuries that have gone on so long that the animal’s condition is now irreparable. If people had treated them promptly, it would have been no big deal. And yet there is rarely a legal penalty for such neglect, because the law does not spell out in detail exactly WHAT constitutes adequate care and shelter.

Another nasty loophole in the law has to do with unowned animals. Judges have on several occasions refused to prosecute cruelty to stray animals because they don’t belong to anyone, which means that no crime against someone’s property has occurred.

The bottom line is that the law does not account for an animal’s feelings or emotional well-being, or for the value that animal has as a member of the family. And we need the law to catch up with the 21^st century attitude toward animal welfare, instead of staying rooted in its 18^th century agrarian roots, in which all animals were only worth their intrinsic value for meat, milk production, or other concretely measurable markers.

In my next column, we”ll talk about why so few counties and municipalities actually have cruelty investigators. And why I would love to see Montgomery County get one!

I’m always astonished when people comment on “how much” I do for animals. I do what I can, and frankly, in comparison to what some of my friends do, it isn’t very much.

There’s a lot of heartbreak in animal welfare. Just this week, two different friends had to euthanize foster dogs who were ill or injured beyond repair. One of these friends immediately took home a new foster – a cat this time – that no one even knew was pregnant. The cat promptly went into premature labor and delivered 5 nonviable kittens – still more heartbreak. Another friend took home a critically ill puppy, knowing that the little one would probably die, but wanting to give him a chance. I myself had a very bad day after I witnessed a cat’s dying autonomic twitches after being hit by a car.

I have more stories like these than I can count. And these are the stores that make people in the “outside world” ask me and other volunteers how we can do this. Our collective reply: How can we not?

 The beautiful thing about animal welfare is that we get to see a lot of good, too. I had two personal triumphs this week.

First, a woman who lost her home brought her crippled older dog into the shelter and asked them to help. She was in the process of obtaining new housing, but needed a safe place for her old dog in the meanwhile. The shelter put out a plea for a short term foster in which the dog could rest and recover from a knee injury.

All I did was make a phone call to my vet, who immediately offered to board the old fellow for free until his human had a safe place for him again. So Buddy is resting in luxurious safety at the vet’s office, and his person won’t have to lose her best friend along with her home. Such minimal effort for such a great result.

Second, when John and I were at the shelter on Sunday, I was on my way out the door to the exercise area with two dogs when I saw a nice family – 4 little kids and their parents – heading toward the adoption rooms. One of the dogs with me was Tootie, a sweet, quiet, well behaved girl with a big canine smile. And it just struck me that she might be the dog for them. So I stopped and introduced her to them.

They fell in love with her on the spot and went out to the dog park play area with me to get acquainted with her. They put her leash in the hands of a very small girl, and Tootie, bless her, actually slowed her pace to match the child’s. She was so calm and careful not to topple or pull on these little kids. Even their two year old took her leash and walked her, and she walked oh so slowly beside him, instinctively adjusting her stride to the little person’s wobbly steps. The match was made, and Tootie the Babysitter Dog went home with her new family. Made my week.

So if you love animals but don’t think you can “handle” working in animal welfare…yeah, you can. Some things are tough, but the rewards are infinite. You do what you can. You can foster, collect donations of food, towels, and money, bathe dogs at the shelter, walk and photograph dogs at the shelter, do laundry at the shelter (you wouldn’t believe how many loads of towels they go through!), help with adoption events, help educate the public about spaying and neutering…there are so many possibilities, so many ways to help.

Stop making excuses and start making a difference. And when you have your first animal welfare triumph – that first moment when you know you made a difference – email me, and it might even find its way into a blog column.

Okay, so you’ve brought your foundling home, and you’ve put up Found posters. You’ve checked Craig’s List. You’ve checked all the local vet’s offices and shelters. The dog has no microchip and no identification.

Looks like you’ve got yourself a dog. Now what?

Well, you have two basic choices. A, you keep him. B, you don’t.

If you’re going to keep the dog, you have a number of things to consider.

• Will he get along with your existing pets (and human family members)?
• Will your landlord allow you to have him?
• Is your home suitable for this pet?
• Can you afford to get him vaccinated, microchipped, and neutered?
• Can you afford to treat any veterinary problems?
• Does he have any serious behavioral issues?

If your situation does not allow you to keep the dog, then you have a whole different set of questions to answer.

• Can you find him a home yourself?
• Can you foster him until you do?
• If so, will your local shelter or a rescue group allow you to do a courtesy posting on Petfinder through them?
• Can you afford to get the dog fully vetted so that potential adopters know what they are getting?
• If you can’t foster the dog, can you find a rescue group that will take him? Or a foster home?
• Are you willing or able to make a donation to the rescue group? (It makes it more likely that a group can afford to take him.)

If you can foster the dog while you find him a home, your best bet is to get a courtesy listing through a local shelter or rescue. If you can go through a shelter’s foster program, you can probably take advantage of their foster veterinary services, which may get you reduced cost vaccines and spay/neuter. They can also often microchip the dog for you at reduced cost.

If you foster the dog through a shelter, then you will probably be largely responsible for vetting potential adopters yourself. You’ll be making a commitment to help find the dog a home and to keep him until you do. You may need to participate in adoption events to help make the dog visible to potential adopters.

If you foster through a rescue group, they will probably vet adopters through their application process. Depending on your arrangement with them, you may or may not have much say in who gets the dog. It is less likely that you’ll need to do adoption events, but you may be asked to do meet and greets for potential adopters. Ask up front what the rescue group’s approach to this will be.

Regardless of what path you take, you will have the satisfaction of knowing that you got the animal off the streets and on the road to a loving permanent home.

People keep calling me about dogs they found. “What should I DO with him?” they ask me. Given that it seems to be raining found puppies, I thought this might be an opportune moment for a Foundling 101 refresher course.

First, are you sure the dog needs help? This sounds silly, but the fact is that many people are careless with their pets and let them run loose. That “lost” dog may know exactly where he is because he wanders this route regularly. Watch his body language. Does he look worried? Is he looking around to see if anyone is coming back for him? Is he running in a panic? Or is he going for a stroll on a route he knows well and handles with confidence?

Once you decide to help, you need to capture the dog without getting either you or the dog hurt in the process. Most of us crazy rescue types carry a couple of slip leashes, some old towels, and some kind of treats in our vehicles. You’ll want those towels to cover your seats, maybe to wrap up a wet dog, to clean up any visible injuries, to protect your clothing…maybe even to cover the face of a panicky dog so he won’t be able to bite.

Okay. Now you’ve got your rescued dog into your vehicle. And as you drive away, it occurs to you that you aren’t sure where to take him. (Here’s a hint. NOT TO MY HOUSE. I find plenty of dogs all by myself.)

Your first stop should be your vet’s office, to get the animal scanned for a microchip. Best case, the dog has a chip, the people get notified, and everyone’s happy. If, however, the dog has no viable identification, then you have to decide where to put him.

Your options:

The local animal shelter: If you take the dog to an animal shelter, he will be held there for at least the minimum legal time. If no one claims him, he may go up for adoption, or he may be euthanized. While he is in the shelter, he will inevitably be very stressed and exposed to a wide range of germs. The shelter is not an ideal solution.

A rescue group: It is difficult to find direct placement into a rescue group, simply because the demand from shelters is so high. If you decide to go this route, please make sure that the group is reputable and can account for every animal in its custody.

Your vet’s office: If you have a good relationship with your veterinarian, he or she may be willing to help you out. I have appeared on my vet’s doorstep with stray dogs and cats more times than I care to remember. He never turns me away, BECAUSE he knows I won’t stick him with the animal forever. I’ll work to place the animal in a permanent home or rescue group. And because I’m a good client and he’s a nice guy, he usually discounts whatever services the stray animal requires.

Your house: Think before you do this. Is this animal one that it will be safe to have around your personal pets? Are you able to separate them? Do you have the experience to handle whatever kind of animal this happens to be?

Let’s say you decide to take the dog home for a few days to see if you can find his family. (Bless you.) Then what? First, put up found posters with your contact info so that anyone looking for a dog can call you. Make them describe the dog and prove that it is their dog before releasing it. Second, check the local paper, local online bulletin boards, Craig’s List, Dog Detective, and area vet offices for listings of missing dogs. You (and the dog) might get lucky.

That gets you through Foundling 101. Next time we’ll talk about what to do if you can’t find the dog’s people.

Meet Danielle. She’s the newest resident in a foster home specializing in downed weenies. (shown here with her foster mom’s daughter, using a borrowed cart)

You may remember Zoe, who was a paralyzed weenie dog featured in another column several months ago. Danielle is in the same foster home, along with a third paralyzed dachshund. Their foster mom refers to them as downed weenies. I admit it – the name makes me think of erectile dysfunction commercials.

But Danielle and her foster siblings are no laughing matter. Each of them came into foster care after they arrived at the shelter already paralyzed. In Danielle’s case, she was brought to the Montgomery County Animal Shelter by her owners, who asked that the shelter euthanize her.

Why?

Well, she lived in the backyard with several large dogs, and the big dogs kept hurting her, and she couldn’t defend herself well. But this little girl is so sweet and happy that the shelter volunteers asked the family to allow them to try to help her. She’s only five years old, and even with limited mobility can have a very happy life in the right home.

The family signed her over to MCAS and walked away. All we know about her is that her condition was the result of an old injury. If her people has taken proper care of her at the time of her injury, the veterinarians say she might well have made a full recovery.

Unfortunately, they did not.

The result is that her hips and back legs do not have full range of motion. She can move her back legs, but the spinal damage has left them curled forward under her body in a sort of club footed position. Her hips are pulled down and forward as well, making it almost impossible for her back to flatten into a normal position.

Danielle’s amazing foster mom is doing physical therapy to help this little girl stretch her damaged joints and regain some flexibility and range of motion. The more flexible her body is, the easier it will be for her to use a cart and the more comfortable she will be.

I’m told that Danielle’s calm, sweet personality could easily lend itself to being a therapy dog. She is devoted to people and wants nothing more than to be close to a person who will pet her.

If you follow my blog, then you know that I have a soft spot for the special needs dogs. So many people reject them for their differences, but most special needs dogs can live great lives, if they find families who are willing to care for them properly. This particular foster mom is a special miracle for these little dogs, because in most shelters, paralyzed dogs don’t make it out alive. Danielle and her buddies are still breathing because someone was willing to step up for them.

But Danielle still needs a forever home. And her foster mom could use some help with basic supplies like food, dog diapers. Donations for her vet care and the purchase of a cart (canine wheelchair) are also needed. If you might be interested in helping Danielle and her friends, send me an email at me@shannonlhill.com for more information.

Meanwhile, let me leave you with one more request. Don’t discount the special needs dogs because they “might be more work” or “might not live as long” or out of fear that people will look at you funny in the park.  Special needs dogs offer such huge rewards to the people who see past their disabilities to who they really are.

Just ask Danielle’s foster mom.

(Zoe, Marilyn, Danielle – the Three Downed Weenies)

As the privatization of the Montgomery County Animal Shelter approaches, I find myself answering a lot of questions from readers.

Here are some of the questions:

• How does privatization benefit the animals? What can the management company do that the county can’t?
• Isn’t it just re-allocating the same money to a different management group?
• Why doesn’t the shelter get more money from the county? (OR: Doesn’t the shelter already get lots of money from the county?)
• If we want to donate directly to the shelter, what is the best way to do that?
• What kind of donations are needed?
• What will cash donations be used for?

So here’s what I’m going to do. I’m going to use my lengthy answers to those emails to form a single cohesive answer to the most common questions I’ve been getting. I don’t have the answers to every question, and in some cases, the county and Care Corporation are still working on the language of the actual final contract. But I’m happy to tell you what I know.

Thank you for asking!  Here goes…

Right now, the shelter is in a transitional phase between being a county entity and a private one. I don’t know every detail of the process, but as I understand it, at the moment, the county directly funds the shelter. They impose restrictions on the budget that designate what almost every dollar can be spent on (salaries, facilities, etc.). The shelter is left with roughly $66,000 a year in discretionary funds. They have to use that to feed and treat over 20,000 animals, as well as to pay for facilities repairs, cleaning supplies, and any incidentals or unexpected expenses. Given our tax base, we are grossly underfunded. I’m told that on the average, county shelters get about $8.50 per capita; we get about $2.77.

What will happen is this. The shelter will transition to a private management company (Care Corporation). The county is basically hiring them to run the shelter, so that instead of the county paying all expenses individually, they will pay Care Corp. an annual amount, which Care Corp. will administer. This gives the shelter much more flexibility in terms of personnel and use of the money, which we believe will benefit the animals majorly.

One area where we will get a lot of benefit is in personnel. Under county management, we can’t have part time employees. We can’t choose what insurance plans suit the shelter’s needs. We are locked into civil service, which means that is it hard to hire and hard to fire.  Under private management, we can hire part timers, we can shop the insurance, and we can more easily hold employees accountable. We can also offer performance bonuses for exceptional work, which will encourage better service to the public (more adoptions as a result) and care for the animals.

Another major area where privatization helps is in applying for grants. Right now, when we apply for a grant, we have to list our annual budget as the budget for the entirety of Montgomery County’s government, even though we can only access a tiny piece of it. By privatizing, we can list our actual budget when we apply for grants. This will make us eligible for many financial opportunities we’ve never had.

To the best of my knowledge (I am not completely familiar with the terms of the contract with the county, as it is still in its final revisions), Care Corp will get paid the same budget we had before. Only now we can allocate it to suit our needs, rather than being locked in to pre-determined stuff that may or may not be right for the shelter. It also frees us from a lot of bureaucratic red tape that was costing time, money, and lives. For example, right now, if we let someone pay for an adoption with a credit card, it goes to a holding account, then to the county, then eventually to the shelter. This drastically extends how long the shelter has to wait to get access to its own money. We can do a lot of streamlining of processes like these that will make the shelter more responsive to the needs of the community and better able to serve the needs of the animals.

DONATIONS: Your two best options for making sure the money directly benefits the shelter are these:

• Donate stuff. Food, blankets, beds, towels, etc. We always, always need those. (Please, make it decent quality food. Avoid Old Roy and other low grade brands. Shelter dogs cannot handle the added stress on their bodies of trying to digest food loaded with filler and red dye.) Cash donations, per the contract, will have to go through the nonprofit (see below).
• Donate to the Montgomery County Animal Society. We are the only nonprofit directly and officially affiliated with the privatized shelter. Our mandate is to provide life-enhancing care to the animals, which means we will pay for veterinary needs and other projects to make the animals happier, healthier, and more comfortable.

(Side note: I do not wish to diminish the work of the many good non-profit agencies that have helped the shelter over years. However, the existence of this new nonprofit, the Montgomery County Animal Society, is a contractual necessity for the privatization process, as Care Corp. needs a nonprofit arm to accept charitable donations and administer the distribution of those funds for the direct benefit of the animals in this and only this shelter.)

The Society will very shortly be establishing paypal accounts, bank accounts, etc., for the purpose of managing donated funds. If you would like to donate, please contact me at me@shannonlhill.com for details.

I hope this helps answer some of the questions…feel free to email me if you have more! I’ll answer what I can.

Gracie is a true survivor. After wildfires that swept through Montgomery and Grimes Counties last year, Gracie wandered up to a home near Navasota. She was bone thin, terrified of most people, and wearing a collar that was a size too small.

The nice people who found her took her to the vet, who told them that Gracie has almost certainly been displaced by the fires. There were burns on her feet, legs, and body, and she had obviously walked a long way.

Gracie’s next stop was a foster home. (Her foster mom and I both work with the man who found her.) Her foster mom has put considerable time into socializing her and teaching her manners. She has been taught to ring a bell by the door when she wants to go outside, and she has learned how to play with other dogs, something she apparently had not known in her previous life. She is interested in her foster mom’s cat, but not excessively so. They co-exist quite peacefully.

The vet who originally saw Gracie when she was first rescued recognized the kennel name on the tight collar she wore. He identified it as a “bad” kennel that had been under longterm investigation for animal neglect or cruelty. Per the vet, local rumor had it that the kennel had simply turned all their dogs loose and abandoned them when it became necessary to evacuate the fire zone. Multiple efforts were made to contact people from that kennel, but to no avail.

After doing some research, we believe that Gracie is a Plott Hound. Check out this Google image of a Plott, and then take another look at Gracie’s picture.

Gracie is still on the timid side with new people. She is incredibly sweet natured, and really wants a home in which someone will treat her kindly, love her, and spend time with her. She can go to a home with other dogs or cats, and would do fine with older children who would understand that she needs time to become comfortable in a new situation.

Want to give this sweet girl a forever home? Email me@shannonlhill.com, and I will connect you with her foster mom.

This New Year’s Eve, do yourself and your pets a favor. Make sure that every pet is indoors and safe. Most pets hate fireworks, and if your neighborhood is like mine, it will sound like Beirut in the 80′s for several hours on New Year’s Eve.

Something most pet people don’t seem to know is that January 1^st and July 5^th are the two biggest days of the year for the reporting of lost pets. Think a minute – what do those two days have in common? You guessed it. Both follow a night of crazy people lighting things on fire to watch them go boom.

Pets don’t like it when things go boom. Calm, normally well-behaved pets can go completely berzerk. They may dig out of the yard or climb over the fence. They may hurt themselves trying to get out of a crate. They may become sick from stress, with results that are bad for both your pet and your carpet. I’ve even heard of panicked pets tearing up furniture or other household items.

With some forethought and planning, these disasters can be avoided.

A few years ago, I was on my way to town one rainy morning in early January when I was forced to stop traffic to get to a terrified poodle shivering in the middle of the road. I ended up boarding the poor little guy at my vet’s office for a week while we searched for his owners. I had just about given up the search and resigned myself to bringing home another senior dog when one of my students happened to mention that a family in her neighborhood was missing a poodle.

Thank God. It was the right family. This little old guy has been in the yard, with their other dog, when the fireworks started. The dogs were often left overnight in the yard when their people travelled, with access to shelter, beds, and food in the garage. It had always been fine before. But they had never been gone on a fireworks night. Apparently he freaked and clawed his way through the fence. When I found him, he had been out for two days, was 8 to 10 miles from home, and would have had to come through some very dangerous territory to get there.

He was lucky. He got to go home.

So how do you protect your pet?

• Don’t leave your pet alone if you don’t have to, especially if it’s his first exposure to fireworks.
• Don’t leave your pet outside.
• Don’t crate your pet unless you know how he will react or can be there to supervise – some dogs will try to claw or chew out of the crate and can do themselves serious damage in the process.
• Do put your pet in the quietest part of the house – even if it’s a walk-in closet. Use the walls and doors to muffle the sounds of explosions.
• Do talk to your vet about sedation, if you know your pet panics when the noise starts. Benadryl (diphenhydramine hydrochloride) is a common option. Check with your vet before you use it to confirm a dose, but the standard dose is 1 mg per pound of bodyweight.
• Do use the television or the radio to provide cover noise for the fireworks.
• Do offer treats to help keep your pet calm and focused on food instead of sound.

The bottom line is that your pet depends on you to keep him safe. Please, don’t let him down. Especially not on New Year’s Eve, when it’s cold outside and there are fireworks all around.

This evening was a very important one in the world of animal welfare in Montgomery County, Texas. It marked the first board meeting of the newly formed Montgomery County Animal Society.

You may recall the recent debates over privatizing the shelter. The county commissioners made the decision to privatize, and granted the contract to Care Corporation. As a corporation, the new management company will also need to have a nonprofit (a 501c3) affiliated with the shelter.

That’s us.

It is my privilege to have been elected President of the brand new board of directors. Other members currently include Diane Mayne (Secretary), Danice Berger (Treasurer), Minda Harris, and Laura McConnell.

One of our first tasks was to define our function, which will be to raise money for ways to improve the chances and comfort of the animals passing through the shelter. Care Corporation will be responsible for meeting the regular needs of the animals – food, water, shelter, and ordinary medical needs. Montgomery County Animal Society will focus on a few major areas:

• Providing funds for major veterinary needs like emergency surgery for injured animals.
• Working on ways to increase adoption rates, through special events, publicity, and providing funds/treatments that will make the animals more adoptable.
• Working on making the shelter more comfortable for the animals, which will help keep them happier and healthier, and thus more adoptable.

This represents a major change in the institutional structure of the animal welfare system for Montgomery County. I absolutely believe that Care Corporation will implement significant improvements in the shelter itself. They’ll improve the working conditions for the employees, make the shelter hours more accessible to the community, and be able to hold the staff more directly accountable for maintaining the facility and the animals in the best shape possible.

We (the Montgomery County Animal Society) will come in when there are extraordinary needs. When that animal who was hit by a car comes in, we will be able to provide funds for the necessary surgery. When an animal with acute mange arrives, we can authorize the funds for treatment. When the shelter needs equipment or beds or toys that are not in the regular budget, the Montgomery County Animal Society will hopefully be able to provide those items.

Once 2012 arrives, I ask that you would donate money to help the Montgomery County Animal Society get off the ground. That’s the thing about a nonprofit organization – we rely on the generosity of the public to help us meet our goals. The more donations we receive, the more animals we can send to the vet for life-saving procedures, and the better we can help make life for the thousands of animals who will come through the shelter doors in 2012.

I know this is a huge change. I believe it’s going to be a great one, and I’m thrilled to part of it. But we can’t do it without you.

The Montgomery County Animal Society can legally begin to accept contributions after January 1, 2012. Want to donate? Email me at me@shannonlhill.com for information.

As a veteran of the animal welfare world, I often find myself trying to explain AW to people on the “civilian” side of the equation.

Communication is one of the biggest issues “civilians” complain about. And from their perspective, I can’t blame them. So I’ll attempt to shed a little light on the subject, and maybe make a couple of suggestions.

The scenario usually goes like this (and I have been on both sides of this one)…

“There’s this stray dog…I could catch him, and bring him to the rescue group. I’ll even donate the cost of his care. But the rescue won’t call me back!”

I admit it. It’s frustrating. It’s bad business not to return phone calls from potential adopters or longtime donors. From the consumer viewpoint, trying unsuccessfully to reach someone at a particular group makes the organization looks unprofessional, negligent, hard to deal with…you get the idea. And frankly, not responding in a timely fashion or at all to communication from potential adopters or donors will cost the organization money, because eventually potential adopters and donors will get frustrated and take their money to more responsive groups.

But let me try to explain it from the insider perspective.

Most rescues are all volunteer organizations. Most volunteers have full time jobs, personal pets, and kids, in addition to their rescue responsibilities. The spaces between those obligations are filled with rushing to and from shelters and vets, washing dogs, walking dogs, medicating dogs, cleaning up after dogs, doing the laundry generated by the dogs, buying dog food, checking out potential adopters’ references, arranging off-site adoption events, and too many other things to list.

Even those organizations with paid staff are understaffed. Their people run full speed from dawn till dark and then some. Animal care always, always comes before people. And if we’re going to be completely honest about it, some of the people who are the best with the animals are …not so good with people.

Suggestions…

For the civilians: Don’t call. Email. Rescue people often can’t get to the phone easily during normal human operating hours. We tend to answer emails in the middle of the night or very early in the morning. You don’t WANT us to call then. If it’s an emergency, be persistent. Mark the email urgent. Keep trying. And try to understand that there are always more dogs than spaces in rescue groups. If they can’t take in the stray you found, it’s not a personal rejection. It simply means that your stray either does not fit their intake parameters, or that they have no room at the inn.

For the rescuers: I know how easy it is to bog down in the details of caring for the animals. But those people whose calls and emails you didn’t return might have been the perfect adopter or the biggest donor you ever had. You HAVE to communicate to keep your adoptions up and the donations coming in. If the main players in the organization don’t like dealing with two-legged animals, designate one of your more social volunteers to field calls and emails. Like any charitable endeavor, running a successful rescue program requires a certain amount of interaction with the public. And a large part of that interaction will be educating people about things we assume they should already know.

Rescues need to remember that good communication from their organization benefits the animals, and the general public simply must understand that rescue is not a 9 to 5 office job with long lunches and paid holidays.

And those of us in rescue need to step up to bridge that communication gap…for the good of the animals.