Black Friday

I think I found a job at the WCAC that is not for me.

I worked a four hour shift on the Friday after Thanksgiving as an adoption counselor. I had brought my camera along in case there was time for me to work on my paparazzi duties. No chance of that, though — one of the other volunteers said that there were about 50 people standing at the front door waiting for the doors to open at noon! There were lots and lots of new families made that day, but not to worry, there are more to be had.

My first stop was to see my favorite Chow Chow, Kelly. She is such a sweetie and everything she did reminded me of my dear Sugar. I was desperate to find her a family as every time I saw her I was one breath closer to bringing her home. Happily, Kelly was adopted. She found a nice family who also has a Rottie and a Dobie … and a couple of kids too.

It was interesting to see the different people looking for dogs and how they went about it. There was one mother there who was letting her little boy pick out his next dog. They were also trying to make sure that it wasn’t too chaotic of a pup as he had a little sister who could easily get bowled over. I’m not sure who he ended up with. I do know that he was visiting with a lot of different dogs looking for the right one. Then there was the couple with the two-year-old girl who was interested in this spastic puppy. I didn’t want to insult them, but that puppy really wasn’t going to work, as he was nearly pushing me over with his excitement. Near the end of the day there were two dads with about six kids between them looking at a sweet little black Lab puppy.  As they walked off with Delaney’s ID number in their hand, a woman and her boyfriend came up to look at the same dog. You can’t “hold” a dog while someone looks around, but I really didn’t want this couple to get the puppy. Not because I wanted the little girls to get her, but because the boyfriend seemed very surly about the whole thing and was only there because the girlfriend insisted they come to the WCAC. Luckily, the family got to the registration desk first.

I was wiped out when I got home that night. As Charlie and I ate dinner I told him about Kelly finding a family and I started getting weepy. It took a bit for me to figure out why I was upset. I guess you might call it “reverse buyer’s remorse” – were those people the right family for Kelly? Since they had other dogs, was she going to get all the attention she deserved? And they keep their big dogs outside, but Kelly’s too sweet — doesn’t she need to be an indoor dog? Would they understand her Chow Chow ways?

As the days have gone by it wears a little heavy on my heart that each of these pups deserves a GOOD home with lots of LOVE. And no more upheaval, like Cletus Joe, who left the WCAC when he was about 3 months old and is now back again at 7 months. I haven’t seen the paperwork, but I can tell by the photo I took that he wasn’t one of those chaotic pups.

UPDATE: Just got a note from Gabi – 74 animals got deposits for adoption and 27 went home on that very day. May they all be with their forever family.

Puttin' on the Ritz

Can’t sleep … it’s probably the chocolate bar I ate earlier. Why is chocolate such an addiction?

Anyway, Tuesday’s paparazzi shift at the WCAC was good. I didn’t get to many dogs, but I was in a blue mood by the time I got there and just didn’t have the energy for any chaos pups. I think it was the clouds. It was the second Tuesday in a row that I was going to get no extra light from the sky lights. Bah, humbug!

On a brighter note, Julie grabbed me when I first got there and asked me to take a photo of one of her favorites with a red bow tie she brought with her. This is Chunk. Doesn’t he look debonair and even a little jaunty with his tie? Later that night as I was processing the photos I realized how far I had come where “Pitties” are concerned.

Chunk is an American Staffordshire Bull dog, i.e. Staffy, Am Staff, American Pit (not really an American Pit Bull as that’s just a name given to a “Bully” breeds mutt). We whisked into his kennel. Julie put the bow tie on him and then left while I got in the kennel with him to “work my magic.” I finally realized that there was a top and bottom to this bow tie and we had it on upside down. Without thinking of it, I slung my camera over my shoulder and grabbed Chunk around the head to fix his tie. It took me a while as he was excited to have all the attention and I couldn’t quite figure out how the thing was hooked. He was such a good boy to let me handle him so and I was surprised to find that I treated this Pittie just like I treat other dogs.

And then there’s Kelly. What can I say? She’s a Chow Chow and she reminds me so very much of my Sugar. I actually visited her and her pups (Pup Pie and Pup Cake) last Thursday. No one had photographed her yet, so she was immediately at the top of my list. I’m glad she hasn’t put her head in my lap like Shelby did as I’d be hard pressed to walk away. As it is, Kelly is the one I should have waited for, but Tippi’s the one that needed me.

Tippi’s incontinence has not been “fixed” or even abated very much. We’ve gone through all of the tests that my long time vet and a second vet have come up with. We’ve tried different hormone treatments including estrogen and are now using some Chinese herbs. In the end, the thing that is keeping our house a little cleaner is dog panties with adult incontinence pads. One of the WCAC techs commented the other night that anyone else who might have adopted Tippi would have brought her back by now. It is a tough thing as everything else about her is wonderful.

I’ll be spending most of Black Friday at the WCAC. They’re having a special Black Friday Sale. Any cat or dog with the least little spot of black is only a $25.00 adoption fee including the spay/neuter surgery. There are lots and lots of dogs right now, so I hope we have a lot of people coming.

BTW: I have a couple of videos of the Chows I cuddled on Thursday – Kodiak, Kelly, and Pup Pie/Pup Cake.

NOTE TO SELF: Rainy days = Non-productive days

See this photo? It’s the best – yes, the BEST – shot of Hansel that I could get, and it pretty much describes how I feel about my level of accomplishment last night.

It’s as if events were conspiring against me. I forgot to pack some of T’s Pup-eroni® treats that morning; Gabi was out so there were NO TREATS; it’s getting dark early these days, which has put off some of the after-work Fido Fitness folks; it rained all day Tuesday, which did in the other Fido Fitness volunteers so only a very few dogs actually got walks; there were lots of people walking around but no Adoption Counselors to help them meet and play with the dogs – all of which led to a whole lot of WOUND UP puppy dogs.

I will admit that I gave up on Hansel. He just had too much energy and very sharp claws. Actually, it’s when he had my ankle in his mouth that I decided it was time to move on to a calmer pup. Ha!

So even if they were curled up in a cute little “I’m almost asleep” ball, as soon as they saw me bring out the kennel key they started bouncing. And once I got inside their kennel with them they were all shy of the “evil eye in a box” pointing at them. Oh, and I did I mention that the lighting wasn’t the best and they all had coats without variation so the camera didn’t want to focus? My friend Joe at work asked me about manual focus and I did my best to ONLY roll my eyes at him.

Bud and Jorge were both pretty tall, but very sweet. They just wanted to go out for a walk or be cuddled. Both of them let me hug them, which is not a dog’s favorite form of attention. Like Hansel, Chicklett is a young thing and had much more of that puppy energy that needed to be expended. Each of these guys would make a good dog with lots of exercise, discipline, and affection.

Brilliant idea striking … next time there is a rainy day and I don’t see any volunteers, I’ll photograph cats and kittens!

There are currently a lot of great specials going on at the WCAC, but I especially want to suggest that next Friday after you’ve had enough of all the people in the malls that you stop by and find your new best friend during our Black Friday celebration. Any animal with even a touch of black is a flat $25 adoption fee – including SPAY/NEUTER. Now that’s an after-Thanksgiving bargain! And if you get that puppy now, he’ll be all trained by the time everyone comes for Christmas!

Black Friday Adoption Event

November 26th - Noon - 6 PM

Black Friday usually signifies deep discounts at most retail outlets. The Wake County Animal Center will hold a special “Black Friday” event where all animals that have even a touch of black will qualify for a flat $25 adoption fee, which includes spay/neuter service.

Adopt-a-Senior-Pet Month

Now through November 30th

Throughout November, all pets over the age of 5 are available for adoption for a flat fee of $25, which includes spay/neuter service. There is limit on the number of animals that can be adopted.

Senior Cats for Senior Laps

Senior adopters (60 years or older) can adopt any cat over the age of 3 for a flat $10 adoption fee, which includes spay/neuter service.

For more information, visit the Wake County Animal Center website at http://www.wakegov.com/pets/default.htm or call 919-212-7387.

Too Sweet to Be Here

It’s been two weeks since I worked a shift at the WCAC. I didn’t even look at the Adoption Gallery until Monday night. Wow, there were lots of dogs that needed good photos. For them, I feel like I need to put in more time, but I’m about stretched to the limit the way it is. I was pleased to get as many photos taken as I did considering I did a couple things in the office and caught up with Gabi. But you don’t want to hear about that, you want to hear about the sweeties.

This is Cane and yes he’s a Rotty, a BIG Rotty and rotten to the core with sweetness. He may be four years old, but he certainly has plenty of energy. I only got three half way decent photos of him. He was so big, the kennel is only so big, and he kept jumping with playful excitement.

And isn’t Timmy beautiful? As I write this tonight, I look back and realize just how handsome his brown patches are. Yes, he’s one of those “Bully” mixes that I couldn’t tell you officially which breeds have been stirred up in that pot, but he has a sweet heart. You know they’re good natured when you can step into the kennel, take your gown and begin cleaning their face with it to get rid of any “eye goobers.” It takes me less time in post-production if I just wipe them off when I see them, unless I have one like Cane who takes a drink and shakes and slobbers.

Timmy, Frankie, Rebecca, Zoe, and Jelly were all giving me their best “poor pitiful me – won’t you take me home and make me happy?” looks. The folks in marketing keep telling us we need happy photos, but for me it’s those sad faces that make me think about bringing one home. Maybe it’s because I’ve been with them in their kennels and they’ve been so happy and sweet just to have my attention for a moment or two.

Zoe was the one that really tugged my heart strings Tuesday night. A volunteer was cleaning her kennel, so I grabbed a couple of quick shots while she was tied up to the outside. A little while later when she was back in her kennel she began barking - a deep, BARK, BARK, BARK, BARK. I stopped to talk to her (let’s face it I’m constantly talking to all of them) and the other volunteer said that Zoe was barking for her people. She’s six years old and was surrendered by her owners because they were moving and couldn’t take her with them. It’s probably just me anthropomorphizing her with human loneliness, but I felt so bad for her. Maybe she will find a new home soon.

Update on Zoe: I took this photo on Tuesday. Wednesday she was adopted and went home.

Even Restoring Sanity Can Be Insane

I know my blog is supposed to be about my experiences with the pups at the shelter, but today (10-30-10) was a crazy day and I needed more characters than Facebook gives. And there were several pups. I wanted a photo of the one carrying the sign that said “I’m scared of the vacuum. Why aren’t you?”

Charlie and I decided to attend the Rally to Restore Sanity on the National Mall in Washington D.C. Now we’ve never attended a rally before and we’ve never gone to D.C. for a big event. We drove up to one of the burbs Friday night and took the Metro in and so did everyone else. So we started out about a half hour later than we wanted to and at the hour we were planning on arriving at the Mall we were standing in line at the Metro to buy a ticket.

Like lemmings we followed the crowd, got crushed and very cozy with the folks on the Metro, and once we got to the National Mall worked our way towards the stage. But we never made it. We didn’t even make it to the back row of the Jumbotron before we felt like there were just too many people and we’d have no chance of using our lawn chairs. We retreated back to where the crowd was thinner. I set up camp at the edge of the walkway in order to stay out of the way.

But the people just kept coming and eventually we were hemmed in on all sides (crowd size was estimated at 150,000 to 200,000). The little garden behind us must have gotten completely trampled. And that last row of loud speakers just wasn’t doing it all the time. We spent a couple of hours looking at a stream of butts and listening to people make snide remarks about us and our chairs.

My chair did have a purpose, though. It protected an adorable little eight week old puppy, Simba, while he took a nap. His mom was doing a good job of keeping him corralled away from all the feet, but he finally conked out under my chair. Isn’t he a cutie?

We had fun … I guess. We discovered that we are too old for such things. Next time we’ll take Tippi on a trip like she wanted us to. Although I am pleased to say that she and Spice had a great time with Erin the pet sitter (http://www.hoofandpawspetcare.com/) ; Spice even let Erin hold him when she visited … now that’s incredible!

Update: To see just where we were and how insane it was, follow this link (http://www.flickr.com/photos/74104660@N00/5129298817/in/photostream/) mouse over the left side of the photo 'til you find 7th Street then move your mouse to the right edge of the Mall 'til you find Suze at 40.