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.

 

Rant!

Damn it, people! Spay and neuter your pets!


From my first orientation at the Wake County Animal Center (WCAC) I understood the difference between them (the county shelter) and all the other rescue societies (like the SPCA). The WCAC is a county government entity and does not get to pick and choose who comes in the back door. And it doesn’t matter if all the kennels are full. If an animal is brought to the intake area it will be processed into the WCAC. As I’ve said before, everyone I’ve met (staff or volunteer) at the WCAC loves animals and will do everything they can to make sure that no animal has to be put to sleep because there isn’t enough room. But guess what? It happens. It happens every day and it’s a damn shame.


In September, the WCAC took in 1,344 animals. That’s a 25% increase from 2009, but understandable as WCAC became the only intake for all of Wake County as of July 1st. We did have an 82% increase from this time in 2009 in adoptions and transfers to other rescue groups, which meant that 498 animals went to good homes in September. (Yay!) We are pleased that the euthanasia rate from September 2009 to September 2010 dropped by 10%, but still, 660 animals had to be put to sleep in September because there were just too many for the WCAC to handle!


I know I’m preaching to the choir to most of you that read my blog, but please, spread the word. (List of low-cost spay & neuter services http://www.wakegov.com/pets/fix/services.htm)


Like I said above, I understood from the beginning that some of the cats and dogs I met, photographed, and fell in love with would not end up in a happy home. But I was still shocked to find out that the litter of Pittie puppies that I first wrote about were all, yes ALL, put to sleep. They got upper respiratory infections and there was no room to treat them. Their intake record said that they were an “owner surrender of an un-wanted litter” and that’s what got me ticked off about spaying and neutering your pets.


I’ve been tracking the animals I’ve taken pictures of, and here is the sad record of those who didn’t make it (mid-May thru mid-Oct) and why…

The Pittie Puppies consisted of Dina, Caroline, Theresa, Danielle, Ramona, Bethany, Kim G, Mario



Pittie Puppies - Upper Respiratory Infection (URI)



Lemon Pepper - "Fear Biter"

Veronica - Too many cats at the shelter/She had been there too long

Qdoba - Agression

Raken - URI

Delilah - Too Many/Too Long

Maggie - Too Many/Too Long

Gertrude - Multiple age-related health issues

Charlie - URI

Doug - URI/Fear Biter

Lady - Aggression

Cream - Aggression

Tasha - Stress/Anxiety-related illnesses

Bruce - Dog Aggressive

Missy - URI

Ace - Aggression

Dennis - Aggression

Dingo - Aggression

Nina - Infection that would not heal

Reese - Aggression

Boris - URI

Midnite - URI

Chilli Pepper - URI



Deva - URI

Archie - URI

Nathan - URI

Bubba - Too Many/Too Long

Jack - Dog Aggressive

Mercury - URI

So what to do ... adopt ... encourage others to adopt ... join the WCAC's foster program ... volunteer at the WCAC ... train your dogs to be good dogs and encourage others to train their dogs (it's not their fault they were aggressive; they lacked proper pack leadership) ... spay, spay, spay and neuter, neuter, neuter.

It’s All in the Eyes

A couple of weeks ago I told you about a beautiful boy named Bear. He was such a sweetie and it was a real boost to spend some time with him. I got some pretty good photos of him, but I was still worried because he was older and heartworm positive. Well, let the happy dance begin — he was adopted last week!

Bear’s new family sent this message …

"I don't even need to meet him to know I want him.  I can look in his eyes and know he's the little guy for me."

I’ve said before, as a WCAC volunteer, that I have no problem “wasting” time taking photos of dogs that get adopted before I can get the photos processed and posted to the website. As a photographer, it tickled me to no end to know that yes, a photo I took had that kind of effect on someone.

This past Thursday I didn’t get to as many dogs as I would have liked, but there are always a few cuties I want to talk about and post a photo of. Some of my time was spent scoping out some Hound puppies for a co-worker whose family is looking for a dog. Kinsis (the more I say his name the more I like it) was a sweetie. The first thing he did after I got in his kennel was to lay his head on my knee. He definitely knows how to work it. For being a puppy he wasn’t all that crazy, but that was his seventh day at the WCAC, which means he got to go for his first walk so he may have been tuckered out.

Hermione was just too cute and mighty quick. She almost escaped when I went to get in her kennel. They can be tricky like that. You walk by their kennel and they sit there all nice and pretty and quiet, but put on the yellow gown and unlock the padlock and they spring into action. I never could get the photo of her I wanted. Then again, that’s the way it is with most of these guys.

Hurley was another one that I didn’t get a truly good photo of. He’s one of those special cases where you want to do all you can to find him a home full of the love he deserves. He was picked up as a stray with his brother. His brother was super aggressive to the point that there was a note in the system for staff to wait for the owner to extract him from the kennel. When the owner came to reclaim the two dogs he said he didn’t want Hurley. Hurley is this big beautiful white “Bully” mix with the most beautiful crystal yellow-green eyes. But he’s so frightened he shakes in the back of his kennel like a little Chihuahua. That’s not right. I’ve seen it before and it has the potential to bring Hurley to an undesirable end. Several of the volunteers have taken a liking to him, though, and are working on building his confidence and finding him a good home. I’ll stop by and visit him again. If I sit with him awhile maybe he’ll get a smile on his face for just one good shot.

Hurley Update 10-18-10: We changed his name to Marley and he's got a cough so I couldn't get better photos tonight as he was in isolation. One of the volunteers who came in specifically to walk him went back to hang out with him awhile ... keep working on that confidence building.