Shelter Journal 5/9/13

I went straight to Sugar's kennel. There she was, happy as could be, and was actually much more calm than usual. She jumped up on the kennel door a little but wasn't frantic about it. No blood in the kennel so I went in, then took her to the interaction yard. Played fetch and had a great time! I didn't find out until the end of the day that though she was spayed a week and a half ago she was very much in heat so the bleeding was nothing to be worried about, just regular bleeding from her heat. Whew! I was so worried about her. I spent a lot of time petting her. She kept wiggling under my legs and rubbing on me like a cat.

After Sugar I got Misty [Petfinder link], a lab mix. Lots of energy, kind of like Lana but but quite as over the top. She had a great time playing by herself and would come up to me for petting too.

Photo from SDDAC

Next was a 6 month old puppy, she doesn't have a name yet [Teena, Petfinder link]. She knows sit and down and was a lot of fun! She tossed toys for herself and, same as Misty, would come up for petting. She's already pulling incredibly hard on leash so we worked on that a little but she really needs a lot of work on that.

Keeping with the playful pups I went for Davy [Petfinder link] and he was a blast as always! He pulled more on leash than usual, but wasn't as into fetch as usual. I spent most of the time loving on him instead of playing fetch.

Up for more crazy play I got Lana [Petfinder link]. She's a handful to get out of the kennel and is crazy on leash. She'll take a few steps normally then charge ahead. In the yard she was a sweetie. Played fetch a bit and she had fun playing on her own (not sure what that was all about today, several dogs did it!) and when she'd calmed down and gotten the edge off her energy she was very affectionate and got lots of belly rubs. Such a happy girlie!

I then got Ginger out [still no link] [Petfinder link] but she had a honking cough. I wasn't sure if it was really a cough or if she was choking herself on leash but when the leash was off in the yard it was clear that it was a cough. I immediately put her back and wrote up a note to give to medical that she has kennel cough.

I then got Cricket, and after giving her a few minutes to quietly sniff and check things out I started up our play. Hopping and bouncing back and forth, and running around the yard with her as two dogs do. A volunteer, the awesome woman who mentored me at the shelter last summer and again a month ago when I started back up, walked by and was shocked to see Cricket happily playing, and not cowering, pacing, and panting. The woman thought we might try to find a playmate for Cricket and we agreed Corrina [Petfinder link] might be a good match. I leashed Cricket and when Corinna arrived we had them meet outside the yard. Corrina was fine but Cricket was definitely unsure. Curious and wanting to say hello, but very stiff and tense. We took them into the yard and took off Corinna's leash. Cricket was still very unsure and we didn't want to push it. I took Cricket back to her kennel, and then spent some time giving Corrina lots of belly rubs.

I hate to end on a bad note, but seeing Trapper's kennel being cleaned today was a slap in the face. It's amazing how quietly dogs are just gone. Empty kennel being scrubbed clean, ready for the next. It's numbing when I know it wasn't a good ending for the dog.. but maybe the not good ending is better than the bad ending that would mean the dog lives its life in a noisy, stressful kennel only being walked or played with once every week or two going more and more insane, driven mad by lack of attention, interaction, and the constant stress; or the other bad ending being adopted out to a family that doesn't know what they're in for and the dog hurts someone or kills a neighbor's dog. Pickles, I wrote on her kennel card that she was reactive toward other dogs. Otherwise great. But she'd lunge, whine, charge them. Fence fight furiously. She was known to do that apparently. I saw the way the staff member looked at her last time I had her out and she did that, fence fighting in the interaction yard. The staff member, corners of her mouth turned down, lips tight, a pained expression. That was the last time I saw Pickles. Trapper, he would reach around and grab the leash while you tried to walk him, trying to tug and straining his massive weight against the leash. Today as I went by his kennel it was being cleaned. Suds slowly crawling down the walls, swishswish, swishswish, a woman scrubbing. He's not on the list anymore. Dogs I've played with. Dogs I've scratched behind their ears and rubbed their bellies. Gone. I don't like to assume they were euthanized, but given that neither was safe to adopt out I don't think there is an alternative unless a rescue took them which is very unlikely.