Animal Haven: Dogs Rule

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After a three-week hiatus, I count wet noses as soon as I arrive at Animal Haven. [...]

Animal Shelter: Meet the Ladies

Picture of Lily

When I volunteer Fridays at 6:00 pm, final walks and final cleaning are the main agenda and we work fast. Walk any “Green” dog, the staffer says. (green = easy)

I leash up a newcomer, a pudgy, four-year-old Beagle, yet unnamed. A. says she calls her “Lady.”

“Lady” isn’t too [...]

Meet Nick The Golden Boy

Nick: The Cutest Boy on the Block

A pattern emerges.

The animal shelter population is always shifting. This time, Lona and the last two Billy Joel puppies are gone. Tammy, the little girl missing an eye is gone too. She never appeared on the adoption website. The staff is busy and I don’t [...]

Wanted: Poodle, No Papers Necessary

Elmo, a skinny white poodle with a black Groucho Marx nose, kept pace with me so perfectly I had to keep checking that I still had a dog at the end of the leash. Elmo would be perfect for my parents, I think. Small, older, mellow.

I tell my mother about Elmo and she [...]

Adventures in Dogwalking: Meet Clifford

Clifford and Namesake

Wearing my purple volunteer shirt, I enter the animal shelter and admit I forgot all the instructions from Orientation.

I didn’t forget exactly. During Orientation volunteers, potential volunteers, staff and customers were milling around and weaving in and out of tight spaces. I couldn’t see much of the time. Orientation [...]