Doggy Dundee

Giving and Receiving A Sheltering Love

G’day, Mates! For a dog or cat lover, there’s no place like an animal shelter or rescue agency to find such a wide assortment of animal personalities, sizes, shapes, and needs to admire – and they all appreciate you.  Plus, you meet a cadre of people totally in love and commited to helping animals, and your circle of friends expands.

When people hear that I volunteer as a shelter dog walker at the Jackson County Animal Shelter, it’s pretty standard for the response to be, “Oh, that’s so great that you do that, but I could never. ” Asking them why, the response is usually one or both of the following:

“It’s just so sad, I think I’d be depressed...” or

“I’d want to take them all home with me…”

Well, mates, I’ve never known a depressed animal shelter volunteer. The feelings are just too good when you’re doing good! It is true though that, eventually, most volunteers do end up owning some special doggy or kitty (or several), and that’s a happy event, too (Chase of Doggy Dundee fame is a shelter alumnus) .

Creating Happiness

Yet, what’s sooo great about volunteering is that your life is enlightened every day you’re at the shelter, because you are instrumental in bringing joy and a sense of trust to every animal you play with and cuddle – and you receive love and joy back from each. I know lots of animal shelter volunteers who even come into the shelter on “unscheduled days,” because they’re starting to feel down and know they’ll feel better after spending an hour or so with the dogs or cats. So, there’s nothing sad about this gig as long as the dogs and cats remain healthy – It’s even better if you happen to be on-hand at the time a ‘favorite’ shelter dog or kitty of yours is walked out by their new owners and driven off to their new “fur-ever’ homes. Puppy Alf, shown with me in the photo above, is now being quite spoiled by his new owners!

If it wasn’t for volunteers continually helping to exercise and socialize the dogs, many of the shelter dogs would not be considered “adoptable” or be harder to place. It’s very rewarding to see a stray or surrendered dog that is new to the shelter and extremely shy/timid or frightened as a result, ”come around” and begin to greet people and play with trust and  exuberance. As a volunteer, you make a difference in these animal’s lives. Kolpe, the greyhound shown in the photo at left, is one of those.

An 8-10 year old greyhound, Kolpe was surrendered to the Jackson County Animal Shelter in August 2010 by his owners. Well, Kolpe didn’t know what was up! A sensitive fellow with some tooth decay, all of a sudden he wasn’t in his house and didn’t have his usual people and bed around, plus it was noisy – lots of other dogs barking, the cage doors made metallic bangs, there were lots of strange attendants opening his kennel cage door, and public people walking through, etc. Kolpe immediately starting chewing his tail till it was raw and bleeding, his rear legs shook uncontrollably, and he was a hesitant walker. Several of us spent extra time with Kolpe (more than one volunteer enjoys curling up in the kennel with this beautiful pooch who loves to lounge), and patiently strolling him at his own pace to help him feel comfortable. Two days later, though, Kolpe had stopped chewing his tail, had a big smile on his face, was nudging volunteer’s pockets for treats, and prancing on walks in the agility yard! What a gem of a dog!

Pay it forward, mates! Become a regular volunteer at an animal shelter or animal rescue agency, and see how much goodness you have to offer.

Shelter Dog Care Provided by

Jackson County Jail Trustees

G’day Mates!

Sharing this news item (with video link) about the Jackson County Animal Shelter (in Phoenix, Oregon), and the great work done by the trustees.

http://kdrv.com/page/149483 Check it out!

Doggy Dundee volunteers at this animal shelter daily, walking Ginny (she’s the white and brown pit-X in the video) and other dogs, so I can vouch for how vital the trustees work is to the care of the shelter dogs, cats, and other animals there.  It’s a win-win-win situation for the offenders being rehabilitated, the animals, and the agencies.

Animal Shelter Work Gets Done

These fellows get in early in the a.m. (along with their supervisor crew chief) and have to immediately clean out all the (usually messed) kennels and take the dogs out (they also “cycle” all the dogs for time outside throughout the day), feed the dogs twice a day, help shelter visitors seeking a dog find a dog that matches the person’s needs. The trustees also sit with/pet/comfort the dogs. They do throughout-the-day and end-of-day clean up, and they are also the ones who come in on holidays when the shelter staff is “off,” to ensure the dogs, cats, and any other animals at the shelter are cared for throughout the day. Plus, it’s a hugh amount of laundry (towels, blankets, work clothes, etc.) they do daily to keep things cleaned up and comfortable for the shelter animals, as you might imagine.

This is an exemplary program, and it should be a model for other animal shelters andjustice programs in other areas of the country! The guys are great to work with, by the way, and do what they can for the animals.

FYI, the shelter has attempted to sometimes have women crews, but…there are insufficient numbers of women incarcerated who fit the requirements to keep that going consistently – and a shelter dog (and other shelter animals) – need consistent crews)

Talent Police Chief Endorses Doggy Dundee

Imagine Doggy Dundee’s surprise to pick up the June issue of the Talent News and Review and read that the Chief of Police is a Doggy fan, and read quotes

Chief Moran & Dogs

stating he finds this blog is “refreshing…informative and entertaining.”

It all started late one Thursday night when I was reading the “Flash Cop Talk” column. Chief Mike Moran addressed concerns about a stretch of newly painted yellow lines on Talent Avenue, then he went into some detail about check fraud taking place. Then–Ding! Ding!–without warning came this unsolicited endorsement from Chief Moran:

“Talent has another interesting source of information besides this publication. It’s an online site about the travels and perspectives of a woman and her dog in Talent. It has a refreshing outlook, and there are reminders about the rules and responsibilities of dog owners…the online blog of DoggyDundee.com is informative and entertaining…and has some really great stories about Talent’s Canine Citizens.” 

Much obliged, Chief! Natch, we had to find out about the dogs in his life.

Henry and Coco Were Shelter Dogs

Chief Mike Moran is pictured above with his two “shelter dog ” alumni. The black (maybe, Flat Coat) Retriever X is Henry — and doesn’t Henry bare a tad resemblance to Chase?  The white and brown Cocker  X (maybe with Springer?) is named Coco.  Both boys are furry and fun.

Henry, who is now seven years old, was adopted as a 12 week old puppy from the Animal Shelter. The last of 12 pups,  he’d been overlooked due to some social anxiety issues, but the Chief tells me Henry “is a great dog.”

Chief Moran adopted Coco, also now around seven or eight years old, from the Southern Oregon Humane Society (HS).  This handsome cocker X had been rescued by the HS from Josephine County, because that group was unable to find the dog a home.  As you can see, Coco is very happy to be living with Chief Moran.

Visit Your Animal Shelter

A great big THANKS to Chief Mike Moran for adopting shelter dogs – Chase and I want everyone to visit their shelters for their “fur-ever friend.” And, naturally, Doggy Dundee sends a big thanks to the Chief  for sharing his appreciation of the Doggy Dundee blog with the Talent newspaper’s readers.

A Nifty Woofer

G’day mates! There’s always a way to tell when someone has a Doggy Dundee spirit. Sometimes it’s that look in their eye or the way they carry themselves or maybe just the tilt of their hat. Well, check out this sport – he’s got it down!

Victor

Nancy sent us this photo of Victor, the 8-year old Border Collie/Queensland healer X who adopted her brother’s family when just a pup. Well, Chase loves that jaunty hat and look in his eye, insisting I depart from our usual path of lost dogs, stray dogs and shelter dogs to show everybody how a Doggy Dundee dead ringer might dress.

Quite the bloke, ain’t he?

According to his aunt, Victor was born in Georgetown, CA. His favorite game is playing footie (that’s soccer in Aussie slang). Got his own ball and at local matches during half-time Victor entertains onlookers by chasing and retrieving his ball. “All the kids love him and with all the soccer balls out, he knows his own. He also loves to travel and seems to understand everything. He’s quite the character.”

Well, of course – Victor’s a doggy dundee – and quite a fun sport!

(More Aussie slang translations for you: Woofer = Dog; and Bloke/Sport/Mate = friend or male friend; and Footie (the ”t” is pronounced as a ”d”) = soccer or football/rugby; and Dead Ringer = likeness/replica/copy).