So Many Reasons to Volunteer at the County Shelter!

We are in the process of organizing an employee “Day of Service” for February 9^th.  Would your organization be able to participate…? “ read the email message.

FOTAS responded, “Yes! – with caveats. The volunteer program at the shelter is doing its best to accommodate community involvement.  Unfortunately, until the new shelter is built, there are logistical constraints on how many people can productively be on site at one time.

FOTAS Volunteer Counselors, Caroline and Denise,  are available by appointment for volunteer orientations.  Contact FOTAS or the County Shelter.  New volunteers learn Animal Control and shelter staff functions, about shelter layout, play yards and walking trails.  They learn FOTAS’ role and history, even about the cat facility FOTAS built. They meet the adoptable animals, and learn the do's and don’ts of animal management. 

The orientation is thorough, and intends that the volunteer experience be as safe and pleasant as possible for all concerned.

A “Day-of-Service” mom emailed FOTAS:  “My daughter is a Junior Girl Scout and she is looking for a service project to earn a badge. She is a loving, gentle, and a responsible child who loves animals. Your website says that you’re looking for volunteers to pet and groom cats waiting to be adopted. Would this be something she could do on Saturdays? She is 10 years old and I would be volunteering also.”  

Youth under the age of 17 have to be accompanied by a responsible adult, preferably a parent.  Younger children must come with their parent or guardian and be closely supervised throughout.  Youngsters who come to the shelter find interacting with cats and dogs a lot of fun and very rewarding.

 The Girl Scout’s mom had a younger daughter, too, age 6.  She and the two girls came to the shelter and then wrote:  “My daughters and I volunteered 2 weekends ago. We are trying to make it an every weekend event but of course things come up. We will be up there this weekend to help out again. We enjoyed it so much…”  

 It is very important to check with FOTAS or the County Shelter in advance of bringing a group.  Due to current space and personnel limitations, if more people show up than can be effectively accommodated, it is hard on everyone, especially the animals.

Hopefully, by the end of this year more of everything will be possible: volunteers, adoptions, and community involvement. The ground-breaking ceremony for the New Aiken County Animal Shelter is March 3^rd.  

Please join us from 2 pm to 4 pm at 333 Wire Road, Aiken, SC

 The Day-of-Service Mom wrote one more time:

“We absolutely enjoyed every minute volunteering (with the Day of Service) and can't wait to do it again next year. Also, I will bring a picture of “James” (aka Lucky) and “Brenda” (aka Lulu). These are the two dogs we've adopted from the shelter, since volunteering a month ago. They are a wonderful addition to our family and are much loved.”

There are all kinds of benefits to getting involved at our County Shelter.  Dogs are still half-price until next Saturday, and cats are always on $35 each!

FOTAS Volunteers work with the AIKEN COUNTY ANIMAL SHELTER, 411 Wire Road.  For more information, contact “info@fotasaiken.org” or visit FOTAS on line at www.fotasaiken.org
  

Aiken County Animal Shelter:  “By the Numbers”

February 11^th thru 17th  

Received: 30 dogs and 12 cats

Adopted: 14 dogs and 2 cats

Put down:  17 dogs and 16 cats

Aiken County Shelter “Pets of the Week!” 

SUSAN – 1.5 yr Boxer mix.  She’s a love of a dog. Half price= $35!

ZINDEL – 1.5 yrs. She is a petite Valentine.  Only $35

Half Price Until March 2nd!

 

 

To Be a County Shelter Foster Family is a Love Calling

If you move to Aiken, as foster-parents Marcia and Dan did, because you confused eventing jumps with the name of a town, life after that has to be an adventure in happenstance.

They lived in Chicago, and followed their serious event-riding daughter Sam to North Carolina. Then Sam was jumping “Aikens” in Blythewood, SC, and said they “just had to see it.”  Confusing names, Marcia and Dan took a look at the town called Aiken and immediately fell in love. That was about 1999.

Preferring to board their horses, Marcia and Dan bought a townhouse.  Sam and her then-fiancé followed and bought a small farm in the eventing district off of Shaws Fork. 

“He could be happy wherever there was a computer and pizza delivery,” Marcia said, “but out here there’s neither.”  So the two couples swapped houses, and that is how Dan and Marcia ended up on Linger Longer Farm.

Visiting a local veterinarian’s office, the couple saw a picture on the wall of two lovely and very sad Labradors who needed a home.  They had a farm, and decided to add the dogs.  They were told that the dogs had only just been taken to the county shelter.  Dan and Marcia bee-lined it to the shelter only to be told in the most offensively officious manner that no such dogs were there.  They weren’t even allowed to look.

Marcia said, “I was so upset that I vowed would never set foot in that place again.” 

Ten years go by, a lot changes, and there was an article in the Aiken Standard about fostering puppies.

“What caught my attention,” Marcia said, “It said that if you foster puppies they won’t be put down.” 

That’s true, unless the animals are seriously sick, if you foster an adoptable animal, the County Shelter staff and FOTAS will see that it finds a home.

Marcia and Dan went immediately to the shelter to sign up to be an approved foster home.  They started with two puppies.

“There were all these people at the house for a Super Bowl party that year,” Marcia says, “and I remember being so proud of those puppies.”

Since then, they figure that they have fostered about 100 dogs, adults, puppies, mothers with puppies. 

It isn’t always easy.  Homeless, motherless puppies, especially if they have to stay in the current shelter because there aren’t enough foster homes, are so very vulnerable to disease, particularly Parvo.

Dan and Marcia were lucky with the first 3 or 4 litters, but eventually they had to learn the signs of trouble, how to intervene, and to continue to try to save as many as they can.  They love it.  They even got their pastor and his family involved in fostering.  And every so often, they take a break. 

The Foster Care program understands.  This is a commitment with emotional highs and lows.  You do what you can when you are ready.

“We all have our gifts,” Marcia says.

Adoptions are half price until March 2nd. 

FOTAS Volunteers work with the AIKEN COUNTY ANIMAL SHELTER, 411 Wire Road.  For more information, contact “info@fotasaiken.org” or visit FOTAS on line at www.fotasaiken.org

Aiken County Animal Shelter:  “By the Numbers”

February 4^th thru 10th  

Received: 82 dogs and 19 cats

Adopted: 22 dogs and 3 cats

Put down:  7 dogs and 14 cats

Aiken County Shelter “Pets of the Week!”

BUFORD - 10 yrs.  This elegant hound warrants a smoking jacket to join you by the fire.  $35!

  

ANN – 3 yrs. Her eyes glow in a lovely face.  $35 

                              

*All adoption fees include: Spay/Neuter, heartworm test, all shots, worming, and microchip.

Dog Adoptions HALF-PRICE until March 2nd!

The Tale of Dudley, the Carry-out Dog

The week before Christmas, Sandra, a regular FOTAS volunteer, found the boney black lab mix curled against the back wall of his cage at the County Shelter.  No amount of coaxing would get him to come out.

She didn’t learn Dudley’s history, but it could not have included enough to eat or positive associations with humans.

 “He curled into smallest ball imaginable,” Sandra said, “and if you got near him, he would try to squeeze himself even smaller.”

It did no good to put a leash on him.  He wouldn’t move.  In a way it was lucky that Dudley was so underweight, at only 32 pounds. Sandra picked him up and carried him outdoors.

“In the beginning, I didn’t even try to take him out to the play yard.  I just carried him out to the bench and sat with him.”

When she carried him back to his cage, she gave him extra food because he was so thin.

Each time Sandra went to walk the shelter dogs, that week, Dudley had to be carried out and carried in.

When Sandra did take him down the hill to the play yard, Dudley seemed lost.  He did not play, or even interact.  He would walk around as if he didn’t know why he was there.

Dudley originally had a cage-mate who was also very timid, and when that dog was pulled by a rescue group, a slight change came over Dudley.  When Sandra arrived at his cage, Dudley was standing.  And when she opened the cage door, he took a step towards her.

He allowed her to attach the leash, and he followed her cautiously to the building exit, but no further.  “That was it,” she said, “I had to carry him from there to the play yard.”

Sandra can’t explain it, but she has a special love for the black lab mixes.  They are very common at the shelter, and are often overlooked for adoption.

During the weeks before and after Christmas, Sandra was at the County Shelter walking the dogs twelve of fourteen days, including Sunday and Christmas Day.  It paid off.

Dudley began approaching the cage gate and walking to the outside door on his own, but he still needed to be carried to the play yard.

Then one day Sandra arrived at Dudley’s cage and there he was up and ready.  She attached the leash and out he walked: to the door, through the door, and straight to the play yard.

The transformation continued.  Dudley would allow anyone to walk him to the play yard, and when he got there he would run, play with other dogs, and chase a ball.

“He was a happy, happy, affectionate dog,” Sandra said, the pride and satisfaction clear in her voice. “We didn’t know the dog that was in him,” she said, “We went and found him.”

In January, Dudley was transferred to New England and quickly adopted to a good home.

Volunteers make a difference, sometimes one dog at a time.  

FOTAS Volunteers work with the AIKEN COUNTY ANIMAL SHELTER, 411 Wire Road.  For more information, contact “info@fotasaiken.org” or visit FOTAS on line  www.fotasaiken.org

Aiken County Animal Shelter:  “By the Numbers”

January 21 thru 27, 2013  

Received: 29 dogs and 22 cats

Adopted:  11 dogs and 3 cats

Put down:  26 dogs and 14 cats

Aiken County Shelter “Pets of the Week!”  VALENTINE SPECIAL! Half price all month!

BRANDON- 9 mos.  A very special Tree Walker Hound for Valentines.. $35 This month!

SEBASTIAN - 3 yrs. This gorgeous guy is a perfect valentine love!  Only $35

 

 

*All adoption fees include: Spay/Neuter, heartworm test, all shots, worming, and microchip