Transforming Lives through Kindness

Transforming Lives through Kindness

by Joanna Dunn Samson, FOTAS Board of Directors

as seen in the "Aiken Standard" on November 17, 2013

They became FOTAS foster families for different reasons.  

Carolyn McCarthy wanted to find a way to ward off the inevitable holiday blues caused by her mother’s death.  Sylvia Igoe wanted to celebrate the memory of the family’s special dog, Apple.  Dineen Daniels wanted to express her life-long passion for animals and honor her own upbringing to value the importance of all life.

They each had slightly different expectations for the foster experience.  

Ms. McCarthy wanted to teach Liam and Reece the importance of giving back, of helping out in the community.  Ms. Igoe wanted Isabelle and Sean to experience first hand significant life lessons like overcoming adversity and the power of forgiveness.  Ms. Daniels wanted to reinforce the qualities of kindness and compassion in Baily, Parker and Josh.

By all measures, the fostering experience has been a success for all three of these families.

Liam and Reece request supplies for the Aiken County Animal Shelter in lieu of birthday gifts.  

Bailey and Parker take their jobs of feeding and caring for the puppies seriously, often getting up at night to help their mom bottle-feed.  Josh helps his mom administer medicine. He plans on being a veterinarian when he grows up.

Isabelle and Sean help their mom with all aspects of caring for the momma dog and their puppies: feeding, filling water bowls, cleaning the crates, playing and socializing with the puppies and giving extra special love and attention to the momma dogs.  They know how important their efforts are in helping these puppies find a forever home.

Life lessons learned?  You bet.  Parker loves to watch the puppies being born.  “It’s so cool that each puppy comes into the world in its own little sack.”

Isabelle and Sean have learned that even though these dogs have had challenges and hardship, they never give up.  With a little help, they can forgive and learn to love again.

Liam and Reece have learned to let go gracefully when the time comes for the puppies to leave.  “We know they are going to a safe place and a nice home,” says Liam.  

“It’s hard,” says Reece, but he thinks about the next dog he will foster and help find a new home.

Foster families like these are a critical component of FOTAS and the County’s efforts to find every adoptable animal a permanent home.  Every dog or puppy transferred to a foster home frees up space on the adoption floor of the County’s grossly overcrowded shelter for another adoptable animal.  That’s a big deal.

Carolyn McCarthy says, “The change that occurs in a dog when it is shown a little kindness is amazing.  It can take weeks, days or sometimes even hours, but every dog is different by the time they leave us.”

So, too, is the family who fostered that dog – it is transformed by the kindness it shows.

FOTAS desperately needs more foster families.  Call us at 803-514-4313 for more information.  You’ll be glad you did.

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”

Nov. 4 - Nov. 9, 2013

10 dogs and 2 cats adopted

Year to Date:  

629 terrific pets adopted

THANK YOU AIKEN COUNTY COMMUNITY!

Aiken County Shelter “Pets of the Week!”

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

BABE,  shepherd mix.  Female, 2 years old, 31 lbs        Only $35 -- adoption special.

BENJAMIN ----    Domestic short hair, Male.  4 months old   3.4 lbs      Only $35.

IT'S ALL IN THE FAMILY

IT’S ALL IN THE FAMILY

by Edythe “Edie” Hubler, FOTAS Board of Directors

Over the past weeks, we have written several times about the FOTAS foster program, where mama dogs and their puppies or dogs needing special attention are temporarily cared for in a loving home environment until they are ready for adoption.  We’ve heard about fostering from dedicated volunteers, from one lucky dog who was being fostered, and from a happy family who adopted a fostered dog.

This week and next we want to celebrate some of the children of foster families.  We asked Abby and Audrey Wiseman, Caroline Wolcott, Isabelle and Sean Igoe, Josh, Parker and Bailey Daniels and their parents to share how the experience has affected and shaped their lives.  These are two of their stories.

“The children have learned the responsibility of having to feed and care for pets, but more significantly, they have learned about life,” says Heather Wiseman, who along with her husband, Grant, and two daughters, Audrey and Abby, have fostered over 200 puppies. “Fostering has taught our family how to prioritize and think about what is most important in our lives.”

Her daughter Audrey says, “The puppies love us even though we are imperfect in so many ways.”  She says the love you see in their faces when they look at her melts her heart. “It’s an easy and fun way to help Aiken and the nice people at the shelter.”  She also thinks the puppies are funny when they howl.

Audrey’s sister Abby likes animals because they are different, but very much like us.  The puppies make her laugh because “they are so small that when they sneeze or shake their head, they fall over.”

Caroline Wolcott is the daughter of Randy and Girl Wolcott, who have sponsored close to 150 puppies and their mamas.  “The most fun about foster puppies is the age when they are just stumbling around and learning to walk.  It’s fun to watch them take their first little steps,” says Caroline.  She thinks it’s really funny when they get the “crazies” and run around their kennel.  “And then boom - they fall asleep.”

All these children are active participants in the care of these animals.  They pick up dirty newspapers, feed, give medications, bathe, and hold for the dreaded toenail clipping. All have seen first hand the miracle of birth. 

The positive effect of the fostering experience on these children has been so much bigger than simply performing a kind act for an animal.  It has taught them compassion, empathy, discipline and planning.  It develops their self-esteem because they know their role in socializing these puppies is an important factor in getting them adopted.  It brings them joy.

Sounds like a pretty good deal all around, doesn’t it?  Bring your family together; join the FOTAS foster program.  You and our many needful dogs and puppies will be glad you did. 

Call the FOTAS hotline at 803-514-4313, or email us at info@FOTASAiken.org.

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”

 

Oct. 28 - Nov. 2, 2013

 

15 dogs adopted

Year to Date:  

617 terrific pets adopted

 

THANK YOU AIKEN COUNTY COMMUNITY!

Aiken County Shelter “Pet of the Week!”

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

SUKI -- Shephard mix, female -- 11 months old, 55 lbs.    Only $38

C.C. -- domestic short hair, female -- 4 years old, 9 lbs.    Only $35

IT TAKES AN ARMY!

IT TAKES AN ARMY!

by Joanna Dunn Samson, FOTAS Board of Directors

as seen in the "Aiken Standard", Sunday, Nov. 3, 2013

Since the start of the recession in 2008, the number of abandoned and neglected horses has skyrocketed as a result of financial hardship caused by changed circumstances.  We’ve all heard the heartbreaking stories: horses left on a farm without food and water when the owners are forced to move, or abandoned by feckless owners in parks and other people’s pastures, even in a stranger’s trailer at a horse show. 

Aiken County is not immune to this disturbing trend.  Just two weeks ago, Bobby Arthurs, the County’s Animal Control Officer, received a call from a good Samaritan, who found a small bay mare wandering along a county road in South Aiken.  The Samaritan caught the mare and put her out in his own fields for the weekend, and now he wanted the County to pick her up.  What does the County do in these situations?

According to Mr. Arthurs, the vast majority of calls he receives about stray horses involve an accidental escape, and with the help of neighbors and the responding deputies, those horses are returned home immediately.  Of the few that have to be transported to the shelter, most are claimed by the owners within 24 hours.  

On rare occasions, the owner cannot be found.  In those cases, the County holds the horses for a 10-day period to allow time for the owner to surface.  If the owner cannot be found, the County’s veterinarian tests and inoculates the horse, and then it is transferred to Equine Rescue of Aiken (ERA) for any necessary rehabilitation and “rehoming”.  According to Jim Rhodes, the manager of ERA, all but one of the 25 or so horses transferred to ERA from the County over the years has been successfully re-homed. 

Thanks to the efforts of FOTAS and ERA, the new Aiken County Animal Shelter under construction on May Royal Drive will be better able to handle the occasional emergency need to hold a stray horse.  The County plans to construct two small, temporary holding pens with run-in sheds that will double most of the time as additional dog play areas. FOTAS, who has been raising money to furnish and equip the new shelter with fencing, cage banks and the like, asked Mr. Rhodes for advice on how the paddocks and run-in sheds could be designed.

“To our great delight,” says Jennifer Miller, President of FOTAS, “Jim offered to have ERA raise the money and install the new paddocks, which allows FOTAS to expend those funds on other critical furnishings and equipment for the new shelter.  ERA has been and continues to be a great partner in handling these isolated incidents.”

“It takes an army,” says Mr. Rhodes about the amount of people and resources necessary to properly rescue and re-home an abandoned horse.  He’s right.  

It also takes an army of goodhearted people, responsible government and generous donors to build a community animal shelter.  To the good citizens of Aiken and Aiken County, thank you.

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”

Oct. 20 - Oct. 26, 2013

8 dogs and 1 cat adopted

Year to Date:  

601 terrific pets adopted

THANK YOU AIKEN COUNTY COMMUNITY!

Aiken County Shelter “Pet of the Week!”

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

SALLEY -- Bull/Carolina dog mix ... 3 yrs old ... 36.6 lbs       Only $70.

BELLA ----    Domestic short hair female kitten.  2.9  lbs      Only $35.