Friends of Augusta Animal Services

Stories, with endings like this are just one of the reasons we do what we do. It’s time for one of the BEST Happy Tails I’ve ever had the opportunity to share about the longest resident (90 days) UNTIL YESTERDAY!

SCRAPPY! was adopted during Fun-day Sunday. His adopter walked in and “asked specifically” for him. We were over the moon someone wanted to meet Scrappy! Now it was off to the play yard and up to Scrappy to seal the deal. Most dogs give an adopter a 1st sniff and then do their business, not Scrappy, it was pool 1st (typical Scrappy) and then he said hello to his new dad (soaking wet, was this a deal breaker?) Nope. Time to leave them alone and let them get to know each other. As I walked away I thought he’s the one for Scrappy, and lo and behold he was. Scrappy would have one more hurdle at his new home, he would have a brother to meet. Last night we received these pictures and here’s what his dad had to say.

He’s doing awesome! We had the door open and he didn’t run out, when he was called he came back inside. He’s been nothing but a love bug, hasn’t barked, begged, or jumped on anyone, or had an accident in the house. He honestly just fit right in like he’s lived here for years. I have no idea why no one gave him a chance. I know it’s only been a day but I hit the lottery with him. He played with his new brother for like 2 hours and he is a spoiled brat. Scrappy now wears a bell (they hear him coming and going, a great idea) while he just trots around the house. He just needed someone that would work with him and love him. Todoroki (his brother) loves playing with him. It’s like having 2 dinosaurs (see playtime video in comments). What a Happy Ending for Scrappy!!!

Some of our dogs just can’t handle life at the shelter and when they are here too long have the potential go kennel crazy, which results in euthanasia, most recent case in point Marshmellow. Adopting from your local shelter saves 2 lives (the one you adopt and the one that comes in that needs the now empty kennel). If you are looking to adopt stop by, we have some great pups available who have so much love to give.

Last but not least, thank you to Becky Reese for giving Scrappy a job as a dog assesser and to my fellow volunteers who worked with Scrappy and got him out regularly (outdoor time is huge for an extended stay pup). MOST OF ALL THANK YOU, THANK YOU TO SCRAPPY’S NEW FAMILY!!!!!

Beverly

FUN-DAY SUNDAY was once again a success. The highlight of the day was SCRAPPY!!, he is in a home playing with his new brother! We are all so happy for him!. In total 5 dogs and 2 cats left today and are in what we hope are their new forever homes. THANK YOU to everyone who came to support this event and especially the volunteers who without them today wouldn’t have happened. We are grateful for the love shown to our shelter pets!

NEXT UP!!! SUPER TUESDAY!!!, extended shelter hours for adoptions THIS Tuesday, July 23, 4-7pm. We hope to see you there at 4164 Mack Lane, Augusta, GA. ALL of our adoptable pets are UTD on shots (puppies/kittens for their age), spayed/neutered, microchipped and adult dogs Heartworm tested. Feel free to bring and include any current pet in a meet and greet. Drake is now our longest resident at 80 days as of today.

FUN-DAY SUNDAY IS ABOUT TO BEGIN!, will will update last nights line-up as we can. Today is the day, come meet you new furry friend at AAS, 4164 Mack Lane, Augusta GA. We are here 12-3 for adoptions. All adoptions $20 (cash).

Here’s what you’ve been waiting for, the FUN-DAY, SUNDAY LINE UP!! Tomorrow, July 21st , 12-3 at Augusta Animal Services, 4164 Mack Lane, Augusta GA. ADOPTION SPECIAL $20 (Cash). If you are looking for a new addition we hope you will stop by. Please share, share, share we really need to empty some of these kennels. Adoptions are on a first come basis.

ANOTHER FUN-DAY SUNDAY!! Tomorrow July 21st, Augusta Animal Services WILL BE OPEN 12-3 for ADOPTIONS. Special adoption fee $20 (cash). We have more than 30 dogs/puppies, cats/kittens available. If you can’t make it during regular hours, TOMORROW is for you. The shelter is full and when 1 is adopted there is room for another. We encourage everyone who is considering adopting to stop by and take a look. All are UTD on shots (puppies for their age), spayed/neutered, microchipped and adult dogs Heartworm tested. The line up will post this evening around 8. Please share and spread the word.

Shelter Story 7/20: Big Things Coming!

We do a lot of different things here at Augusta Animal Services. Some of us excel at something and some of us excel at something else, but one thing unites every one of us: we want to see more pets adopted! All of our adoptable dogs and cats have their own story to tell, and every one deserves a loving forever home. We hope, with new outreaches to the community we’ll have happy tails to share and celebrate!

We’re very excited to introduce Save-a-Pet Mondays, the first of our new initiatives. Starting on August 5th!

What are they? Save-a-Pet Mondays are a new program where, every Monday, the shelter’s ONLY job will be sending animals to their new forever homes. All of our energy will be dedicated to that.

For this one day a week, we will close intake of healthy stray animals at our shelter location, and no owner surrenders will be scheduled. Animal Control Officers will still be in the field addressing calls, but our kennel staff will be all hands on deck for adoptions! Normal stray intake through the shelter will resume on Tuesday.

What does Save-a-Pet Mondays mean for YOU?

Save money: each Monday, a different EXCITING discount or adoption special will be offered! What will they be? Watch this space! The week’s special for adoption Monday will be unveiled on our Facebook and TikTok accounts each Friday before.

Have fun: everyone who adopts a dog or cat on Save-a-Pet Mondays gets to choose a free new toy from our donation closet to take home with you!

Get comfortable: as supplies last, everyone who adopts a dog or cat on Save-a-Pet Mondays will get a brand new dog or cat bed! Please keep in mind that the pet beds were donated, so when they are gone they are gone.

Hang out with us: On Save-a-Pet Mondays, our whole job is getting pets adopted and greeting the community. If you want to see what the shelter is like firsthand, ask us a question you’ve had, get clarification on a rumor you’ve heard, meet the staff, see what kind of animals we get, or just say hi…please come in. We’re more than happy to talk.

An animal control officer will be on site at the shelter to answer any questions you may have about county ordinances, or just chat with you about how animal control works if you’d like.

A representative from DNA rescue will also be on site at the shelter and happy to answer any questions you may have about fostering pets or helping out with the transport program.

Come on YOUR time: The shelter will be open until seven on Save-a-Pet Mondays!

Please come see us! We are super excited to get this started, and we’re SUPER excited to reveal our weekly special promotion to you on Friday!

Introducing: Staff Spotlight Thursdays! Starting today, AAS is going to be highlighting and appreciating one member of our amazing staff, and everything they do for the animals, each week.

We’re kicking off with Rosa, the mother of kittens!

Any time you visit AAS, there’s a good chance you’ll see Rosa walking around with a teeny kitten or two tucked into her shirt. She has a huge heart for our tiniest little boys and girls. Every kitten who comes in gets special love and care from Rosa, and she always makes sure their kennels are set up just right.

One of the cutest sights to see is the special spa treatments she gives the little kittens who come in infested with fleas (which is most of them.) These kittens often don’t weigh enough for chemical flea treatments, so the fastest and best way to deflea them is a bath in Dawn. Sometimes you’ll walk into our “move over” room and see a kitten halfway through its spa day, with all of its siblings rolled up like burritos in warm towels ☺️

All of us at AAS (especially the kittens!) really appreciate Rosa and all she does for the animals.

🎶 ⭐️ You are stellar ⭐️ 🎶

Meet me in outer space
We could spend the night
Watch the earth come up
I've grown tired of that place
Won't you come with me?
We could start again…

We all get a little tired of the Earth sometimes…will you take Stellar with you to outer space?

Or maybe just your house. She’d make a great cuddle buddy!

One-year-old Stellar is a special girl who looks a bit like a tiny Belgian Malinois. She’s 38 pounds of joy, love, and exploration! Stellar is an enthusiastic, sweet, and lovable little lady who wants to please humans and should be very easy to train. She’s a wigglebutt who greets every new person and dog with a wagging tail and smiling face; she loves giving hugs and likes to tunnel her way onto your lap.

Who wants to watch the Earth come up with Stellar? 🪐 🌍 The shelter is your starting point. She’s available for adoption now and would love to meet you!

To Kill or Not to Kill- That’s Not Really the Question
Rachel Smith
Animal Protection Officer II, Chair of the Animal Welfare Investigations Project Advisory Board, Member of the International Society for Animal Forensic Sciences
July 16, 2024

I recently read an article titled The Myth About No-Kill Shelters and the author, Jessica Kooistra, so perfectly wrote, “Why does an animal shelter resort to euthanasia? It could be space, it could be an outbreak of disease, it could be the animal in their care is beyond help, and it could even be that they offer this service to the general public who can’t afford to make an appointment at the local vet.
“Vilifying an organization, that only exists because of the negligence of its general public, and is forced to make hard decisions to remain available to said public, is one of the most disturbing things about working in animal welfare.
“On one hand the public demands the shelter exists, on the other they demand it is run the way they believe to be correct. A shelter should be available to take in absolutely all unwanted animals in the community, while simultaneously finding them all a happy ending. These unrealistic expectations have found their way onto social media platforms where voices grow loud, and pressure is put on the organization which attempts to appease this loud public. Often to unhealthy levels.
“Rescue organizations who proudly boast to be ‘no-kill’ only exist because they can choose which animals to take in, and how many. The ones they turn away often end up at the local pound anyway. So, are they truly ‘no-kill’?”
It felt as if these few paragraphs were ripped straight out of my heart and slapped so articulately on paper in a way that I couldn’t have spoken better myself. While reflecting on this, an ominous, major event was brewing in the small town of Danville, Virginia.
The Best Friends Animal Society (BFAS), known for being the leader and largest proponent of the “no-kill” movement, spearheaded and targeted the Danville Area Humane Society (DAHS) and its director, Paulette Dean, because of their high euthanasia rates. What initially started out as an innocent offer to help transfer some DAHS cats to an unknown location in New York quickly dissolved into a nightmare ‘Danville Deserves Better’ campaign after Dean declined BFAS’s offer. BFAS’s plan was to infiltrate, infect, and infest DAHS to reduce their function as an open-admission shelter to a limited-admission shelter in order to boost their live release rate to more closely adhere to Best Friends’ completely arbitrary golden save rate number of 90%.
According to Dean, a Best Friends representatives targeted and threatened her by saying, “Make no mistake. We will not forget and we will do what we need to do,” and, “Paulette Dean needs to remember that Best Friends has more money to fight her than she has to fight Best Friends.” Because of this campaign, the reputation of DAHS, Dean, and her employees faced online and in-person threats so much so that the shelter had to temporarily shut down out of safety concerns to the staff. In all fairness, one of Best Friends' representatives later released a statement saying, “…there is no place for threats or violence in the animal welfare movement and such behaviors have never been tolerated.” But the dye has been cast, a line has been crossed, and the true mission of Best Friends has been revealed that they will go to any length to infiltrate, infect, and infest these organizations and communities to implant a hidden agenda to further their goal.
When it comes to the no-kill movement, we need to get a few facts straight: there is no such thing as a kill shelter or a no-kill shelter; there is only open-admission and limited-admission with the latter applying to Best Friends. In an editorial written by Bobby Allen Roach, Star-Tribune editor, he quotes Dean regarding Best Friends’ unwanted intrusion into DAHS’s operations saying, “The only way a shelter can be ‘no-kill’ is to turn away animals. If people would thoughtfully investigate what that means, we believe they would realize that leads to very sad and even cruel consequences for animals. There is no magical place for animals to go if a shelter turns them away.”
Speaking from nearly a decade of experience in animal welfare, I can attest Dean’s statement to be true. Open-admission shelters are vital organizations within a community that serve the public and their animals. From free/low cost vaccinations/microchips/spay/neuter to investigating animal cruelty, from handing out community engagement resources to fostering survivors of domestic violence, open-admission shelters provide a wide array of resources to the public and their animals. But most importantly open-admission shelters accept all animals regardless of circumstance, condition, or volume and all free of charge- something that Best Friends cannot say they do.
Were Best Friends to become open-admission they would quickly experience the same massive overflow that all open-admission shelters are struggling with today. When Best Friends or other limited-admission shelters turn away the sick, the injured, the abandoned, and the homeless because they don’t want their numbers to be negatively affected, the fact remains that those animals still need a place to go. And as Dean pointed out, there is no magical place and they don’t just magically disappear. The refusal of Best Friends and limited-admission shelters to admit these animals who need a place to go often results in cruel consequences. They are dumped in the very same parking lot of that facility or tied out in the woods or left in a park without shelter and without medical care. If they’re lucky enough to be found, those animals then are admitted to facilities that are truly there to help- that’s right: the open-admission shelters.
The second misleading fact that needs to be straightened out: Best Friends euthanizes animals too. Best Friends’ harmful ‘Save them all’ slogan is a gigantic contradiction. It is impossible to save every animal because there will always be animals that must be euthanized due to an incurable disease, are injured beyond saving or can’t receive effective pain management, are too aggressive to be released to the public or socialize with other animals, or are too behaviorally unsound for rehabilitation or training. It is also a fact that the 90% save rate benchmark is an arbitrary number made up by, pushed, and reinforced by Best Friends with no historical statistical backing as a measure of “success.” While the majority of us professionally involved in animal welfare are aware of these facts, the vast majority of the general public is not so when they think of a ‘no-kill’ shelter, they literally think that any animal that goes through those doors is completely safe from euthanasia. This vilifies the role of open-admission shelters and their staff and Best Friends knows it. Despite hearing the same sentiment time and time and time again by open-admission shelters around the country that their no-kill language push is detrimental, Best Friends refuses to change their language and is happy to allow the persecution of open-admission shelters and their staff facing these euthanasia decisions.
This never-ending circle of infiltrate, indoctrinate, and control the nation’s open-admission shelters and the public is leaving longstanding damage to the animal welfare and sheltering world. To gaslight the general public with a constant onslaught of misinformation and skew save rate data is beyond reproach and unethical. They coined the famous ‘Save them all’ statement which has wreaked irreparable harm on the very organizations that exist to accept the animals that they do not and will not.
This holier-than-thou agenda is driven by the one thing that Best Friends holds most dear and it isn’t the lives or well-being of animals: it’s numbers. As Dean puts it so well, “The animals aren’t numbers; they are living creatures who don’t deserve to suffer and die a lingering death because we closed our shelter doors.” And until Best Friends takes a good, long, hard reflective look in the mirror and realizes that numbers aren’t the most important aspect to animal welfare, we cannot unite to perfect a more humane world.
DAHS’s mission statement reads, “Our purpose is to promote the welfare and humane treatment of all animals: Mammals, fowl, reptiles, and fish; to prevent cruelty and promote kindness, respect, and reverence for all forms of life; and to this end, provide for the rescue and temporary maintenance of lost, strayed, abandoned animals; find responsible, loving homes for as many as possible; investigate acts of cruelty, abandonment, and neglect; strive to decrease pet overpopulation through spay/neuter programs; disseminate the principles of humaneness through educational programs and through these efforts contribute to the creation of a truly humane society.” That is both the letter and spirit of humane animal welfare.
So the question isn’t to kill (euthanize) or not to kill (euthanize) but instead the question is: when do we value the life and most humane outcome for each being over the number they represent?
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OUR LONGEST ADOPTABLE RESIDENT!!! SCRAPPY!!! On Wednesday (July 24th) Scrappy will have been at AAS for 90 DAYS!!! and that is way too long for a pup who has so much love to give (he was gone for 4/5 days in late June but returned because the current dog in the home did not adjust to him). He was just over 1 year old when he arrived and is now on the upside heading to 1 1/2. Darn shame if you ask me. Is he perfect?, no, does he need a solid routine and someone willing to work with him routinely on some basic skills? Yes. Will he need TIME to adapt to a home?, yes (probably more than most since he’s been here so long). Is he smart?, yes and learns quickly. Does he occasionally jump?, yes BUT not as much and usually it’s only when he hasn’t seen anyone for awhile (basically in greeting/over stimulated). He is working on this behavior and has made great strides towards success. Does he need to improve on leash?, yes and he is a work in progress on this as well. Now the wonderful things about Scrappy. He loves toys and tends to clean up after himself and put them in 1 area, he is treat motivated which has helped with leash walking, he knows sit, he plays by himself outside but really likes you to at least hang out as well, he loves playing in a kiddie pool, he loves affection (belly rubs, chest rubs etc), he is great with other dogs and has been used on multiple occasions doing assessments with a new dog, he likes to play, on the flip side he also knows quiet time is a good thing. He is medium size, 44 lbs and a mixed breed. Some of you are aware we recently had a pup go kennel crazy resulting in euthanasia, AND none of us want that for Scrappy. We ask, are you someone, do you know someone or a family who is willing to give Scrappy the loving home he needs and deserves? If so, visit him at Augusta Animal Services, 4164 Mack Lane, Augusta GA, Monday-Saturday during adoption hours 12-4. He is UTD on shots, neutered, microchipped and Heartworm tested (-). The shelter will cat test him if needed for an on-site adopter. Scrappy is also available for a week long (7 day) test drive for a serious adopter. Don’t let Scrappy become another statistic. Please share!

In a previous life these two (2) bigger dogs were probably teddy bears. Meet Boba Fet and Big Red!

BOBA FET has been waiting more than 60 days for a family to give him a loving home. He is a 2 year old, 78 lb Australian Shepherd/Mastiff Mix. He is Superb on leash, sits, easy with treats, toys are a maybe, leans on you for pets, rests his head in your lap, uses a kiddie pool to cool himself off, is super laid back, easy with other dogs, and good with children. We are pretty sure, given the opportunity he is a couch potato. The shelter will cat test if needed. UTD on shots, neutered, microchipped and HW (-).

BIG RED was recently surrendered to AAS and is 3 years old, 70lbs and unknown breed. This big boy is also superb on leash, sits, easy with treats, gentle as can be, easy at play, loves pets, belly rubs and butt scratches, likes children. Big Red just wants and needs somewhere to lay his head so he can chill out, lounge around and be taken on a walk. He was housebroken on arrival, gets along with other dogs, the shelter will cat test if needed. UTD on shots, neutered, microchipped and HW tested (-).

Don’t let the size of these two worry you, they may be on the larger/heavier side BUT both of these fellas are snuggly as a child’s teddy bear and both of them would really like to meet their new families. In addition both are eligible for a week long test drive to make sure they are a good fit in their new homes. Visit BOBA FET and BIG RED at Augusta Animal Services, 4164 Mack Lane, Augusta GA during adoption hours Monday-Saturday 12-4.

Good morning, Augusta!! DID YOU KNOW that in addition to the wonderful cats and kittens available for adoption at the shelter, we also have wonderful cats and kittens available for adoption at Petsense in Grovetown?

These purry pals are looking for their forever. If Grovetown is more convenient to you than our shelter…please come check them out. Petsense has everything you need to take your new cat home right there in the store, too!!

Behind the scenes at AAS 7/13: The Story of Marshmallow

Like the vast majority of strays in Augusta, the dog abandoned at the Sprint station on Mike Padgett was a pit bull. She didn’t know she was a pit bull (or even that dog breeds existed as a concept) but every human who saw her, every day of her life, knew right away.

She was a happy girl on intake, her bright white coat was an eye catcher, and she was only about a year old. Whoever dumped her at the gas station probably paid her breeder a premium for that showy, snowy fur not so very long ago. She finished her stray hold and was already a staff favorite. The kennel workers let me know they had chosen a name for her, Marshmallow, before I even did her assessment.

Marshmallow passed her temperament tests that day, and her status as a staff favorite never wavered. They had plenty of time to get to know her. Too much time, in fact. It’s never good news for a dog to spend several months living in a kennel at the shelter.

Our efforts to find that perfect forever home for Marshmallow were aggressive from the start. She went to three different adoption events out in the community. I posted her on social media repeatedly, and shared her to every CSRA pet community I could find. DNA posted photos and videos of her on their Facebook. She was shared by well-wishers thousands of times. The staff talked her up to every potential adopter who walked through.

None of it helped. Even with the novelty coat, which probably cost extra when she was eight weeks old, no one was interested in Marshmallow at a year old. The kennels on either side of her saw puppies, a shepherd mix, two lab mixes, a husky, more puppies, a brown mutt, a leggy hound, a black Jack Russel-type mix, and a sable shepherd adopted out of them - neighbors replaced by new neighbors who were themselves adopted and replaced by newER neighbors - as Marshmallow just stayed. It’s tough being an adult pit bull.

If the time she spent at AAS felt long to the staff, volunteers, and I: it clearly felt longer for Marshmallow. The kennel workers loved her and always gave her yard time in the mornings, throwing balls and playing with her. Volunteers walked her regularly. But there’s only so much difference these things can make as weeks stretch into months. Marshmallow was still living her life in a kennel. And as those months went by, Marshmallow started to deteriorate.

The dog who once greeted every new face with a soft body and wagging tail started charging the gates when people came by, desperate for her situation to change. Her barks got harder, her body language stiffer. Her frustration was growing with each passing day she was not adopted.

We call it “kennel crazy.” It always hits high energy young dogs the hardest.

We stepped up our efforts to get Marshmallow adopted and keep her stimulated. Another adoption event. More yard time, more walks. A dog day out with volunteers at Phinizy Swamp. Her adoption fee discounted to $20. Still, Marshmallow stayed at the shelter. And still, Marshmallow declined. Her mad dashes from one side of her kennel to the other became more and more frantic.

The day finally came when a walkthrough customer took pity on Marshmallow’s long stay and agreed to do a meet and greet with their own dog. The staff members introduced the animals carefully, allowing them to see each other from a safe distance first. Marshmallow was permitted to slowly approach the prospective adopter’s dog on leash. She was tense at first, but the kennel worker calmed her down with time to see the other dog as peaceful and unthreatening. A little closer. Marshmallow immediately lunged and snapped at him. The kennel worker was able to pull her back, but it was a much closer call than anyone could tolerate.

The staff had always loved Marshmallow, but their love alone couldn’t save her. Even with daily enrichment, long months in the kennel had turned our sweet Marshmallow into a frustrated, frantic, and reactive dog who could no longer be trusted to approach a new dog, even very slowly and carefully. No one wanted to adopt her even before this started happening. A long-term behavior rehabilitation foster for an adult pit bull is a unicorn.

I made the hard decision to say goodbye. Even with no other real choices left, it still wasn’t easy. Marshmallow was euthanized on a Tuesday, her smiling kennel card photo of an early day in the play yard a sad reminder of what might have been.

It’s hard being an adult pit bull.

There are a lot of sad realities in the animal shelter world. One of them is that around 80% of the strays at Augusta Animal Services on any given day are pit bulls, American bullies, or mixes of these breeds. For a lot of reasons, it’s hard to find adopters for these dogs: stigma, personal preference, landlord restrictions, homeowner’s insurance. Literally anything (shepherd, lab, hound, husky, unguessable mutt, 18-year-old chihuahua) is adopted before an adult pit bull, and many prospective adopters make it clear to us the minute they walk in that they do not want a pit bull. They are, by far, the most common breed we get in. And they are, by far, the hardest breed to adopt out. That’s not a good combination.

Another sad reality of the shelter world: “no kill” groups are no more effective than we are at getting dogs like Marshmallow adopted. There is no secret well of adult pit bull adopters that only they know how to tap. They simply keep them warehoused in a kennel or a wire crate for months, sometimes even years, as their temperament goes further and further downhill. That may continue indefinitely, or they may gloss over the decline they have seen and send her home with an unsuspecting family, destined to become a bite case. “No kill” groups avoid euthanasia by warehousing dogs, or by releasing unsafe dogs to an unaware public, but those are not good answers.

Our local rescue partners are wonderful and they do as much as they can, but these are volunteer-run and volunteer-funded groups that stay full. Full is not a temporary situation for rescues; it’s a state of being. The minute a rescue foster sees their charge adopted or sent on transport, that spot in their home is filled right back up by another sad story. They can’t solve this problem alone any more than we can.

Once dogs like Marshmallow have landed in the shelter system: there is no magic formula, special knowledge, or secret sauce. The solution for dogs like Marshmallow has to start much sooner. We need YOUR help.

If you are considering buying a pit bull or American bully from a breeder, please don’t. The CSRA is drowning in these dogs. The supply is already much larger than the demand; the last thing you want to do is incentivize people to create even more. And while every pet dog should be spayed or neutered, that’s even more true for pit bulls. Their overpopulation in this area is so severe that every accidental litter really, really matters.

We are not here to shame anyone for their breed preferences or lifestyle needs. We understand that pit bulls are not for everyone, and the last thing we’re out to do is manipulate someone into adopting an animal they don’t want or can’t handle. But if you’re in a position to adopt a pit bull or pit mix, please try to give them an open mind. They have to pass the same assessment everyone else does, and AAS will never hide information about a dog’s temperament or history from you. Everything we know about the dog, we will tell you. If I didn’t sincerely believe the dog was safe for normal life, I wouldn’t be sending it home with you. If you need more assurance of that, please feel free to talk to anyone who works in or around the shelter.

It’s too late to save Marshmallow, but it’s not too late to save so many dogs like her. Real change often starts small.

It’s not too late to save Scrappy, a tan pit mix who has been available for adoption at our shelter for months and is beginning to show signs of kennel stress. He needs a lifeline so badly, and I’d love nothing more than to make an “adopted” post for him in Marshmallow’s memory. Getting him out would be a small thing, overall, but it would be a huge thing to him.

Please come meet him. Even if he’s not for you, maybe another dog will be.