What About BOB? - Part 2

It didn't take too long for Bob to find a foster home. One of amazing dog volunteers stepped up saying she would give him a try. She picked him up after he got neutered and he settled right in with just a few little bumps in the road. He really enjoyed her two dogs and started to really relax away from the shelter. 

In fact, he was doing so well, his Foster Mom brought him to the shelter one Saturday morning to talk him up and try to find him a new home. As if by magic, a boy and his dad fell in love with him on the spot! They wanted to adopt him right away! Of course, we took pictures!

To ease the transition for Bob, his Foster Mom Margot met them at a local Petco. Here is the report of how things went: 

I really liked how confident Bob walked around in the store with his new dad and I felt good about the adoption, it even made me stop crying. Bob did not even pull the leash to go with me when I left. About an hour or two later, I received the horrible call that Bob had jumped off the 2nd story balcony and ran into the woods next to his complex. I drove over there and we started walking in the woods, calling Bob's name constantly. The dad's son needed to get out of the heat after an hour but I stayed and walked around all afternoon and tried to go in all kinds of directions, until it got dark.

It was at that point that the incredible team of dog volunteers went into ACTION. Using Yahoo groups and Google docs to stay in touch with each other, posters were hung all over the area, a craigslist ad was posted, the local home owners group was contacted and at least 4 times a day a volunteer would track around where he had been seen last. It seemed he was traveling far distances across the green belt, he was spotted all over the place. The volunteers even checked the homeless camps in the greenbelt, begging anyone to keep an eye out for Bob. 

Over a week went by and the sightings continued. Volunteers were leaving food and water out where they thought he would be. After all this time, drastic measures had to be taken. They decided they would set a humane trap for Bob. He was getting hungry - someone had seen him eating birdseed! So they felt sure with a stinky enough morsel of food, they could lure him into the trap. 

Again, four times a day, volunteers were checking the trap. In the hot Texas heat, if he DID get trapped, he could overheat very easily, even though the trap was covered and in the shade and had water waiting for him, it could still be very dangerous. Volunteers were still fielding calls and e-mails about "Bob sightings" - what an amazing group of folks!

And all their work paid off - exactly TWO weeks after he escaped - Bob was trapped!

He was transported back to the shelter - hungry, filthy and exhausted, Bob had been found and was safe at the shelter.

But of course, that was not the end of the story . . .  

What about BOB? - Part 1

When Bob entered the shelter in July it was immediately obvious that he would not do well in the shelter. He was not eating, he huddled at the back of his kennel shaking and giving a big scared "whale eye" to anyone who looked at him.

While the shelter has nothing against scared dogs, we know that often they are SO scared they are forced to snap and even bite if pressured so many of us just left him alone, gave him some time to "decompress" after having gone through what - we would never know.

But after several days, he remained not eating, shaking and scared. It was torture to see a dog in such a level of stress. That was when a handful of brave volunteers started to gain his trust. First, they would just sit in his kennel with him, throwing tasty treats his way, singing softly to him and one volunteer simply brought a book and would sit in her kennel and read softly to him, not pushing him, not asking him to do anything he didn't want to do, just being with him and showing him he had nothing to fear from us humans. Slowly but surely he started coming around and one day, a volunteer got brave enough to carefully slip a leash over his head and coax him out of his kennel. It became painfully obvious he had not been eating as his ribs and back bone were sticking out. Once out of the kennel, he was actually very good on the leash but when assaulted with the barking of the dogs in the kennels around him would pancake flat on the ground and refuse to move.

Clearly this was a dog who was about as under socialized as the come. Undoubtedly, he lived the majority of his life in a backyard with not a whole lot of human interaction and what he did have did not seem to have been very enriching or positive. Had he ever lived indoors? Had he been taken on walks? Did he have any dog friends? Had he ever been around children? Cats? These are questions we would never know the answer to but still had to solve the main and most serious question of "What about Bob"?

Several different dog volunteers approached the Foster Coordinator to see if a suitable placement could be found for him and she went out to meet him for the first time. As she entered the inside of his kennel, his shaking became more noticeable and the look he gave her was not very friendly - not out of aggression, just out of pure unadulterated fear. She went around to the outside of his kennel, treats in hand. She tossed a few in his direction. While he sniffed them , he still wasn't comfortable eating them. Taking cues from other volunteers she began singing, just a few lullaby's, a few love songs she could remember or fake the words to. We'll never know if he liked it or thought it was horrible - Sarah is not known for her singing voice . . . . but he approached her and she slowly slipped the leash over his head and took him out to an exercise pen. This time he did well, didn't pancake onto the ground even once and made it all the way to a small exercise pen successfully. He quickly did his business and began eagerly sniffing around the pen. I few times coming close enough for her to pet him and cuddle the tiniest bit. A volunteer was walking through the courtyard and saw us together. "Hey, this is Bob!" she exclaimed and entered the pen with us. He immediately went to her and seemed to really enjoy the attention and petting he got from the volunteer. The Foster Coordinator, never without her Flip Camera, managed to get some good footage:

The journey - and we had no idea how far this journey would take Bob - was about to begin. Step one, find him a foster home . . . . *to be continued*

Volunteering - What it's all about!

I have been volunteering at Town Lake Animal Center for about two years now.  When I moved to Austin, not knowing anybody and with no job lined up, I thought volunteering would be an ideal way to fill my time, because I love animals, but can't have any at home.  I also thought I might make some friends with other volunteers.

 I loved taking the dogs out, but more than that I loved hanging around chatting to customers and helping them find the animal that was just right for them.  I hadn't really appreciated that one of the things I missed about working was this interaction with the public.  For me there was rarely a better feeling at the end of a shift than walking to the parking lot and seeing a family I had talked with taking a dog to it's forever home.

I have met lots of amazing volunteers and staff that I am delighted to now call friends, and I am looking forward to continuing to volunteer at the new shelter.  It feels so good to let a dog out of it's pen and give it some playtime and one-to-one interaction  But the most important thing for me has turned out to be getting involved in customer service and meeting the Austin residents who come in, sometimes just to look, and end up going home with a smile on their face and a new family member in their hearts.

Top 10 Reasons to Volunteer:

10. Something to do with that tired pair of sneakers and those old jeans (because you won't be wearing your Sunday best for this job!).

9. Puppy kisses :-b

8. A family of dedicated animal lovers volunteering and working alongside you to help save, shelter, and rehome animals in need.

7. Awesome stylish day-glow yellow t-shirts!!

6. The dogs and cats really need you & will benefit enormously from the time and attention you have to offer. You are their world.

5. Helping a customer find just the right new family member will make your whole week & fill your heart with love.

4. All the hand sanitizer you could ever want.

3. The moment a new dog looks at you with trust and confidence never gets old.

2. Gorgeous pitbull smiles :-) 

1. Most Importantly, because no-kill takes a lot of work and it'll only stay a reality in Austin if everyone does their share to help!

Become a Town Lake Animal Center volunteer today!

A Happy Ending for Rafael

Rafael, a gorgeous young Rottweiler, came into the shelter one very, very scared dog.  He would sit at the back of his kennel when a person approached and he didn't want to interact with anyone. He would retreat to the very back of his kennel and stay there all day long. No one was able to touch him; he flinched and ran away from attempts to pet him. Some of the regular volunteers noticed how scared he was. But they also noticed that he would make good eye contact with people and that when you looked into his eyes, you could see the glimmer in his eye of him wanting to interact but just being too frightened. Every day volunteers would go into his kennel and just sit with him, sometimes singing, sprinkling treats around the floor & offering them to Rafael to let him know that it was okay; that people were there to help & befriend him. He began to relax a little and was becoming more comfortable with us spending time with him in his kennel.

Just as Rafael was getting used to having a person in his kennel, he got an upper respiratory infection and had to spend more than a week in isolation. Volunteers were unable to interact with him. Everyone was worried about how this setback would effect the progress we'd been making.  Once Rafael was healthy and back into the general population, the volunteers started working with him again.  It was slow progress but there was always progress.  He still didn't want to be touched, but finally someone got him leashed up and out of his kennel.  Next thing you know he wouldn't let a person touch him but if he touched the person it was okay.  He started giving kisses. After weeks at the shelter, a customer became interested in Rafael.  The pink Interest Pending tag was there on Rafael's kennel gate for a long time as the customer contemplated what it would take to give Rafael the home he really needed. The customer ended up adopting a young female Rottweiler so this opened up Rafael to other potential adopters. But no other adopters emerged for Rafael; despite his great strides he was still timid about interacting with people and this meant most customers didn't notice him. More time went by.

When one of our wonderful staff members noticed that Rafael was "at risk" and brought it to the attention of another staff member, they contacted the customer who had previously shown interest to let him know about Rafael's status.  In the meantime the customer had adopted a young female Rottweiler but he didn't want to see Rafael be in harm's way.  He came down to the shelter and spent two and a half hours with Rafael.  He made Rafael feel confident--sometimes laying next to him in his kennel.  They scheduled a meet and greet with Darlene, the new rottie girl that the customer had adopted from the shelter.  The meet and greet went okay but not great.  Both dogs had to let the other know where their limits were.  Another meet and greet was scheduled for the next day.  This time Rafael was in excellent form - walking with a prance in his step.  People were petting on him and he and the female rottie were getting along!  Rafael was a new dog.  The frightened dog who had come in weeks ago had disappeared and left a confident boy in it's place.  That customer adopted Rafael after the second meet and greet.  Rafael's new owner knows that he had issues and was patient, thoughtful and loving; and he's prepared to provide Rafael with the special attention he needs to continue working through any timidity or fears that he may have. Thankfully, now that Rafael is a long way from the shelter, those fears are now more a matter of who gets the best seat on the couch!

Without our wonderful staff and volunteers, and without this customer willing to step up and save a dog that needed saving, this couldn't have happened.

There are Volunteers and then there are VOLUNTEERS!

I first met Maggie when I started fostering.  I took home a cat with an Upper Respiratory Infection so he could get better, but instead of getting better, he got worse, and stopped eating.  In a panic, I got in touch with the staff at TLAC, and they introduced me to Maggie, who taught me how to force feed the cat so that he wouldn’t get even sicker.  She was kind, friendly and capable and got me through the first crisis of my volunteering with TLAC.

Since then, I’ve learned that Maggie is pretty amazing, although I doubt she’d tell you that herself. It’s not just that she’s been a volunteer for 9 years.  It’s also that she’s a super foster parent.  Most of the time, she has at least half a dozen foster cats at home, and they’re not easy fosters.  They’re sick cats, or cats that have stopped eating, or need extra-special care for one reason or another.  I’ve never heard of her turning down a needy foster, and she often asks to take home cats with a very dim prognosis.  Usually she and her husband Mike manage to pull them through, but she’s lost several and keeps taking more cats, even though she cries over each cat that doesn’t make it. Her husband even maintains a blog about the trials and tribulations at Mike and Maggie's B&B "Tangent Oaks"

Just her fostering would make her special enough, but Maggie is also very actively involved with two other programs.  She helped create and co-manages the Nebulization and Special Feeding teams that care for the cats with URIs and cats that have stopped eating in the shelter environment.  She also created and co-manages the Desperate Housecats adoption event which showcases cats that need extra help getting adopted because of age, medical condition or lengthy stays at the shelter.  Maggie attends the events, helps photograph the cats, and writes a marketing flyer for every cat in the program.  In the year that it has been in operation, Desperate Housecats has placed about 120 cats at events alone, and countless others have been adopted from foster or the shelter due to Desperate Housecats marketing.

I’m so glad that I get to work with Maggie.  She’s an inspiration, and the very definition of what makes the volunteers at TLAC so special.


Fellow Volunteer and Foster Mom, 
R.E.

Happens to the Best of Us . . .

I've been volunteering with my kids for five years, and my husband joined us
four years ago. We started volunteering because the kids loved the animals
but we had too many already in our house. Over the years we fell in love
with many dogs at TLAC.

The first dog who touched my heart was Misty, a five-month-old spaniel mix
puppy who looked at us with big pleading brown eyes and melted when we
gently scratched behind her ears. But when my son drew back his hand to
throw a ball for her to fetch, she cowered in a corner of the pen in
anticipation of a blow. That was the first time I realized that, austere and
noisy and crowded as it was, the shelter could be the best home some of the
dogs had ever known. Over the weeks we watched Misty blossom into a
confident and happy pup, hopping up into our laps and chasing balls with a
carefree heart. By the end of the month, she had been adopted and we knew
the volunteer's curious combination of happiness and heartbreak when we
learn that an animal we had looked forward to seeing has finally found a
forever home.

Over the years we¹ve had a series of favorites, including Jack, Jellybean,
Princess, Roxy, Sam, and many more. Some of them have been at the shelter
for a week or two, many for much longer. But one thing I've learned there is
that I can always find a special connection with some dog, even when I¹m not
looking for one.

That was the case three springs ago when we were grieving at the sudden loss
of our dog, Shadow. She had "trained" me to go for long walks every morning,
no matter the weather. And as regular dog-walkers know, once you're used to
walking with a leash, trying to walk without one feels wrong. There's
nothing to do with your hands, not to mention no one to talk to along the
way.

Fortunately, I was a Trail Dog volunteer. I replaced my regular strolls
through the neighborhood with walks along the hike and bike trail with
friends from TLAC. One particular dog‹a German shepherd mix with a light
step and a permanently cocked right ear‹became my favorite companion. Each
time I left her, I prepared myself for never seeing her again. And every
time I came back, I was surprised to see her there waiting for me to take
her for a walk.

You know what happened next. After a month of long walks, romping with the
family in Pen 3, and friendly flirting, Scamp came home with us. Her bright
eyes and joyful heart have brought us great happiness.  Just like so many
TLAC dogs have brought love to families all over town.

Sadie's Story

I'm Jane A. I've been volunteering at TLAC since July 2011. 

My TLAC dog is Sadie. 

I have another dog, Nigel, from another rescue. 

I'd like to tell the story of bringing Sadie home four years ago. I looked all over TLAC for a small dog. They all had wait lists. So I looked at the red stop sign dogs and there she was on the front side, between buildings A and B. Her name was Winnie, and she was sooo skinny. I got permission and opened the kennel.

She was timid and didn't walk up to the gate, but when I went into the kennel she was happy to have company and happy to walk out with me. She was very attentive, looking at me, wagging her tail and body, waiting to see where we would go. I took her to one of the front pens (#8 I think). She raced up and down the little pen. When I crouched down, she came up to me for pets and calmed down and rolled over. I stood up to through a ball she whipped herself up and ran after it. 

Love at first leash walk. 

She hadn't been spayed so I had to wait a couple days to pick her up. I couldn't get back to TLAC on the days in between. I wonder if she remembered me when I returned. I went to her kennel and she was happy to see me again, happy to walk on the leash. I walked through the breezeway out to the parking lot, Sadie by my side. We reached the opening and the leash was suddenly seemed attached to a rock. She had put on the breaks and could not be lured from the spot. I don't really know what was going through her head, and at the time I didn't have any idea! I cajoled for a moment and then picked her up.  She was shaking like a leaf. She was even more worried about the car. I put her in the front seat where she made herself as small as possible and drooled profusely. Poor thing. I talked to her in a sweet voice all the way home. 

At my home she was afraid. She glued herself to me. I went about my work. We went for a walk that night. After a couple days she was very comfortable. 

Today she is overjoyed to get into the car, but still drools sometimes and doesn't like rides over two hours. She knows sit, down, stay, come, leave it, get it. She'll jump through my arms walk around and jump through my arms on the other side. She can leap a four foot chain link fence in a single bound. And she pops herself three feet in the air at the back door when guests arrive and she is not inside to greet them. When she's inside, she's all wiggles, but doesn't jump on guests - mostly. Amazingly she will not jump the baby gate, but I don't know why not. 

She's a Jack Russell Terrier mix so she sheds something fierce. We call the dog hair tumble weeds our other dogs. She loves to snuggle in a pile of blankets and has been found in half-full laundry hampers. I'm so happy I found her. She ties Nigel for best dog ever. 

Show me the Kittens!!!

I volunteered at TLAC to cuddle kittens.

That’s it, that is all I really wanted to do.  I was lucky at the time there was a program called In House Fostering (IHF) so with little training and not a lot of effort I got to spend time with kittens (and sometimes their moms) playing and cuddling in different staff offices at the shelter.

I managed to eke out the required 6 hours a month, but I rarely volunteered for more than 6.  Unfortunately, for me, there were not always kittens in IHF and since ‘kitten season’ was coming to an end I was left with no idea what I was going to do.  Should or could I find something else or just give up on volunteering at TLAC?

                                                                                                           

Enter a very dedicated and hard working volunteer named Maggie.  She let me (and everyone else) know that the cats in ISO-1 would love to have someone come and give them attention.  ISO-1 is where the cats with upper respiratory infections are - they have colds. So I slowly started going over to ISO-1.  I still didn’t have to work all that hard and there really wasn’t any special training for what I was doing.  I just had to love on the cats in ISO.

The more time I spent in ISO-1 and saw what the volunteers were doing the more I thought “I think I can do that. I think I want to do that.”  You see the volunteers that work in ISO-1 are called nebbers.  Twice a day a volunteer will put the cat/kitten (sometimes even a puppy) in a special box where they can breath in medicine that will help their congestion so they can get better.  They also make sure that they are eating and generally improving.

So I signed up and trained to be a ‘nebber.’  I worked with other nebbers before I took my own shift, but it didn’t take long. I have weighed, fed, nebbed and loved the ISO-1 cats. I have cleaned their kennels and even them.  I even learned how to special feed the ones that are so sick they have stopped eating.  I feel like I am making a difference in their lives and helping these wonderful cats make it to their forever homes.

After being a nebber for a while I started getting involved in other TLAC programs like Desperate House Cats .

There have been a few bumps in the road, but as my volunteer experience has grown so have I and that is the second best part of being a volunteer at TLAC.  The best part is helping these wonderful animals in whatever small way I can.

Of course I still love to cuddle kittens.

Hard Luck Hounds First Success - JAKE!!!

Jake is a handsome 2-year-old Australian Kelpie. His life had been a series of tough breaks. In 2010, he was found wandering the neighborhood after his family moved and left him behind. He was adopted, but was brought back to TLAC when his new owner couldn't keep him. 

On August 12, he was taking his final walk on his way to be euthanized, when a supervisor's change of heart spared him. Countless volunteers have fallen in love with this dog for his easy nature, good looks and great spirit. 

A Good Samaritan and a few volunteers pulled together and arranged for Jake to get training at The Canine Center. Volunteers worked constantly with Jake at TLAC to help turn him into a model dog, and the results are already apparent. Jake made huge progress with his hard work in learning leash manners and responding to verbal and physical commands.

Jake was the first of ten dogs listed on our new volunteer-maintained Hard Luck Hounds website .  Check out Hard Luck Hands! 

A couple asked a Hard Luck Hound volunteer what dog had been at TLAC the longest and was told that Jake was the longest stay. The volunteer leading Jake’s training met with the couple to talk about Jake and went to an exercise pen with them.

The result  all of Jake’s and the volunteers’ hard work paid off. Jake is now at his "forever home" with his new parents who recently moved to Austin from Oklahoma.

One volunteer said, “It is bittersweet...that dog had me wrapped right around all four paws!  I will certainly miss him, but I am so happy he was adopted.” I think all volunteers share this thought.

We all wish Jake and his new family the best.

If not you - WHO?

Why Not Me?
The best way to describe why I volunteer is to borrow the lyrics to the Judds’ song Why Not Me:
Why not me on a rainy day
Why not me to love all your cares away
Why not me
Why not me when the nights get cold
Why not me when you’re going old
Why not me 
Why not me?

I have room in my heart and my schedule to provide the companionship that these “pets-in-progress” are craving. I have a voice that can speak out to share with others the animals' history, attributes and what makes them deserving of a forever home. So, why not me?

 I encourage others to ask the same question. Become involved. VOLUNTEER TODAY!!

How to Volunteer!

April Thedford, 6 years and counting as a volunteer at TLAC

TLAC Volunteer AND Foster Mom - DOUBLE the FUN!

On February 14, 1995 I left the East Valley Shelter in Los Angeles with what turned out to be one of the best decisions I have ever made – adopting Murphy a 2 year old Border Collie mix.  Murphy was the best dog I’ve ever had and was loved by everyone who met him.  In February 2006, he made the big move with me to Austin along with Tess, the Papillon and Josie the pussycat (yes, you can move out of state and take your pets…just saying)!  At the age of 17, he left me to cross the Rainbow Bridge and my heart was broken. 

Murphy and Tess

I wondered what I might do to honor Murphy and I decided to become a TLAC volunteer to help other shelter dogs like Murphy find their furever homes.  Shortly after completing orientation I received an email from someone named Sarah.  She told the story of Trixie, a terrier mix that had come into the shelter as a stray on September 11, 2010 and gave birth to 7 puppies on September 12^th. Sarah said these puppies need to get outta here!  I thought, I have a spare room, I can do this.  So the next thing you know I’ve got a momma and seven pups riding home in the car.



Trixie, Momma to my forst foster litter

Since then, I’ve had a Chi-mix and her tiny baby, 2 shepherd pups, a litter of 9 shepherd mixes and 4 Kittens – just to change things up a bit. I currently am fostering Gus, a 10 year old Basset Hound.  He’s available if anyone is looking for some adorableness to add to their lives.

PUPPIES!

Kitten!

Puppies!!

Louie the Chi Puppy!

In between litters, I walk the dogs at the shelter and help customers find their new family members.  I recently had the opportunity to work with Rafael (along with many other awesome volunteers) a terrified Rottweiler.  Because of the dedicated work of the volunteers and the TLAC staff, Rafael is now in a wonderful home with a female Rottie as his new best friend.

I can’t think of a better way to honor the life of one very special shelter dog.  Rest in Peace my friend.

Charlene Needed a Place to Crash

TLAC has meant a lot to me over the years. It's where my family got our first dog, Cindy, who we called Puppy her whole life, when I was 7. After growing up and getting out into the real world, I found that I needed some stress relief after teaching middle schoolers all day so I started volunteering at TLAC in Oct of '03. Flash forward a year or so and after deciding that teaching middle school wasn't for me, I was looking for a new career. Volunteering with the dogs at TLAC made me realize how much I loved working with dogs and so off to school to become a dog trainer I went.

After graduating and getting a part time job at a local kennel I kept busy the other 20 hours a week volunteering with the TLAC dogs and helping to make revisions to the dog program. Somewhere in all that my husband and I adopted a lab mix, Maggie, and a black cat, Sushi, to be friends for our resident boxer, Osha, and cat, Buster. Unfortunately the new additions didn't get along so good with the resident dog and cat at home but we made it work and while the dogs never did get along, the cats now like to sit next to each other, without touching, most of the day.

As I got busier at work, training dogs 40-70 hours a week, I found myself migrating back to volunteering with the cats. They need so little attention in comparison to dogs and it wasn't a continuation of work for me. All they want is a little attention or lap time and then they go back to taking their nap. I always wanted to just bring a book and sit in a group room with a cat on my lap for an hour or so!

I was suckered into fostering my first and only cat recently. Charlene had been hit by a car and broken both of her back legs. She needed to be on crate rest for at least a month after her first surgery on one leg and after that we'd see if she needed surgery on the other leg.

It was a perfect fit because we'd lost our boxer earlier in the year and I thought it'd be great to have a kitten to love on but who couldn't interact with our other pets who really didn't want to add another cat in the house. Charlene was a charmer. The minute you walked into the room she'd start purring and keep it up the whole 15-20 minutes she had out of her crate a day for snuggle time. Turned out that she didn't need the second surgery on her leg and she found her forever home a whole lot sooner that we'd originally thought, too bad for us! She never stopped purring and it was so hard to give her up that I think she'll be my only foster story.

I continue volunteering and will be forever grateful that I can give back to the animals when they need it most. I've met a ton of great volunteers through the years as well. I hope to pass on the joy of volunteering to my future children and continue helping animals at the Austin Animal Center for years to come!
Jennifer Rockenbaugh

Oscar's Journey

Within two weeks of moving to Texas I came down with a major case of homesickness.  I knew I needed to keep myself busy to settle into my new home, and had always wanted to get a dog of my very own.  So I found myself down at Town Lake Animal Center one Sunday, "just to look."  When I saw my furry pooch Oscar, I knew I wasn't going home without a new best friend of the canine variety.

Oscar had been adopted as a puppy from TLAC in 2007. Here is a picture of him and his littermates.

When he came in as a stray in 2009, shelter staff did their best to reunite him with his adopters but every lead simply turned up a dead end. After over a week, they never came to the shelter to look for him. Oscar had been abandoned

After I brought him home and we settled into to the swing of things, I couldn't stop thinking about the rest of the dogs that I had left behind at the shelter.  When the nagging feeling didn't subside, I signed up to become a volunteer.

It's been almost two years since I've signed up to be a volunteer at Town Lake, and I can honestly say that it is just the beginning of a great journey.  Being a part of this community has been so much more than providing relief and attention to the dogs waiting for their forever home.  It has become my passion - being a voice for the companion animals in our great city, and providing them with a second chance when they need it the most.  It's tough work, and it can be an emotional roller coaster, but every time I see one of my foster dogs bound into the car with their new owner and hardly glance back at me, I know it's more than worth it.

So, I’d like to personally thank my little mutt, Oscar the Dog for showing me an opportunity to become a part of something so important, meet some great and wonderful people in Austin, and get to spend some time with some really great pooches!

(Attached is a photo of Oscar from his recent therapy dog graduation from Divine Canines!)

Regards,

Sarah Herman

A snot slinging good time!

About a year and a half ago, I was ready to adopt a new cat.  Town Lake was the only place I considered going, because adopting at TLAC really does save an animal’s life.  On the website, I saw a picture of the cutest cat in the world, so I went in to meet him.  His location was noted as ISO-1, which I learned was where staff and volunteers care for the sick cats.  After looking at all the other animals, I got taken over to meet this little guy.  He looked at me with big blue eyes (one all infected and gooey), rolled over to ask for a tummy rub and I fell in love.  Frankie is now the king of my house and the kitten of my heart. 

Frankie! Who lost his eye to an infection but us still so very loved!

When I was ready to start volunteering about a year after I adopted Frankie, working in ISO-1 was something I was very interested in doing because I was so grateful to the volunteers who had worked to get Frankie well.  I got a crash course in administering breathing treatments, monitoring eating habits, force feeding cats that have stopped eating, and record keeping.  The ISO-1 volunteer group is responsible for special care for as many as 20 cats at a time that have upper respiratory infections.  Shelter life causes URIs to spread quickly through cat buildings.  Having a unit like ISO-1 makes us able to save hundreds of cats a year.

Kitties getting a nebulization treatment at TLAC

I expected to enjoy working with the cats, and I expected it to be rewarding to see cats get well and move on to happy adoptions.  It has exceeded my expectations, though.  I hadn’t realized that there are so many wonderful cats in the world, and I’m grateful to get to spend time when they need love and care the most.  There’s not much better than hearing the name of a cat that I helped nurse back to help get called over the P.A. because it’s being adopted. 

What I didn’t expect was how much I would enjoy the people that I work with.  Every day that I’m at TLAC, I get to work with the caring staff.  I could never have imagined the amount of work that the vets, vet techs and animal care staff do to care for these poor, miserable kitties.  I love also that they solicit and respect the thoughts of the volunteers about the condition of the cats.  The volunteer team is wonderful as well.  I’ve made a few extremely good friends who encourage and inspire me with their humor, sensitivity and dedication. 

The other day someone stopped me in the shelter’s parking lot to thank me for volunteering.  My response was “Oh, no!  Don’t thank me!  I’m so lucky that I get to do this!”  I really am lucky, even on the days that I’m up to my elbows in canned cat food and cat snot.  It’s the best volunteer job I could imagine.

  

Volunteering Changes Lives!

I began actively volunteering at TLAC almost four years ago because I lived in a tiny apartment that didn't allow dogs and I was desperate for a "canine fix". Volunteering has been such positive experience for me despite the fact that my heart was badly broken twice when dogs I'd fallen in love with were euthanized. People always ask how I can volunteer at the shelter and not be totally depressed. I tell them that for many animals, the shelter is the best life they have ever known - consistent meals, humans being kind to them and (FREE=) health care. After a tough day on the job, nothing beats hanging out with adorable animals who desperately want your attention. I have volunteered with aid organizations in many developing nations and can honestly say I have never felt as needed or useful during my many volunteer experiences as I have at TLAC.

Taking TLAC's Trail Dogs on runs around the lake is the main reason I have now run two marathons! Helping the pups burn off excess energy motivated me to keep running for far longer than I was naturally inclined, so I owe my marathoning to them.


"JR", adopted from TLAC!

In November I finally succumbed to the charm of a shelter pit bull mix and adopted him. I am an extremely satisfied customer!

(The attached photo is a picture of TLAC alum Lizzie and I after a run).