Sharing Saves Lives

It’s been SOOOOOOOOO slow lately, that our dogs, Turner, Moby, Jasmine, and Duncan have been just sitting for weeks. Duncan is in a foster home, so he has had an easier time. But Turner was starting to turn a corner…that dreaded corner that all shelter workers know: going “kennel-crazy.”

First, it starts with resistance to entering the kennel after a walk. That can be followed by some intense jumping and barking when you try to close the kennel gate. The last thing dogs do is start to use their mouths on you to keep you from leaving them in there alone…again.

We lost one dog this way last year. Wrigley, a GORGEOUS red pitbull, very sweet..most of the time. Once she turned that corner of losing her mind, it didn’t matter how often or how long we took her out, exercised her, went on a hike, etc…..she did NOT want to go back into that kennel alone. Then, she bit a volunteer and had to be euthanized.

There are many heartbreaking aspects to doing rescue work; too many to count, in fact. But this one thing….something that is PREVENTABLE, is one of the hardest for shelter volunteers and staff to take. To watch a healthy adoptable dog deteriorate through no fault of its own…to the point of actually going crazy.

ENTER THE POWER OF SOCIAL MEDIA…(which this volunteer will never underestimate again.) Turner, as mentioned, was starting to turn..and we had experience now to do EVERYTHING in our power to avoid the same outcome. So we asked our friends on Facebook and Instagram to share his post….and you all DID, hundreds of times! After getting him immediately into foster, Turner was adopted within 10 days of his SOS post!

So of course, we did the same for Moby and Duncan. Moby’s post was shared 271 times, reaching 12,000 people. Moby was adopted THREE DAYS after! Duncan’s post was shared over one thousand times, reaching over 40,000 people!! Duncan is still meeting prospective adopters to find the perfect fit.

As mentioned before, we could not do this important work without your help… and now you know the POWER OF A SHARE!!