The dog shelter is supposed to be open Monday through Friday from 1:00 p.m. till 5:00 p.m. When I arrived there around 1:30, the shelter was dark. A sign on the door indicated that due to the high number of calls, the shelter would not open until 2:00 p.m.
There were several people in the shelter when I came back with my roommate after 2:00. Since Lana was busy talking to people, I walked through the kennel area. Most of 30 some cages were occupied. Many of the dogs were mutts, but several were purebred. I walked past a female yellow Lab, a male German shepherd and two male Rottweilers. In fact, the Humane Society of the United States estimates that 25 percent of dogs in shelters are purebred.
When I came back to the front desk, I was able to talk to Lana. I asked her if I could talk to her about the shelter and ask some questions. She looked a little flustered and said that she was leaving in the next half hour to go on more calls.
"If you really want to help, you can take the puppies in there," Lana said gesturing to a small room.
I walked inside and found three tiny black and white puppies sitting in a box. They were so small that they fit in the palm of my hand. Lana told me that they had just been dropped off by a man who found them by a dumpster in Chauncey.
The puppies were shivering. They couldn't have been more than five weeks old, much too young to be away from their mother. I knew they wouldn't survive for long in the shelter - they were just too young.
I conferred with my roommate, a fellow animal lover. We agreed to take the puppies and find good homes for them. Before leaving the shelter, Lana vaccinated each puppy against the deadly parvo and distemper viruses. She also gave us a case of wet dog food. Lana assured us that we could bring the puppies back anytime, but I knew that I could never take them back to the shelter.
ONE WEEK LATER
I returned to the dog shelter, determined to talk to Lana and to come away without any dogs or puppies. The three puppies that I took the week before were thriving. My roommate and I named them Marty, Biff and George - a tribute to the movie Back to the Future.
This time, the shelter was quiet and Lana took me to her office to talk. She told me about her positions as humane officer and dog warden. The humane officer serves the entire county of Athens, while the dog warden is an Athens city position. Lana has been serving as humane officer for the past 23 years.
Shortly after I talked to Lana, the county comissioners announced that assistant dog warden Jamie Perry would take over as head dog warden - a change that has been planned for several years. Hopefully, lessening Lana's workload and distributing the work will make the shelter run more efficiently.
According to Lana, approximately 1,400 to 1,500 dogs came into the shelter in 2006. Over 1,100 of those dogs were euthanized. "It's hard to find a home for one dog, much less the 40 we have in here each week," Lana said.
Many of the dogs brought in are surrendered by their owners or found as strays. However, as the humane officer, Lana sometimes rescues animals from bad situations and brings them to the shelter. "We give people the benefit of the doubt. They receive a warning, and I check back later to see if they've fixed the problem," Lana said.
Lana contends that adequate food and shelter are the biggest animal welfare problems in the county. "People just tie their dogs outside and don't feed them," she said.
Another problem that hits home at the shelter is illness and disease. It is likely that most of the dogs that enter the shelter have never been vaccinated. With the close living conditions, illnesses such as parvo and distemper are common, particularly in puppies. "We haven't had any parvo in here since May, but we're constantly checking for it," Lana said.
LIFE WITH THE PUPPIES
Nearly four weeks later, I am down to two puppies. George found a home with friends and is now named Moof. Moof is a cross of "moo" and "woof" because his coloring looks like a cow.
Marty and Biff are doing great. They're nearly three times the size they were when I first brought them home. They're nearly housebroken and they love to prance around outside and chase leaves.
Marty and Biff will be neutered this weekend and I hope to find them homes after that.
*Photos by Amy Lauer
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