Andy Gottesman/The LanternVolunteer Jason Raabe plays with Almond in the exercise yard at the Franklin County Dog Shelter.
Confined to a two-by-three caged boarded up by thin metal rods just small enough to fit a hand between, the life of an abandoned dog is not the most glamorous. But with the help of the Franklin County Animal Shelter, dogs will not have to stay in these small confines for very long.
Built in 1979, the Franklin County Animal Shelter can house more than 400 dogs. Open from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. every day, the shelter offers an inexpensive and easy way to adopt a dog. Students who want to adopt a dog will be tasked with an extra step in the adoption process: 20 hours of volunteer work at the shelter.
“The reason we want that done that way is to show that these dogs are going to need to be properly taken care of,” said Lou Steinke, volunteer coordinator at the shelter. “We’re hoping that the student keeps in mind their class and social schedule. Also keep in mind in June when school is over what’s going to happen to the dog. Is the dog going home for the summer with you? That’s when in late May, early June we get a lot of dogs coming to us.”
Before volunteering, students are required to fill out an application and complete a one-hour training class. The class is held four times a month and volunteers only need to attend once.
“As soon as the training is over they can start [volunteering] the next day,” Steinke said.
Volunteer work includes walking dogs, giving baths, sorting newspaper, working at customer service and volunteering at activities the shelter holds in the community.
Every Saturday, shoppers at Easton Town Center can meet and play with dogs at PetSmart.
Mingle-with-our-Mutts is another event open to the public the first and third Sunday of every month. During this event, the Animal Shelter opens its doors from noon to 2 p.m. to show its dogs. Volunteers are asked to walk dogs before and after the event, and are in high demand.
Dogs are generally adopted at a rate of 10 to 25 a day, with an increase on the weekends.
“The economy has had some impact on us as well,” said Susan Smith, community relations manager at the shelter. “People are belt tightening all around and a pet is certainly a responsibility and an expense.”
The shelter also provides many surgery, shots and microchips to track the dog if it is lost.
Every dog that enters the shelter is either spayed or neutered. The dogs are also fed twice a day.
If a dog happens to remain at the shelter for more than a few months, it is placed in a foster home where a volunteer cares for the dog until adoption. To increase the rate of adoption and improve the quality of life, the Franklin County Animal Shelter will be moving to a new location on Morse Road in summer 2010.
“The new facility s going to have major improvements in terms of safety and comfort for both dogs and visitors,” Smith said. “The cages that you see here with dogs stacked on top of each other would be no more. Every dog will be in a run instead of a cage. Even a beagle in a two-by-three cage will be in a four-by-nine run. [The new building] will be roughly three times the size of the current building.”
Adoption rates usually spike during the holiday season, Steinke said.
“Unfortunately, people don’t think six months down the road. All of a sudden, [the puppy] is not a cute little ball of fur, rather a six month lab that is just full of energy and the tail of death,” Steinke said. “We try to steer people toward that year-old, year-and-a-half who already have socialization under way, and most dogs that come in here have that puppy stage taken care of and are ready to be dogs.”
Information about adoption and volunteering is available at www.franklincountydogs.com.
Adam Bianco can be reached at [email protected]
