Pictures

These are some photos I got at my last session-

For more info on any of these animals, you can view a description on our Facebook page.

Meeting

I just returned from tonight's volunteer meeting. We had a decent turnout again tonight with lots of great ideas included.

We have decided to postpone "this spring's" dog walk until next May (2013) to give us more time to plan. This will be our first fundraiser of this kind, and we all decided we needed to make sure to give ourselves enough time to plan ahead to make it successfull. We did not feel as though we had the "active volunteer base" needed to put together such a large event, and agreed to wait until we get more interested volunteers willing to attend meetings and head Chairs and Committees.

After this, we discussed some other fundraisers that we would be interested in hosting this year. Some ideas included:

• Spay & Neuter Clinic
• The President of TCHS has been searching for a local building we can get approved by the Dept. of Agriculture to steralize and use as a Spay and Neuter clinic for the public, and our shelter animals. It will be a low-cost clinic, but not just for low-income families. More on this topic will be discussed upon further discussion at later meetings.
• Calendars
• This was a GREAT idea one of the newer S&T student volunteers mentioned that we do to help raise money for the shelter. We can get some photos of our dogs and cats together to post into a calendar to sell with proceeds benefiting the shelter and its animals. A small blurb can be posted under each photo to tell its story. I love this idea, and can't wait to get started on it for next year.
• Celebrity Autograph Auction
• We talked about somehow accumulating autographed items from celebrities to auction off to raise money for the shelter animals. This was a very interesting idea presented by the VP - Katrina Macey.
• Dog Wash
• We held our first dog wash last July (2011) and it was very successfull and fun. We washed about 30 dogs total and raised a little over $500. We definitely plan to hold one or two more this coming summer. They were easy to plan and easy to put together with a couple of volunteers on-hand. We also offered nail trims. The wash raised money through donation-only. Meaning some people paid $1 for a dog wash and some people gave $50+ for a bath.

We have many more fundraisers planned for this year, and I look forward to sharing them as they come along.

Quarantine

In the past, we have had many problems exposing our healthy, adoptable dogs to new dogs coming in incubating diseases such as Parvo. Once a dog is exposed to Parvo, it can remain dormant in the system for up to 14 days before a dog shows any signs of being sick. By then, it's almost too late.

We want to build a quarantine area, as a part of the shelter where incoming dogs will stay for 10-14 days (or until deemed healthy by a veterinarian.) This will prevent any of our healthy dogs from attracting diseases, fleas, etc. from any incoming dogs - and we won't have as many Parvo epidemics roaming through the shelter, making us close down for periods at a time, and losing possible adoptions.

Of course, Parvo is inevidable in places where many dogs are in close proximities for extended periods at a time. Stress lowers the immune system, making dogs more succeptible to illness while at a shelter. Puppies and older dogs are extremely at risk of getting Parvo.

To build a quarantine area, we would need to add about a 4 foot concrete extention to the back end of the shelter. We will need to enclose the area to protect the dogs from extreme weather conditions, and it will need to be completely isolated from the healthy and adoptable dogs.

This is an expensive project, and it will take a lot of time to complete. Many of the 2012 fundraisers will be benefiting this project - and we are looking for groups (fraternities, sororities, youth groups, etc.) willing to donate their time and help us make this project come to life.

If you're interested in helping us raise money for this cause, you can donate using ChipIn.
If you have a group or you, personally are interested in helping us build the quarantine area, please contact me at:
ashly.reed@live.com or linda.francis@webstack.com

We are hoping to get many of the needed materials donated - a list will be available shortly.

Photoshoot!

Got some great shots of the dogs on Tuesday. You can view their profiles and other information on the shelter's Facebook page.