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News from Heartland Animal Shelter Kennel Chronicles Winter 2013 - Volume 3 - Edition 1

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Winter 2013 - Volume 3 Edition 1

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Page 1: Kennel Chronicles

News from Heartland Animal Shelter

Kennel Chronicles Winter 2013 - Volume 3 - Edition 1

Page 2: Kennel Chronicles

MARK YOUR

for this fun upcoming event

B O W W O W

B O W L I N G

Feeling lucky? Why not come out for the annual Bow Wow Bowling night?

With plenty of great activities, including a raffle, this is possibly one of the most fun events of the year. Bowl against cat people; bowl against dog people, it doesn’t matter because it’s all for fun! Meet volunteers you’ve never met and enjoy the company of those volunteers you do know! This is a great event where all of Heartland can come together, raise money and have a fun time! Terrible at bowling? It doesn’t matter. There are many opportunities to win at other things throughout the night. Great raffle prizes have included gift cards to restaurants, pet supplies or even tickets to Chicago sporting events.

CALENDAR

When: Sunday, March 17th

Time: 5:30 pm

Cost: $25 (advanced registration – Heartland’s website)

$30 (at the door)

Where: River Rand Bowling

191 S. River Rd., Des Plaines, IL

Page 3: Kennel Chronicles

Table of contents

CONTRIBUTORS

WRITING: Paula Burgeson (V), Dog Care Committee (V & S) / PHOTOGRAPHY: Paula Burgeson (V), Microsoft Clip Art, and many other volunteers! INFORMATION AND STORY IDEAS: Dog Care Committee (V & S), Paula Burgeson (V) (Volunteers are labeled with a V, Staff labeled with an S)

Dog Safe Ice Melt → 2

Welcome New Staff! → 3

Spay & Neuter → 6

Thanks Comcast! → 8

IN THIS ISSUE

GOING HOME Bill’s Going Home

story is on Back

Cover

Mark your Calendars →

Inside Cover

Coming Soon → 1

What’s New → 1

Dog Care Committee

Updates → 5

Saying Goodbye → 7

Around the Kennel → 7

Pup Personals → 8

Thank you! → 8

Going Home →

Back Cover

Letters from Home →

Back Cover

REGULAR COLUMNS

Page 4: Kennel Chronicles

What’s New!

Say goodbye to the kennels as we know them! Some artistic volunteers will be redecorating the kennels with a fresh coat of paint and some artwork! Some of our visitors have said that the kennels look dreary – please let the dog care committee know if you have any ideas to cheer up the space. We want the dogs (and people) to feel at home in the space. Watch for new changes!

Small dog signs now have a great look with pops of color! These mini cutting boards do a great job of not being destroyed by small dogs and hold up great to all the cleanings that go on in the cages. It took a few months to come up with a long term solution for presenting these signs, but this seems to work! Many thanks to volunteer Julie for coming up with this great idea!

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Page 5: Kennel Chronicles

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We all know walking dogs on salted surfaces is dangerous, but did you know

that it can hurt more than just their feet? Here are some quick facts you should know about dog safe ice melt and why it’s so important to your pet’s health: First of all, did you know that it can be dangerous if ingested? Most people don’t even realize their pets are eating it! A dog simply licking its paws after a walk could be eating a dangerous amount of salt, especially if it got stuck between the pads of their feet. It has been said that for every four pounds a dog weighs, that eating just one to two ounces of salt could be fatal. Granted, a dog will probably never eat that much, especially if it was a very large dog, but if you see a dog licking its feet after a walk, gently clean the feet with soap and water to make sure all the ice melt residue is off. The most common signs of ingestion are nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. Keep

in mind that many puddles during winter probably have ice melt in them and not to let the dog drink from them. The other most common complaint from regular ice melt is how quickly it can dry out the pads in a dog’s feet. This can lead to cracking. There are many great lotions for dog’s feet if you think this is a problem with your dog. It also has been said that you would know the toxicity of the salt based on its color. That is not true! Don’t ever assume ice melt is pet friendly because it is an unusual color. You should always take precaution when walking your pet in icy weather.

For more information about pet safe ice melt, please visit these websites: http://www.ossian.com/petsafe_doc.htm

http://www.petparents.com/show.aspx/ question/safe-ice-melt-for-dog-paws http://www.accuweather.com/en/weather- news/ice-melt-can-injury-dogs-1/59512

Heartland and Preiser’s are

proud to use pet-safe salt!

Page 6: Kennel Chronicles

Chris Nor ris

I started at Heartland back in 2010 as a Cat room Volunteer. I had previous animal care experience at several other rescue groups but never worked in a "brick and mortar" facility before. I immediately fell in love with Heartland and started volunteering on a pretty much daily basis. I quickly started to learn everything I could about the day to day operations at the shelter exposing myself to many different areas of the shelter. I have made many friends and met some incredible people who I now don't know what I would do without. I am currently the Administrative Assistant in which I assist the Shelter Manager and Director with daily tasks that need completion. I also fill in where needed in other areas of the shelter such as Dog Kennel, Cat Room,

Adoption Counselor, and Reception. I am grateful to be given the opportunity to learn more about the daily operation of the shelter and to be part of such a wonderful and talented team.

Renee Jereb

I am not really "new staff". I have been the part time accountant at Heartland for over 4 years. As of January 1, I stepped up to the full time Shelter Manager position. Prior to working at Heartland I worked as a hospital manager in veterinary medicine for over 15 years. I live with a husband, two teenage daughters and (most importantly) three dogs, one is a

Heartland alum, and three cats, two are Heartland Alums!

Shelter Manager

Administrative Assistant

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Meet the

Page 7: Kennel Chronicles

New Staff! Deana Schar rer

Cat Care Coordinator

Brandon Brandon is a new kennel attendant at Heartland Animal Shelter! Related to Tom, you can trust that Brandon has the same great dog-handling skills! It’s great to have another “Tom” join our Heartland family!

Dog Care Coordinator

Be sure to say ‘Hi’ to all our new staff!

Thank you for your commitment to all

of our animals here at Heartland!

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My name is Deana and I'm the new Cat Care Coordinator. I have been married for 21 years and have 3 children, Keith 20, Justin 19, and Cailey 15. I have 2 Gordon Setters, Cinnamin (he's a recessive red) and Storm (both 8 years old) that were born and raised in my home. I also have 2 shelter cats, Rhaine a tortie and white Maine Coon mix and Sky a Russian Blue mix. I was a stay at home mom until I started working at Heartland in Sept 2012. I

learned much of what I know from fostering. I started fostering for Animal House Shelter in October of 2009 and absolutely loved it! In those 3 years I fostered over 160 kittens, 50 of them being feral! Sounds crazy, I know. Sometimes I had 2 litters at a time, with up to 12 kittens at a time! As you can see, I'm quite passionate about cats!

Page 8: Kennel Chronicles

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Dog Care Committee updates:

Dog volunteer training Heartland prides itself on having GREAT volunteers! We want to continue to have the best volunteers, so after thoughtful consideration the staff of Heartland and the dog Committee decided that it will be required for volunteers to attend one orientation a year as policies and signs

change. This will keep everyone up to date on current procedures. Look for more information soon as we work on creating a database so we can make sure everyone who attends is counted for the year!

Dog profile summaries It can be hard to write a profile for a new dog on Petpoint/Petfinder, but we want to make sure every dog gets a great write-up. If you know something special about a dog that you’d like included in their profile, please send that to Renee and she will forward that to the Dog Care

Committee. If you know a dog loves tennis balls, or their favorite place to be petted, let us know! This helps the dog have a unique biography on the website and helps them get adopted. Thanks for your help!

Showing dogs to adopters Winter gets so dark so fast! If you think

that it is getting to be dark outside, please only show dogs in the training hall. If Tom is in with another adopter, let him know that someone else is waiting. Do not take the dog out to show it to a potential adopter in the dark. This could lead to unfortunate situations and accidents that could easily be prevented. If you need help killing time before you can bring a dog

in the training hall, you can always ask the adopter questions about their lifestyle or other pets. Thanks!

Secret talent search!! Everyone has a secret talent – and no

– we’re not talking about how far you can bend your elbow. We’re talking about If you’re handy around a hammer and other useful skills. If you haven’t shown us what you can do yet, what are you waiting for? Heartland is always in need of things – from creative to hardware projects – and we could use you! Let Renee know what your secret talent is

because it may just be something we really need at the moment! And remember: don’t be shy!

Page 9: Kennel Chronicles

February is Spay & Neuter Month! February contains some great holidays like Presidents’ Day and Valentine’s Day, but did you know that February 26th is National Spay and Neuter day? Here are some quick facts about why we fix our animals at the shelter:

- No more heat cycles to clean up! - Males are less likely to run away

- Males are less likely to bite - Cheaper to get fixed than pay for pups

- For every 1 baby born, 7 animals are born in the us I know these are things we all know and believe in, but it’s always nice to have a list memorized in case a potential adopter asks why we do it. If you can remember at least two or three of these, you’ll sound like an expert without putting too much personal opinion in! Check out these sources for more!

http://www.phillyburbs.com/lifestyle/pets/it-s-spay-neuter-awareness-month/article_af5e2f20-7585-11e2-b202-0019bb30f31a.html

http://www.adoptapet.com/public/spay_and_neuter/index.html

http://www.americanhumane.org/animals/adoption-pet-care/caring-for-your-pet/spaying-neutering.html

http://www.paws.org/why-spay-neuter.html

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Saying Goodbye L I S A

Heartland Staff and Volunteers would like to wish Lisa best of luck in her future endeavors! Lisa was an excellent and outgoing volunteer coordinator whose charisma brightened the shelter. She always made new volunteers feel right at home, while understanding the loyalty of more senior

volunteers. She was an active member of the dog care committee, as well as influential in many aspects of operations within the shelter. She always said everything with a smile and her gentle nature definitely showed around the animals! Her dedication to Heartland was incredible, as was her passion for adoption. We miss you already Lisa!

Around the Kennel

As always, we are updating the signs around the kennels. Please ask a staff if you are unsure what a sign may mean. Examples include:

This sign informs people of the age group of children this dog would be

great with.

This sign lets people know that they will need to be pre-approved before

meeting with this dog.

Page 11: Kennel Chronicles

You may have flipped through this entire edition of the Chronicles only to find out there’s no personals. Don’t worry – we haven’t forgot! In fact, the Buddy

program is doing so well that we are not currently recruiting new buddies. Recently, the larger dogs have been going home faster than the smaller ones (which is an unusual, but great trend!) and we don’t feel that these dogs are here long enough to form a solid relationship. You absolutely can spoil a certain dog for now, but we are focusing on trying to get some of the long-timers sprung from their kennels. Use this time to help them get a home!

Reel I m p r e s s i v e

Website Videos A big thank you goes out to volunteer Christine for creating all the videos that are posted to Heartland’s website! This helps the dogs get adopted faster as potential adopters can see their personality! While pictures are great, videos allow people to see how big the dog is, how it responds to commands and how it interacts with other dogs. This gives people a glimpse as to how the dog may behave in their home! Christine has been doing the videos for several months and does a great job! Heartland would like to thank her for all the effort of shooting, editing and uploading these great videos! Thank you so much Christine! The animals are so appreciative!

On Demand Videos Heartland would also like to thank Comcast for coming out to record several of Heartland adoptable animals and putting their features on their On Demand video service! This allows people to view animals from the comfort of their own couch! These videos include great information about the animals, like breed and age, and give potential adopters a great view at the animals. This also helps our exposure as many people may not have heard of Heartland before. This helps Heartland attract a new group of people, who in turn, will hopefully tell their friends and generate even more adoptions! Thanks to all the great people at Comcast for making this happen!

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Page 12: Kennel Chronicles

WRIGGLES A staff favorite, Wriggles wriggled for everyone he met. A charming beagle mix with a little

different gait than other dogs, he seemed to be passed over so many times. Despite being

friendly, visitors were concerned with his possible physical limitations. Wriggles looked like a

ballerina in first position, toes pointed gracefully outward. This was a birth defect that was

not fixed and by the time he came to Heartland, the decision was that this didn’t limit him

so there was no reason (other than for cosmetics) to fix it.

He was a favorite in class and did very well with other dogs and training. He’s now in a happy

loving home with other doggies to play with. Heartland could not have hoped for a better

ending for him. As you can see in the picture above, he enjoys wearing warm sweaters in

the cold winters. Doesn’t he look so cute?

Heartland staff would like to extend a big thank you to everyone who helped take care of

him for his many months at the shelter. Everyone chipped in to make this “disabled” dog

feel perfect. Let Wriggles’ inspire us to see people the same way.