Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Adoption fees waived

The shelter is doing a special promotion right now on our longer term residents. The dogs / cats who have been at the shelter more than a year are having their adoption fees waived in August. I think this is on the right track though if not successful, we should probably extend it a bit. I have been busy lately on weekends with school about to start again for Ben and with projects and family visits, etc. Next weekend Ben will move back up to Dallas and after moving him up there, I should have more time to devote to the shelter and to Karma's advertising.

Things have been going pretty well with Karma other than an issue we have been having where she will growl/bark at Ben and sometimes charge him when she is laying in a room with me with a rawhide (or even sometimes with just a stuffed toy she is enamored with at the moment) and Ben walks by or comes to the doorway. If I tell her no, then she drops her head and skulks away, but it is concerning to Ben and also to me. I have started taking up the rawhides and need to only give them to her with the door shut.

Karma has spent 3-4 day weekends at the shelter a few times over the past month or so and she doesn't like it. Now when I take her to the shelter she won't get out of the car. I driven in the back gate a couple of times and closed the gate and opened the car. She gets out, but after the first time, she figured out that I am putting her up and she hangs out by the car until I get a leash on her and bring her to her pen or inside.

I need to brainstorm with the shelter folks some additional advertising ideas on our long term dogs. Karma/Oreo/Rigby deserve good homes and we need a way to show them off even at the expense of the more easily adoptable dogs. I need to start taking Karma to all the adoption day events I possibly can and also putting on the "adopt me" vest. It is a bit hot to be wearing a vest, but she needs to find a good home.

When I picked Karma up on Monday,I heard that Baxter came for a visit to play with Karma this weekend. From what I heard, she wasn't sure about him for a few minutes and then they remembered each other and played and played. Wish I had been there to check that out and to say hey to Baxter. Baxter's new owner is a shelter volunteer, so we may be able to do it again sometime.

The shelter has been trying to match up Karma with another dog so that she has a playmate, but we haven't hit on the right combo. We tried her with our big chocolate lab, Buster, but she got after him and he didn't like it and shied away. We her to behave and took them in the meet and greet area and let them off leash, but they just ignored each other. There are a few new dogs this week, so perhaps we can try again with another.