Sunday, June 7, 2009

I O U

I owe you all a post about the definitions of a Service Dog, a Companion Animal, and a Therapy Dog. With luck, and a whittled down to-do list, I'll try to get it up tomorrow.

Tempory job and the Animal Control Officers that I work with

It seems May got away from me all together. I have been working as a temporary licensing office for a local county shelter. Yup, I'm what the Animal Control Officers here (mostly) jokingly refer to as a "county streetwalkers". Since a few of them got their start doing this job, the needling is mostly in fun.

There was a moving and very realistic article in a local paper about what these Animal Control Officers are dealing with on a daily basis, "Life or death: Animal control officers make tough decisions on the job." It ends with this line, "Locke replied, "She won't be in pain any longer," and left to pick up Sadie before her owner's kids got home from school."

The other licensing officers and I are one set of public faces of the shelter. I do what I can to offer information and a smile to the folks we meet. I remind folks that the ACO's are not the dog-catchers and the shelter is not just the pound. I carry spay and neuter coupons, information about dog parks, a flier about shelter operations and programs, and stickers for the kiddos.

Sometimes it amounts to just a bit more.

Last week I went knocking on a door, first house on the block, the late summer rain just starting gently down. A weepy man, face folded with his pain, answered.

"I can't talk to you right now" he blurted, trying for politeness through his stress "My dog just died". He was assuming, as so many people do when I come to their houses, that I am selling something.

"Just died?" I asked. "Yes, just now. Please go away", he stated bluntly.

I dropped my eyes to the porch steps for a moment, inhaled and said, "Actually, I'M with county animal services; maybe I can help".

He stared and me and mumbled, "You are kidding, right?".

"Nope, not kidding" I responded finding a soft smile, remembering the sudden passing of my River dog and how shook up I was at the time.

He invited me inside (I don't go inside peoples homes when on the job). I stood and talked with him and his wife for a short time, helped them contact the shelter and request an office to to come by and assist them with transport, and talked some about what happens next. He thanked me and told me I was a god-spend.

The new director of the shelter is doing what she can to make a change for the better, as the prior director did during his time. It is hard. There is so much to do and so little money to do it with.

Thank you all for the care you give your animals.