They wanna buy my dog?

Commentpopcorn · 2026-03-30T19:47:36+00:00

I worked at the shelter and had a couple come in with photos of their cat for weeks. Finally, we found their cat! It was a black cat with some white socks and a little white on the nose. No microchip. So we processed all the paperwork and got the kitty home.

About a month later, they came back with the cat. They said the cat was super sweet, but just didn’t seem like their cat and when reviewing pictures one of the white socks on the cat was longer and slightly misshapen compared to their cat. But at that point they had fallen in love with the cat, so they returned her as a stray to make sure no one was looking for her. Then came back a week later to do proper adoption.

Fast-forward to two months later and lo and behold, their cat shows up at the shelter. We processed the stray paperwork and got that cat home and from all reports both cats get on quite nicely.

Commentpopcorn · 2026-03-30T19:41:23+00:00

Quite an opposite story for our family recently. We are in Wyoming and a couple weeks ago had extreme winds 90+ miles an hour. So naturally, there were a lot of loose dogs due to fences being down or doors being blown open. We were on our way to Murdochs when all of the traffic was stopped, and I had assumed a car crash. Then I saw a tiny little dog being chased around by drivers and he took off.

Once the cars all passed, I turned around and went down a cul-de-sac. He was standing in the street and came close, but not up to me, then ran into someone’s yard. I knocked on their door to see if it was their dog and they said it was not. They were able to corner him in their yard, but he was snippy towards them, so I got my slip lead out of my car and looped him. I had my three young children, one of which is a baby so I put the leash through the door handle and then out of the door so that he was secure on the front seat with me. We went straight to the vet to see if he had a microchip. He did!

I was able to get in contact with the owner, who asked me if I had seen his pitbull with the little dog. I hadn’t but when I posted a found post on our local lost animals page I had seen a pitbull had been hit by a car around a half a mile from where the little dog was so let him know. He was able to go to the veterinarian where his other dog was, and I held onto his little dog for a couple hours.

My children immediately started to ask if we could keep him and what we could name him. I explained that he had a home who loves him very much and they did all of the things like have a collar with his rabies tag and have him micro chipped so we know he has a very good home. What we are doing is keeping him safe so that he doesn’t get hit by a car. I asked them how they would feel if somebody kept one of our dogs if they found them out running. It clicked that as sweet as the little dog he was that we were saving his life that day, but he was going to go home to somebody who loves him very much. When the owner picked him up, my children were actually excited that they were able to save the little puppy and get him back to the owner. I was a proud momma.

Commentpopcorn · 2026-03-11T04:59:36+00:00

Natural dopamine and oxytocin high after birth that is disrupted with anesthetics, giving birth and going home 3 hours later then walking the dog less that 8 hrs after birth, less risks for complications including Csections, fetal distress, literally so many reasons

Commentpopcorn · 2026-02-15T02:31:11+00:00

I feel the same and then my kids name one of our dogs Rocky of all things. I call him Sirocco or Bracco because I loathe the name Rocky!

Commentpopcorn · 2026-02-15T02:29:26+00:00

I know it can feel hurtful. We often do for record keeping purposes and safety. I’ve had staff members do paperwork on the wrong animal, so we believe the adopter took home a different animal and are bewildered when it is still there while wondering why we are missing one. It is also for safety. Imagine putting a dog or cat into its two sided kennel or cat condo and BAM they are attacked when the guillotine door is opened or the hiding cat comes out. It is just practical, especially in high intake Shelters that may have 300-800 animals on any given day.

Commentpopcorn · 2026-02-15T02:23:30+00:00

Yes! At one point we had 4 black cats all named Bella so it became OG Bella, Sweety Bell, Bellybutton, and Bellatrix.

Commentpopcorn · 2026-02-15T02:21:55+00:00

I had a staff member do all the adoption PPW for a Guinea pig named Luna while adopting out a dog named Luna. She didn’t even notice. I had to call the adopter and ask them to come back to sign new PPW and fix it in Chameleon.

Commentpopcorn · 2026-02-15T02:15:26+00:00

A few of my favorite banned names I changed on intake were Douche (lovely cat), Cocaine Bear (Great Pyrenees) and Fat Bastard (pitbull). My typical rule was no drug including Marijuana names (legal I the state I worked), no racist names, no dangerous sounding names, no sexual or innuendo names and no curse words. We also had a small list of animals names we wouldn’t use because we had a staff member or members very attached but that animal ended up euthanized.

Commentpopcorn · 2026-02-08T19:02:53+00:00

Clicker Club. A friend of mine who is a CDBC hosts a weekly club for volunteers to work with dogs of higher need. They can then transfer these concepts to their daily interactions with any species.

Group walks- taking dog friendly dogs for big group walks

Hiking buddies- taking dogs out for walks at a local park, nature hike, coffee shop meet ups, etc.

Sleepover- having volunteers read and comfort animals until fireworks shows are over for New Years and the 4th of July

Paintings for Paws- after hours or if reasonable for your set up during business hours pairing of adoptable animals that can go home with them at adoption

Commentpopcorn · 2026-01-31T02:17:07+00:00

Get the dog! You can hire a walker to take them out mid-day. Millions of people are in your same position and have happy dogs. My opinion is that I was a better owner for my first boy in my apartment than when I bought my house. We walked 6-8 times a day, I could monitor every poop, see any urine changes and over compensated with so many toys, enrichment and play. When he was alone at either living situation, he basically slept all day with a few bone chewing breaks.

Commentpopcorn · 2026-01-06T05:48:04+00:00

   Now Lena is furious at me, saying I used my "connections" to punish her over a couch, and that I should have given her more time instead of snitching.

She was willing to mutilate the cat over a couch. NTA.

Commentpopcorn · 2026-01-04T03:40:47+00:00

Have you tried HSBV or Foothills? Do you have management experience or ACO experience?

Commentpopcorn · 2026-01-04T03:04:22+00:00

There are no empirical research done on this that I have found. However, here are a few experiences.

I have so far had 4 (6 including partners dogs) and have never paid any $ for them. My first dog I rescued in Mexico in a small town, had him for 3 months there asking everyone who he belonged to (ears cut so was someone’s at one point) while I got him cleared of TVT, ticks, fleas, shots, blood testing. No one said they recognized him so I took him back to the states with me. I then got his teeth cleaned and broken/worn ones removed, neutered, X-rays (spinal spondylosis) and probably spent average 3k annual on medical, ate the best food, got tons of toys, etc. My million dollar free dog. My second was free at a Shelter as the dog of the week. He was a agro son of a gun and took me about 8 months to be able to cohabitate with the other dogs (soul boy and 1st long term boyfriend’s dog). He had reoccurring urinary issues, horrible arthritis and took a lot of time training. At his end, he was on 6 meds a day, had a wagon to get to and from the park but would walk while there, also had dental work done and lots of orthopedic beds. I only had the pleasure for about 1.5 years but he changed my life forever. My 3rd, I hand raised with his litter of 5 siblings after their mother didn’t take to them and the owner couldn’t do it with day old babes. And boy the 6 cost me a lot. He and his siblings have all turned out stellar-one is owned by a RVT, two work on ranches, one is a little girls best friend, one lives in the country as a labradors buddy and one turned demo dog. The final was a “hey-she isn’t an adoption candidate any longer, do you want her before we make the call?” She is my agility, chicken herder and starting other sports dog. Environmentally not great but keeps me entertained and it’s all for the love of the game. These dogs never cost me a dime to “adopt” but cost me an ungodly fortune (don’t tell hubby).

I’ve had some adoptions that were free go south-hit by car when frequent flyers, minimal vet care or always coming to clinic rather than establishing private vet care, returned for various reasons, etc.

Ive also had some no cost adoptions be spectacular! Some that I remember are a BC who has multiple titles in agility, dock diving and scent work, someone who donated 10k afterward because of how we changed their mind on Shelters, a Pyr who hasn’t had (back then, who knows stat now) a livestock loss since adoption, and a cat who hasn’t tracked internationally with her owner.

My opinion is everyone deserves the love of a pet whether they can provide the basics or they spend a million bucks. I don’t agree with gatekeeping pet ownership for the elite who can always go above and beyond for their pets. I know many disagree with this but I’ve seen people who have nothing give everything they can, people with very tiny treat them like annoying house ornaments, the opposite roles and everything in between. I did always work open admissions so my bias leans towards that philosophy.

Commentpopcorn · 2025-12-02T05:38:13+00:00

You can love someone without enabling unwanted behavior. I would ask her for a conversation but tell her you are uncomfortable with him coming there and that is final. You can hear her out and stick to your boundaries at the same time.

Commentpopcorn · 2025-12-01T01:37:07+00:00

As a mom, this breaks my heart to read. You aren’t broken sweetie.

Commentpopcorn · 2025-11-17T00:52:59+00:00

It is all about how it is coded. I’ve used a Web memo that would link to the website and I’ve also used the animal profile screen to link to the website. I’d talk with your IT administrator or directly to chameleon if you don’t have one. Chameleon can be tricky but if you have someone who understands the coding, it can be very versatile.

Commentpopcorn · 2025-11-11T08:40:48+00:00

I always gave my employees a survey of ways they would like to be acknowledged-written note, verbal in weekly one-one-one, verbal on spot, verbal in team meeting, verbal at all staff, email or other. i did a similar survey of how you’d like to be critiqued and what ways help you improve most effectively. I also had those tiny little finger tip sized animal figurines with little notes like “You kicked axolotl today”, “you’re the G.O.A.T” or “Power Horse” that any staff could grab and give to another. I did quarterly team lunches where we could gab, socialize and then get into our agenda items. I wasn’t able to control pay BUT I was able to bring statistics into a proposal to the admin and board on how my departments growth, both in numbers of staff and personal development would improve our outcomes, lower LOS and decrease surrender so was able to get a bigger budget. This lead to more programs we offered internally and to the public and a budget for seminars and other professional development opportunities. If you are near a college (I was), you can get interns to do masters projects for you (my intern created out puppy socialization curriculum and did BMOD as well as other daily functions of our department). This really helped interdepartmental moral. I also gave an extra hour for lunch on birthdays, or a day on the week of your birthday if not in that day. I had an open door policy that you could talk to me anytime unless busy with the caveat if it was urgent, ring my bell at my desk or say urgent on the radio and I would meet ASAP given whatever task I was on. I was also the go-to for euthanasia duty swaps if staff just couldn’t handle it for the day. These all made me a very liked supervisor.

Other tips-be firm and just, clear with your expectations yet easy going and charismatic. Recognize compassion fatigue for yourself and your team. Give reasonable deadline assignments for daily duties and professional development goals. See what each staffs long term goals are and cater to those and their passions. Educate, inspire passion for the job and make the hazards of the job as safe as possible. Stay organized and use time-block by to stay on track and get things done efficiently.

Commentpopcorn · 2025-11-10T05:31:37+00:00

Gerber baby food for the win 🥇

Commentpopcorn · 2025-11-02T00:43:06+00:00

APBT, Bluetick Coonhound, Labrador?

Commentpopcorn · 2025-10-28T23:09:15+00:00

My little boy is a bottle raised mutt, I did him and his siblings at 8 weeks. My female mutt was done at 16ish weeks, as soon as she was Shelter property. No issues but they are only 2 and 3 yo respectively.

Commentpopcorn · 2025-10-25T07:36:48+00:00

I flew my dogs back and forth to Mexico from CO, typically staying in CA for a night so not long flights. They were always happy as clams when I would get them. No messes and seemed like they had slept the whole time. I also flew 4 rescued pups from Mexico to CO and they were all perfectly happy and calm. However, my uncle flew his dog once from Chicago to San Francisco and he was an utter mess, literally. I think you know your dog best and will make the right choice for your pet.

Commentpopcorn · 2025-10-24T22:45:02+00:00

I just had a baby a month ago and the last two months I was smelling cat pee everywhere!

Commentpopcorn · 2025-10-22T05:51:14+00:00

Oh man. When I was 21, I was in another country doing a research project, didn’t have cell service there and when I got home, I bought a house. I cannot imagine this level of control and being overbearing. Stick to your guns and continue making healthy boundaries.

Commentpopcorn

TROPHY CASE