Gone to the Dogs

Camp Gone to the Dogs is the most popular summer camp held at HAWS each year.  The camp is geared towards kids ages 10-14 years of age and limited to 15 campers.  Campers are placed in groups of three, and each group gets a shelter dog to work with and care for the week.  This summer the campers got to take care of puppies! And caring for puppies, while a lot of fun, brings with it special challenges and responsibilities other than frequent clean-up.

Puppies under 3 months of age benefit greatly from socialization to people, other animals and new things in their environment as long as it isn't overwhelming or scary, and they are allowed a choice as to whether they want to engage with whatever it is they are being exposed to. 

Our campers therefore had a great opportunity to help our adoptable puppies with socialization.  The fact that they spent all week with kids over 10 years who were playing, feeding and walking them allowed them to be socialized to older kids.  But our campers went beyond that!

One of the things we did was have "Crazy Dress Up Day".  Dogs can sometimes become very
frightened of people wearing clothing or costumes outside of what they've experienced.  We told the kids to come with winter clothing (summer puppies sometimes freak out when they are adolescents and people start wearing heavy jackets, scarves and hats), different hats, sunglasses, Halloween costumes, and anything else they could think of.  The kids put on their crazy clothing and spent time playing with and giving treats to the puppies. 

Another thing we did was a few days of environmental socialization.  We placed as many different types of things on the floor as we could think of; exercise pens laid flat, a tire, crinkly plastic - anything the puppies could safely explore walking on, over and into the objects.  The campers were instructed not to force the puppies to do anything.  An important part of socialization is allowing the puppy to make a choice and encourage him to be brave without pressuring him to do something he isn't comfortable with.  And of course lots of cookies were given for being brave and trying new things. 

HAWS camp is finished for the summer; in a few days the kids will start school, and the puppies have already gone to their new homes.  But we hope the kids who attended our Camp Gone to the Dogs learned something about how to properly socialize puppies.  And we know that the efforts they made  during camp have created a lifetime of benefits for the puppies they worked with. 

Blogger Dog, Brito!

My passion is my dogs and part of that passion and the way I connect with my furry family members is through training.  Training a dog shouldn't be looked at as a chore.  Training can be fun and if done properly becomes one big game for the dog.  It's a lot like the way we like to run our education programs here at HAWS; the kids do some fun activities and learn something along the way!

Because of how I want to train my dogs I've become a big fan of dog trainer Denise Fenzi whose training philosophy matches my own, and who has an amazing way of building relationships with dogs.  I've learned a tremendous amount since I've started reading her blog and books.

Recently Denise published a book for children called "Blogger Dog, Brito!".  The book is written from her dog Brito's point of view in a blog format and he writes about being adopted from a rescue, his introduction to his new family, learning new things, and playing fun games.  We get to see how dogs express themselves through body language, and how they can thrive when someone understands them and allows them to have choices.  It's the perfect book for HAWS humane education program. 

Since our camp started this week, I thought it was the perfect opportunity to introduce the book to our campers.  We read the children a few of the chapters, talked about Brito and how he felt during the situations he described, and then we had the kids do an activity.  The kids could choose to either write a blog from the viewpoint of one of the adoptable animals at HAWS, or they could comment on Brito's blog post from the viewpoint of another animal and draw a picture.  Here are some of the results. 

Shutterbug Camp

Camp may have been over for a week and a half, however it's still very fresh on my mind despite the fact that the kids are now back in school.

The last week of Kids 'N Critters Day Camp was our annual Shutterbug Camp in which the kids use their creativity and cameras to document their experience here at HAWS.  We really encouraged the campers to explore lighting, different angles, and composition.  Additionally each of the kids took a photograph of an adoptable animal that we used on our website to promote adoption.  Below is some of the work that the campers did during their week at HAWS.

Camp Science with the Animals

HAWS is always looking for new things for our repeat campers.  We want to make sure that they don't get bored with our programs, but also give them something new to learn.  This year for the first time we offered a camp that had a science theme.

We were fortunate enough to get a grant to allow us to purchase some microscopes.  The campers learned about some of the parasites animals can get, and were able to look at slides with whipworm and roundworm eggs, as well as canine scabes and demodex.  These are things that occasionally will show up on animals here at HAWS, and that are staff are trained to recognize.  The kids also used the microscope to compare the hair from a person, dog, cat and rabbit, and to see what snake skin looked like microscopically.

We did a DNA activity and the campers learned that DNA testing is being used in wildlife protection and by breeders of domestic animals to eliminate common genetic problems and better breeding programs.

The kids put together simple studies of their own; do cats like sparkle toys better than catnip?, do dogs like the taste of Natural Balance treats or Pupperoni?

The kids got to dissect owl pellets (despite popular perception - they are not poop but rather regurgitation of all the non-digestible parts of their food.)  Inside they found the remains of mostly rodents, but we also came across a few bird skeletons.

The most popular activity was watching surgery in HAWS spay and neuter clinic.  This was a very special privilege and the kids were very respectful of the staff and asked some great questions.  Many said they want to be veterinarians when they grow up, and really enjoyed watching surgery - even the "yucky parts". 

Most of the kids who attended are all long-time HAWS camp veterans.  They all said they greatly enjoyed this new camp, and voted that we repeat it next year! 

Conversations with Campers

Lucky 4 Leaf Clover

Last week we held Camp Gone to the Dogs for kids between ages 10 and 14 years.  One group was sitting on the grass with their dogs and I stopped by to chat for a bit.

"Are there such things as 4 leaf clovers?" asked one of the girls.

I told her that there were, but they were pretty rare which is why people considered them lucky.  Then I walked off to check in with another group of kids.

A little while later I walked past the first group.  "She found a 4 leaf clover!" one of the kids excitedly yelled.

"Really?  Show it to me," I said hurrying over. 

"Oh, I threw it away already."

How to Tells the Boys from the Girls

Another amusing conversation happened at this week's camp.  Assistant Educator Megan and I were in with a group of kids who were playing with kittens.  One of the kids asked how we could tell the boys from the girls.  Instead of my standard answer, "Boys have boy parts, and girls have girl parts", I decided to make her think a bit.

"Well, how do you know you're a girl and not a boy?" I asked.

"I have long hair", was the reply.

"Ok, well when babies are first born and they don't have hair, how does the doctor know it's a boy and not a girl?"

The little girl thought, and thought. I could see the wheels spinning in her head and I assumed she had it figured out.

"Well, boys have blue blankets and girls have pink."

Rearranging Our Schedule

I have to admit that creating a schedule for our camp sessions is something that I dread.  We have 40-some kids split up into 5 groups so that they get more one on one time with the animals and so that they can get more out of activities.  Needless to say it gets complicated making sure that each group gets to experience the same things and figure out where each group will do their individual activities in the building without disrupting other campers or the regular business of camp.   Additionally I have to make sure that the kids have a learning experience here at camp since our goal is that they come away from their time at HAWS with respect and responsibility for animals. 

That being said, sometimes my carefully crafted schedule gets disrupted and the counselors are forced to be flexible enough to roll with the changes.  Last week we had one such event when HAWS Mobile Adoption Coordinator, Johanna Schmanski was kind enough to bring her foster kittens in for the kids to meet. 

Summer time at HAWS is what we call "kitten season". It's the time of year when tons of kittens are brought in from all over the county.  Many of these kittens are too young to go up for adoption and are farmed out to foster homes until they're old enough at 8 weeks of age to return and find their new homes.  Some of these kittens are too young even to eat solid food and need to be bottle fed.

Johanna's fosters happened to have been bottle babies, and so it was a great opportunity for the kids to learn about how foster homes care for very young kittens -- feeding them every 3 hours by bottle, helping them to potty by stimulating their bottoms, and how much work it is to care for them.

The kids were enthralled and thrilled when they were given a chance to feed the kittens themselves.  And it was worth the disruption of my carefully planned out schedule.

A Conversation with a Camper

The main focus of HAWS Kids 'N Critters Day Camps is to educate children about animal welfare issues, one topic being what it means to be a responsible pet owner.  We have many games and activities that help emphasize such things as doing research before bringing a pet home, ensuring that a new owner has appropriate supplies, providing exercise, grooming and cleaning.

Sometimes, however, the best educational moments are during periods of down-time.  The other day I sat with the kids as they played with a cat and a little girl started a conversation with me about a problem she was having with her parents.  Apparently she wanted to get a kitten and her parents had told her they would purchase kitty litter and food, but that she'd have to figure out a way to provide veterinary care.  She wanted to know if she could get her future kitten spayed or neutered at HAWS for free or for just a small amount of money.

I explained to her that HAWS provides low cost spay and neuter to people who are on government assistance (Social Security, Disability, etc), but that because her parents both have jobs and can afford pet care we couldn't do the same for her.  I also explained that kittens need more vet care than just spay and neuter.  Her kitten would need vaccinations, and may need such things as medicine to get rid of ear mites and intestinal parasites.  HAWS doesn't provide these services to the public, so she'd need to spend money at a vet any way.  Additionally vet care isn't just a one-time visit.  She'd have to spend money every year for a wellness check-up, and if her cat got sick or hurt she might need to take the cat to the vet for care in addition to the annual examination. 

I'm not sure how the topic changed to litter boxes, but the girl indicated that she only planned to clean the box once a week.  I explained that cats are very clean animals, and that they don't like to use dirty litter boxes. 

The little girl didn't get it.  "But why can't I just clean it once a week?" she asked.  I told her that some cats might stop using a litter box if it's dirty and start going potty in other, less desirable places.  She still didn't understand about daily cleanings, and so I asked her if she'd want to use a toilet that never got flushed. 

I'm not sure the girl was convinced.  Typical of many kids her desire to have a kitten to have fun with was stronger than her understanding of the fact that while a pet is fun it's also a responsibility that requires care that isn't always fun.  But I hope I at least planted a seed. 

Summer Camp 2014

Since this week is a holiday week we decided to offer a series of one-day camps.  This way parents can send their kids multiple days and work around their vacation schedules. 

25 kids are here today, and are having a blast.  The weather held out and so the kids were able to walk several dogs outside, in addition to meeting kittens, rabbits, guinea pigs, a ferret and a rat.  We even had them stuff kongs so that our shelter dogs get an icy treat. 

Summer Campers are Here!

Although HAWS is only into our second week of Kids 'N Critters Day Camp, I can say that it's started out to be our best year ever.  All of the counselors have returned from previous years, we have several teen volunteers helping out, and a mix of the familiar faces of returning campers along with new campers as well!

The kids have had a lot of fun, but they've also been a lot of fun.  I enjoy spending time with them and talking about what animals they love, answering their questions, and watching them play games and interact with the many animals here at HAWS.  It makes my job better to know how excited kids are to spend time at HAWS and learn about animals.

Education through Experience

HAWS Kids 'N Critters Winter Camp ran during the school's break and was huge success.  Because of how the holidays fell during the week this year, for the first time we ran 5 single day sessions rather than 2 and 3 day sessions.  This allowed families to have more options and work around their own schedules, and it also meant that we were able to accommodate more children -- many of whom were new to HAWS. 

The last two days of camp ran during a cold snap in which the outside temperature was in the single digits.  Normally our schedule would have had kids walking dogs outside, but we modified it to allow small groups of kids to work with dogs and do some training in the comfort of the indoors instead.  

Before we brought the dog in to the kids I prepared them for how to behave around the dog, what we were going to be training, and how to safely deliver treats so that fingers didn't go into the dog's mouth.  

One of the kids asked what kind of dog was going to be coming into the room.  When I told him she was a pit bull mix, he said, "My dad says pit bulls are dangerous."  I started to explain to the boy that wasn't true about all pit bulls, and that the news tended to overly report pit bull attacks compared to attacks by other breeds, causing people to be prejudiced.  (For a great information on this see Dr. Ian Kupkee's blog post.)

I quickly realized that he wasn't hearing me and didn't want to believe what I had to say, especially since it was contradicting his dad.  I finally said, "Well, why don't you spend some time with Cider and then make up your own mind." 

Cider came in the room and we proceeded to work on sit for polite greetings, and then taught her to navigate obstacles in the form of crawling under chairs and walking through a tunnel.  Initially she was a bit fearful about them, but the kids did a great job using treats and their voices to encourage here.  She very quickly felt more comfortable and the kids felt proud of their accomplishment. 

After a half an hour of work Cider was a bit tired, and the kids were able to pet her as she relaxed on the floor.   And the boy who thought pit bulls were dangerous admitted that she was a really nice dog.   Sometimes showing people is better than telling. 

Quinn and a Camper

Camp is coming to an end, but this last week was one of the most rewarding weeks for me.  A few days ago one of the campers attending our two-day camp burst into tears and started to panic when the counselors brought a Yorkshire Terrier puppy into the room.  It turns out that several years ago she was attacked by a dog and has a severe phobia to dogs. 

We decided that anytime we had a dog out the camper would be given the option to leave the room and go with a group that was visiting with a different animal.  And that worked really well the first day of camp.

The second day of camp as the kids were arriving I let the kids train my dog Quinn as I described in the blog post from a few weeks ago.  The girl with the phobia hadn't yet arrived, and when she approached the door to the room where we hold camp, one of the counselors reminded me about her fears.  I told her that we could have one of the counselors take her to another room with a guinea pig until the kids were done working with Quinn.  To my surprise she decided to come into the room, and took a spot as a human tunnel. 

After a time she started to visibly relax, and I was amazed when it was time for the kids to take turns becoming the "trainer" when her hand shot up.  She actually wanted to work with Quinn, and she got that chance.  While she wasn't 100% relaxed, she had a smile on her face as she led Quinn through the room and clicked and treated him for stepping over the kids laying on the floor as "logs" and through the legs of the kids acting as "tunnels".   We think that she felt comfortable with Quinn because he is a very low-key mellow dog. 

While I wouldn't recommend that parents use HAWS Kids 'N Critters Day Camp as a way for their children to work through animal phobias, it was nice to see a girl who is afraid of dogs enjoying herself with Quinn -- a dog who has a few fears of his own. 

Kids 'N Critters at Cozy Nook Farm

During the summer our week-long campers take a field trip to an animal related location.  We go to different locations throughout the summer so that repeat campers get new experiences. 

One of our favorite field trips is to Cozy Nook Farm in Waukesha.  Cozy Nook is a small family owned diary farm with 65 cows and a couple of goats. The kids get to learn about life on a diary farm; milking the cows twice a day, how calves are raised, the work it takes to bring in crops of hay and corn, and other cow related information. 

For some of the kids this is their first visit to a diary farm and while the start out a bit cautious while interacting with the cows, after a short time they're enthusiastically hand feeding hay and petting their soft noses. 



It never fails that the campers are excited to see the barn cats -- which always astounds the counselors since they just spent most of the previous week at HAWS with many cats and kittens.  But one of the nice things about Cozy Nook is that all of their cats are spayed and neutered.  This helps support the message we give the kids the importance of spay and neuter to combat the cat over-population problem.  As a matter of fact Cozy Nook has used HAWS Project Guardian Program which offers free spay and neuter services for barn cats and other cared for out-door cats. 

One of the final aspects of this field trip is a hay ride to see the hay, corn, alfalfa and corn fields, and Cozy Nook's honey bee boxes.  The kids learn just how important bees are to pollinating crops. 

Hopefully our campers think about all the work that goes into their food the next time they drink a glass of milk or take a bite of cheese. 

Stereotypes and Breeds

This blog post was written by a guest blogger.  Madison is 11 years old and has been attending HAWS Kids 'N Critter Camps for many years.  As a matter of fact she enjoys it so much she usually comes 4 or more weeks every summer. 

Madison is currently attending our Camp Gone to the Dogs in which a group of 3 campers is assigned an adoptable dog to care for during the week.  Yesterday Madison told me about something that she saw happen at the shelter that made her angry, and I asked if she would mind writing about it. Here it is in her words:

Hi, my name is Madison and I come to a lot of HAWS summer camps every year.  This week I'm in Camp Gone to the Dogs. 

While I was putting my dog back in his kennel there was a lady looking for a puppy, so one of the other campers told her to look at Bailey, and adorable pit bull mix puppy. 

The lady said, "Oh, you're cute!!!".  Then she looked at Bailey's information card and saw "pit bull mix".  The lady then said "pit bull mix! I thought you were cute!!!" in a snotty way. 

It shouldn't matter the breed of the dog; if the dog is cute, the dog is cute.  I felt sad for Bailey and angry at the lady for saying that about her.  I feel sad for Bailey and other pit bulls that may be getting passed up for adoption because of false stereotypes about the breed.  This is why people need to be educated about pit bulls and other misjudged breeds.  If this lady would have been educated or more open minded about pit bulls, Bailey could have had a much higher chance to get adopted soon. 

Camp at HAWS

Since HAWS accepts all different types of animals, we get many species that other shelters don't experience.  It makes it interesting to work here and interact with animals I would never have had an opportunity to work with otherwise. 

This means that the education department also has the opportunity to share our knowledge and interactions with many different types of animals with the participants of our programs.  Since we've just finished our third week of HAWS Kids 'N Critters Summer Camps, we've been able to do just that with the campers that are attending our programs. 

Domestic rats are a personal favorite of mine.  They get a bad rap because of the poor reputation their wild relations have, but they are actually wonderful pets.  Not only are they entertaining to watch as they move about their habitat, but they are extremely smart and social animals.  If they're used to being handled they are very snuggly, and can be taught to do tricks and come when called. 


A new species to me is the African Sidenecked Turtle.  I first learned about these guys when one was surrendered to HAWS a few months ago.  Native to Africa they can't pull their heads all the way into their shell, so turn their head sideways. 
Voodoo the snake isn't available for adoption, but rather an education snake on loan from a fellow employee.  The kids really enjoy Voodoo the corn snake.  While he's 4 feet long, he isn't very wide and easily handled, which is why corn snakes make such great pets.  Many of the kids are interacting with a snake for the first time when they meet Voodoo, and find out that not only is he not slimy, but he's actually pretty fun to handle. 

Don't get the wrong idea.  The campers get plenty of times with dogs, cats, rabbits and guinea pigs.  But coming to camp allows them to learn about other types of animals as well.  And we still have room in many of our up-coming sessions.  So if you know an animal loving kid who wants to have fun this summer give us a call!

Winter Camp and 1000+ Words

Last week HAWS held our annual Kids N Critters Winter Camp.  32 kids between the ages of 6 and 13 years of age attended and were able to spend time with animals, bake cookies with animal shaped cookie cutters, make pinecone bird feeders, and get a short sled time. 

I know that wasn't 1000 words, but I thought I'd let some of the photos taken during the camp do the talking for me.  In the meantime I get to start planning for our summer camp that starts in June, 2013.  Enjoy!