One of my first experiences with an animal shelter was a little more than 16 years ago.   At that time I had a sheltie and was considering getting another one.  An acquaintance  mentioned that she'd seen a sheltie at the local shelter.  The next day I stopped in to take a look.

By that time the dog I'd originally come to see had already been adopted, but I walked up and down the rows of caging looking at the other dogs that needed homes.  One of the dogs was housed in a cage on the second level of a stainless steel caging unit.  With her black and white markings and cute papillon ears, she was adorable.  When they took her out for me I knelt on the floor and she immediately put her front paws on my knees and leaned up to lick my face.  I was sold -- the next day Belle came home with me. 

When I think back to that visit it strikes me how much things have changed in animal sheltering in the southeastern part of Wisconsin.  

First of all, I was allowed to take Belle home without her having met my other dog at the time beforehand.  I don't know of any shelter in this part of the state that wouldn't require that the other dog(s) in the household meet the potential adoptee first.  This is to ensure as best as possible that the dogs will be compatible.  While it's difficult to predict this with 100% reliability based on a single meeting, now that I work at a shelter I can say that sometimes it rules out an adoption based on the extreme behavior by one or both dogs. 

Another difference is how Belle was being housed.  She was in a unit of cages on the second level -- something similar to how HAWS currently houses our cats.   In 2009 Wisconsin passed legislation unofficially dubbed the "Wisconsin Puppy Mill Law".  Aimed at improving the poor conditions in which many puppy mills keep their dogs, it applies to most animals shelters and rescues as well since it applies to any individual, business or organization selling 25 dogs or more a year.

The law dictates how big an enclosure should be for a dog based on the dog's size.   According to the current law, today the shelter would be required to keep Belle in an enclosure of 12 square feet -- much larger than the cage she was in when I first saw her. 

When I first started working at HAWS almost 9 years ago I heard stories of the way the dog kennels used to be about 5 or 6 years before that.  In those days every kennel was almost always filled, and most of the time our puppy pits contained at least one litter of unwanted puppies. 

Today we always have at least a few kennels, and many times only half of our dog kennels contain dogs.  It's very rare that a litter of puppies actually comes in -- and when we do have a litter of puppies up for adoption many times they were taken in from shelters in other areas of Wisconsin. 


Another change that I've seen occur at shelters in this area is an increased awareness for mental and physical exercise. All shelters that I know of have a volunteer dog walking program. As a matter of fact the new Puppy Mill Law requires that dogs got a minimum of 30 minutes of exercise a day. HAWS easily exceeds that with most adoptable dogs getting 2 or 3 walks, if not more, a day.

Most shelters also have some kind of program in place where dogs are given training or are on behavior modification programs. Not only does this make the dogs more adoptable, but it gives them an opportunity to use their brains, boredom, and allows them more time with people.

There are many more changes in animal welfare. While I've only talked about the changes for dogs, there are many extremely positive things happening for cats and other animals as well. The days of animal shelters being merely a "pound" where unwanted animals were housed with the hope that maybe they might get adopted are over. Shelters are doing a lot to make an animal's stay as positive as possible, and as a result give pets a better chance of adoption.

All in a Days Work at HAWS

As much as I love my job as a Humane Educator, I sometimes miss out on some of the more exciting things that other HAWS staff members get to experience. We have staff who are trained for road calls -- rescuing wild or domestic animals. They come back with all sorts of interesting stories.

HAWS staff are always encouraged to take a lot of photographs of things that go on from day to day at HAWS. It helps our public relations department promote the many things HAWS does for Waukesha County -- photos really help bring stories to life.

Yesterday our Operations Director -- Mark Hess, asked if I had some time to accompany him on a road call to save a cat. Mark thought it might be a great photo-op, but knew he wouldn't be able to take photos while he worked to get the cat. Since I had a bit of extra time I was thrilled to have an opportunity to go out on an adventure to rescue an animal in distress.

The cat was trapped on an over-hang a few stories up on the municipal parking lot in the City of Waukesha County. The way the roof was designed it appeared that the cat jumped down from the parking lot, but wasn't able to get back up. Reports indicated that it had been on the room for at least 3 days, and the concern was that the cat was out in cold weather without access to food or water.

Mark wasn't sure what he'd need since it wasn't known if the cat was some one's lost pet, or a feral kitty. Either way -- it was sure to be frighted, and most likely wouldn't be amenable to someone walking up to him. Mark was prepared to use a tranquilizer dart if needed, but decided to start with a net.

I shot a steady stream of photos as Mark used a ladder to get onto the same level of the roof as the cat. The cat ran past Mark several times, but Mark's been doing this for many years, and knows his way around using a net to scoop up a running, frightened animal. Mark anticipated where the cat would go next, and lowered the net right in front of the cat's path easily scooping him up.

The cat was brought back to HAWS and scanned for a micro-chip -- which he did have. The owner was contacted and came right away to pick up her missing buddy. A better ending couldn't have been expected!

While this story isn't as thrilling as many shown on TV, it's an example of activities that HAWS staff engage in on a daily basis. And it's a great testament to the power of micro-chipping pets -- the micro-chip allowed HAWS to figure out who the owner was and prevent the cat from being further traumatized with a stay in a cage in the shelter.