Something a little different.

My friend Lisa recently started working for the Animal Welfare Society as their Volunteer Coordinator. She asked me to come help with some photos for their website. Should never have gone.....makes me want to take them all home with me! I sat in on an obedience class with the shelter dogs. Volunteers come in for an hour to give these dogs some one-on-one time and work with them for the class......I never knew there was such a need for this type of volunteer! You go in for one hour to give a dog some love and praise and the connections some of them made with the volunteers was so heartwarming...they just want a family!

I'll start with this beautiful hound....how sweet is this face? Don't you just want to bring her home? She's as well mannered as she is beautiful! I put two photos of her up so you could see how friendly she is...shaking hands with her human friend. There was a neat bond between these two - I told the volunteer he really should consider adopting her - she had eye contact with him entire hour.....expect to pose for the photographer! Next is Charlotte. She's a medium sized dog who, like Lacey, is very well mannered too! She looked so cute in her pink bandana (the instructor gave them all bandana's to dress them up for photos). All I could think while I was there was.....why are these dogs here....they are all so sweet tempered and obedient. This is Tucker....I don't even have to tell you about him...the photo says it all! I forgot to put his name on the photo itself....but he's another eager pleaser!This is Becca......Jill, you were right!! I was drawn to this sweet face the minute I saw it. She's ten years old and her owners moved away and couldn't take her. Leaving her must have been heart breaking! We have tried having dogs on two occassions but our lifestyle just doesn't have room for them. Now that the kids are older and pestering us for a dog I'd so love to give them one but I'm still not sure its right for us. (Jean is very sure its not right for us - he says things to me like: "it's the dog or me"). But Jeano.....I watched Caesar Milan's Dog Whisperer the entire plane ride home from Florida and I KNOW I can be a good pack leader now! He showed me all the tricks.....oh please Jeano...let the kids get a pooch! Plus, this ones older and calmer and sweeter and POTTY TRAINED already!
Here's the kicker........Monday, Branden and Cameron will start a program at the AWS for a select few children in their age group. It goes all year long, once a week, and the kids will be working with the animals...cleaning, grooming and learning how to care for all of them. Think its gonna be tough on us when Cameron gets two hours a week with these dogs?? I was only there an hour and I want one! :)

Well, even if you aren't in my area and are reading this and can find an hour a week in your schedule to go give a dog some lovin' they need your help at the local shelters. If you can't give time, the dogs need beds, the cat's need blankets and the guinea pigs need igloo houses to hide in...so any donations are helpful. Unless you walk through those doors and see the need, you just don't know how much every little bit helps!

Lisa has two cats that lives in her office there.....one is a GIANT puff ball with a very sweet face. He just lays around....maybe cause that's all he can do!

If you're interested or know someone who'd like to adopt any of these beauties....more info can be found at: http://www.animalwelfaresociety.org/

Enjoy!
~kel~