What could be a better Christmas gift to yourself this year than a photo of you and your pet with Santa Claws! CCHS volunteers will be at PetsMart in Douglasville on Saturday and Sunday, December 13 and 14, from 10:00 till 4:00, to take photos of your pets with Santa. For $9.95, you will receive a digital photo and a special holiday frame on the spot. As an added benefit, $5 from the sale of each photo will be donated to CCHS to be used to help us continue our various programs. We hope you'll come by the store on that weekend and take advantage of this wonderful offer from PetsMart.
Vote for us at www.theanimalrescuesite.com and we could win $25,000 to help pets in need.
The Animal Rescue Site is hosting a special challenge for eligible Petfinder.com member shelter and rescue groups. The grand prize is a $25,000 grant, and they will be awarding many other grants to rescue groups with the most votes — a total of $100,000 in grants for animal welfare organizations. Think how many animals we could help for $25,000!
Help us win! All you have to do is click to help rescued animals, and then vote in The Animal Rescue Site $100,000 Shelter+ Challenge. Both of these actions are absolutely free! You can vote once a day, every day, from September 29 through December 14, 2008. Every time you vote, or tell a friend to vote, you are making a huge difference for us. Just type Carroll County Humane Society in the "shelter name" box and scroll to GA in the "state" box. Vote today! Visit: THE ANIMAL RESCUE SITE.
Through a new portal system that CCHS has joined, the adoptable animals at the shelter are getting increased visibility and publicity. The portal distributes photos and descriptions of the shelter animals to several new websites. For many years, the animals have been available on our own website [www.carrollcountyhumane.org] through a link to Petfinder. Now they are being seen on Pets911, 1-800-Save-A-Pet, and Parade.com, the online version of Parade Magazine which is found in many Sunday papers. The best thing that can happen to a shelter dog or cat is for them to become a part of a caring and loving new home, and anything we can do to see that they get this second chance is our gift to them.
Construction has begun on the new Carroll County Animal Shelter, a county program funded by SPLOST, which is being built off Columbia Drive. We hope to track its progress here, for those of you who can't get by to see it in person.
The land just after it was cleared in June 2006
Shelter construction begins - January 2008
March 25, 2008
Long view of shelter(May 2008)
Administrative office building (May 2008)
Cat condo in administrative area (May 2008)
One adoption area built and a second adoption pod in foreground preparing to be built (May 2008)
View from sally port shows both adoption buildings framed in and flooring laid for four buildings to be used for holding animals as they are picked up or brought in (June 2008).
Lee Gorman, director of Carroll County Animal Control, and Mike Jacquinot, kennel manager, describe the layout of the administration building to Tina Buechner, CCHS president. The administrative building will house the offices of the director, the office manager, and the kennel manager (June 2008).
Doors to outside runs for dogs in new adoption module (June 2008).
Sample of split-face block which will be used for the exterior siding of the administrative building and the front face of the adoption modules (June 2008).
Adminisistration building with split face block siding (August 2008)
Adoption area buildings with split face block siding (August 2008)
Three dog runs - exterior view (August 2008)
Area behind the adoption building which will become holding area for stray dogs and cats and owner turn-ins waiting for evaluation (August 2008)
Adminisistration building with adoption building behind (November 2008)
From left, building for holding strays, adoption building, and administration building (November 2008).
Adoption buildings looking toward rear of administration building (November 2008)
Exterior dog runs with clerestory above for interior lighting (November 2008)
View of ceiling with clerestory in adoption building (November 2008)
Keep checking this page for more information about the new Carroll County animal shelter.
The West Georgia Spay-Neuter Clinic, a project of CCHS, officially opened on Monday, March 19.
It is located close to I-20 at 525 East Montgomery Street, Suite B, in Villa Rica.
Prices are: Male cat neuter: $35; Female cat spay: $50; Male dog neuter: $55 ($65 if 50-100 lbs; $75 if over 100 lbs);
and female dog spay: $70; ($80 if 50-100 lbs; ($90 if over 100 lbs). Appointments are required; phone 678-840-8072.
For more information about the clinic, link to the West
Georgia Spay-Neuter Clinic website.
The Carroll County Animal Shelter has acquired a new Avid microchip reader which aids in locating owners of lost or stray animals. If an animal has been "chipped", the Avid chip reader can identify the owner of the animal. Ask your vet to protect your animals by fitting them with a microchip. The Avid reader will also read Home Again brand chips.
These animal clinics and hospitals in Carroll County provide microchipping services:
The Pet Overpopulation License Plate is now availble. Funds from the sale of this special license plate will help pay for dog and cat sterilization procedures and promote education about the importance of sterilization. Visit the Humane Association of Georgia website for more information.
A man in Grand Rapids, Michigan incredibly took out a $7000 full page ad in the paper to present the following essay to the people of the community.
HOW COULD YOU? by Jim Willis, 2001
When I was a puppy, I entertained you with my antics and made you laugh. You called me your child, and despite a number of chewed shoes and a couple of murdered throw pillows, I became your best friend. Whenever I was "bad," you'd shake your finger at me and ask "How could you?" -- but then you'd relent and roll me over for a bellyrub.
My housebreaking took a little longer than expected, because you were terribly busy, but we worked on that together. I remember those nights of nuzzling you in bed and listening to your confidences and secret dreams, and I believed that life could not be any more perfect. We went for long walks and runs in the park, car rides, stops for ice cream (I only got the cone because "ice cream is bad for dogs" you said), and I took long naps in the sun waiting for you to come home at the end of the day.
Gradually, you began spending more time at work and on your career, and more time searching for a human mate. I waited for you patiently, comforted you through heartbreaks and disappointments, never chided you about bad decisions, and romped with glee at your homecomings, and when you fell in love. She, now your wife, is not a "dog person" -- still I welcomed her into our home, tried to show her affection, and obeyed her. I was happy because you were happy.
Then the human babies came along and I shared your excitement. I was fascinated by their pinkness, how they smelled, and I wanted to mother them, too. Only she and you worried that I might hurt them, and I spent most of my time banished to another room, or to a dog crate. Oh, how I wanted to love them, but I became a "prisoner of love."
As they began to grow, I became their friend. They clung to my fur and pulled themselves up on wobbly legs, poked fingers in my eyes, investigated my ears, and gave me kisses on my nose. I loved everything about them and their touch -- because your touch was now so infrequent -- and I would have defended them with my life if need be. I would sneak into their beds and listen to their worries and secret dreams, and together we waited for the sound of your car in the driveway.
There had been a time, when others asked you if you had a dog, that you produced a photo of me from your wallet and told them stories about me. These past few years, you just answered "yes" and changed the subject. I had gone from being "your dog" to "just a dog," and you resented every expenditure on my behalf. Now, you have a new career opportunity in another city, and you and they will be moving to an apartment that does not allow pets. You've made the right decision for your "family," but there was a time when I was your only family.
I was excited about the car ride until we arrived at the animal shelter. It smelled of dogs and cats, of fear, of hopelessness. You filled out the paperwork and said "I know you will find a good home for her." They shrugged and gave you a pained look. They understand the realities facing a middle-aged dog, even one with "papers." You had to pry your son's fingers loose from my collar as he screamed "No, Daddy! Please don't let them take my dog!" And I worried for him, and what lessons you had just taught him about friendship and loyalty, about love and responsibility, and about respect for all life. You gave me a good-bye pat on the head, avoided my eyes, and politely refused to take my collar and leash with you. You had a deadline to meet and now I have one, too.
After you left, the two nice ladies said you probably knew about your upcoming move months ago and made no attempt to find me another good home. They shook their heads and asked "How could you?" They are as attentive to us here in the shelter as their busy schedules allow. They feed us, of course, but I lost my appetite days ago. At first, whenever anyone passed my pen, I rushed to the front, hoping it was you that you had changed your mind -- that this was all a bad dream ... or I hoped it would at least be someone who cared, anyone who might save me. When I realized I could not compete with the frolicking for attention of happy puppies, oblivious to their own fate, I retreated to a far corner and waited. I heard her footsteps as she came for me at the end of the day, and I padded along the aisle after her to a separate room. A blissfully quiet room.
She placed me on the table and rubbed my ears, and told me not to worry. My heart pounded in anticipation of what was to come, but there was also a sense of relief. The prisoner of love had run out of days. As is my nature, I was more concerned about her. The burden which she bears weighs heavily on her, and I know that, the same way I knew your every mood. She gently placed a tourniquet around my foreleg as a tear ran down her cheek. I licked her hand in the same way I used to comfort you so many years ago. She expertly slid the hypodermic needle into my vein. As I felt the sting and the cool liquid coursing through my body, I lay down sleepily, looked into her kind eyes and murmured "How could you?" Perhaps because she understood my dogspeak, she said "I'm so sorry." She hugged me, and hurriedly explained it was her job to make sure I went to a better place, where I wouldn't be ignored or abused or abandoned, or have to fend for myself -- a place of love and light so very different from this earthly place. And with my last bit of energy, I tried to convey to her with a thump of my tail that my "How could you?" was not directed at her. It was you, My Beloved Master, I was thinking of. I will think of you and wait for you forever. May everyone in your life continue to show you so much loyalty.
A Note from the Author: If "How Could You?" brought tears to your eyes as you read it, as it did to mine as I wrote it, it is because it is the composite story of the millions of formerly owned pets who die each year in American & Canadian animal shelters. Anyone is welcome to distribute the essay for a noncommercial purpose, as long as it is properly attributed with the copyright notice. Please use it to help educate, on your websites, in newsletters, on animal shelter and vet office bulletin boards. Tell the public that the decision to add a pet to the family is an important one for life, that animals deserve our love and sensible care, that finding another appropriate home for your animal is your responsibility and any local humane society or animal welfare league can offer you good advice, and that all life is precious. Please do your part to stop the killing, and encourage all spay & neuter campaigns in order to prevent unwanted animals.