Wednesday Sunset Date

Introducing Wednesday Sunset Date Weekly Edition!  

Each week I will feature a dog that is available for adoption at Salt Lake County Animal Shelter and that I have personally worked with (that way you know I'm not just making it up).  For this first post I want to give some background with my picture.  And then from here on out, once a week, there will be pictures and stories!  So be sure to check in every Thursday for my Wednesday Sunset Date story!

Background:

Every Wednesday I have the opportunity to volunteer at the Salt Lake County Animal Shelter. I want my weekly limited time there to actually be helping and not just going, taking a dog out to potty, giving them a belly rub and then putting them back in their kennel.  The animal care/behavioral staff there is amazing and is allowing me to work with the ones who need a little more help than the others, whether they need some help with manners or simply need me to sit with them to help teach them that not all people are scary. I started this new found focus a few weeks ago. Each week I let the Pit Crew manager know who I want to work with and if there's anyone else I should be working with (usually this is in the event that one that I have been working with gets adopted and I can add another to my time).  She gives me guidance. Most importantly, she has confidence in me. 

I've been volunteering at this shelter since the beginning of the summer.  I have seen them come and I have seen them go (IE. ADOPTED!).  I have taken extra efforts to help prepare me to better understand the needs of the "special" dogs and how I can better work with them.  I get excited over the tiny baby steps of progression that I get to see these dogs make.  I get even more excited (and usually tear up) when one of them adopts their very own human and gets to go to their furever home.  Each one gets a little spot in my heart.  A side effect of all of this has been I have become even more focused on my own dogs.  I watch their body language more, teach them new things, and overall am enjoying (even more!) having them part of my family.

Interested:

If you are interested in any of the dogs featured in this series please holler at me, call SLCO animal shelter or pop in to the shelter to meet them.  You will not regret the decision to adopt.

If you are interested in volunteering, holler at me (once again). The shelter ALWAYS needs volunteers. You can work with the dogs or cats. Love animals, but directly working with the them not your thing? They always need office help!

Without further ado let me introduce my first Wednesday Sunset Date...

DALLAS
*UPDATE!!! Dallas found his furever home on Saturday, December 8!*

Dallas is 4 years old. He is a handsome *look.at.those.eyes* brindle pit bull mix.  He knows sit, lay down, shake~ all the basics!  Dallas LOVES to have his chest rubbed.  When he was sitting, he would scoot in to me and look up at me with his face very close to mine just to get his chest rubbed.  He didn't make one peep the whole time I was with him. He is going to make a family super happy! SLCO Animal also offers low-cost training options so you can teach him even more new tricks!

*Disclaimer: Dallas, from my limited interaction with him, seems to be pretty much perfect.  He's not one of the special issues pups. I had been wanting to meet Dallas, so I did!  The Pit Crew manager said that sometimes Dallas gets overlooked at the shelter because he is calm when people walk past his kennel that they might think he's not interested. SOOOO not the case. He LOVES people. He's just calm and not crazy jumpy for attention.   My experience with Dallas is just that, MY experience.  I cannot 100% guarantee that he will not bark for you or sit for you or shake for you or try to jump right in to your lap.  This is just my observations and what he was able to do for little ol' me. Who knows, he might try to kiss your face!