Georgetown Animal Services

Wanted to let everyone know that Art for Animals ended up making $16,000 before expenses! Wow – what a great fundraiser. The Friends board has decided to give the animal shelter $15,000 (which will be presented at a Council meeting on January 10th). With the money we are going to purchase retractable shade awnings for the stray side of our dog kennels, so our poor stray dogs aren’t sitting in the sun all morning long when it is hot outside. And we are also going to order a surgery light for our surgery room.

As I look back on 2011 I think about how grateful I am to have such wonderful supporters and volunteers as all of you are. The animals are the reason I do this job every day, but you are the ones that make it so enjoyable. Hope you all have a wonderful and joyous holiday season and a happy new year!

Thank you for continuing this journey with me!

Hi y’all, hope you are enjoying our beautiful central Texas fall weather. I’m sure our dogs are very happy not having to endure the awful heat any longer.

RECAP ON ART FOR ANIMALS – Thank you to the Friends of the Georgetown Animal Shelter for hosting another successful Art for Animals. After expenses the event made $13,000! Thank you to all the artists that donated their art to us, and our fans for attending the event. Thank you so much to all the volunteers that worked so hard to make this a success. JoAnna Green our chairman did an outstanding job. Christine Albanese was in charge of the silent auction, and Maureen Rutledge was in charge of the live auction, thank you ladies. Thank you to all the other 50 + plus volunteers that volunteered many hours to help make this event a success, we could not have done this without your help! Thank you also to the Southwestern musicians that add so much ambiance, and also to Gina Grove, our auctioneer. The “Friends” are getting some quotes to decide how to spend the proceeds – at this time we are considering a shade awning for the stray side of our dog kennels and a surgery light for our surgery room. We will keep you informed of how we spend the money. We are currently discussing ways to improve the event for next year, and might even add a wine tasting (which has been suggested by many people).

INTRODUCTION OF VOLUNTEER LIAISON – Miguel daCunha – Miguel is a new volunteer that would like to help me with our volunteer program. I have created a new position of volunteer liaison and Miguel is going to be contacting new volunteers to help get them trained and involved in our organization. I look forward to working with Miguel and having him improve our volunteer program.

VOLUNTEER NEWSLETTER – Another new thing we are going to try is a volunteer newsletter. Right now this newsletter goes to volunteers as well as our shelter supporters. The new volunteer newsletter will be just for volunteers and will contain training tips as well as information that we want all volunteers to know about.

NEXT GENERAL MEMBERSHIP MEETING FOR “FRIENDS OF THE GEORGETOWN ANIMAL SHELTER” will be held this Saturday, November 19th @ 10am at the Parks Admin Bldg (1101 N College). We will be discussing our fundraising plans for 2012 and would love to hear your ideas.

ADOPTION GUIDE TRAINING – will be offered this Saturday at 11:30am, and will last approximately 1 hr. An adoption guide is an important role in our shelter and certainly will help us improve our adoptions. An adoption guide works with our visitors to match up the kind of animal that will fit with their family and lead to a success adoption – happy family, happy animal equals happy ending! Let me know if you would like to attend this training.

Thank you to our dog walking group that is making sure our dogs get out twice a day to potty, and to walk if time permits. Many dogs that come into the shelter are house trained and if these dogs are not taken out of their runs to potty this just add to the dog’s stress level. If you have a free hour in the morning or afternoons and could join this group let me know.

KENNEL HELP OVER THE HOLIDAYS – The shelter will be closed on November 24th & November 25th for the Thanksgiving holiday. If you could help with kennel chores the staff would very much appreciate help. We start the chores at 8am and if we get several volunteers are done within 2 hours. Email me if you could help us.

STATS FOR OCTOBER: Once again we achieved “NO KILL STATUS” for the month. (Animal shelters consider themselves “no kill” if they euthanize less than 10% of their animals). This is not an easy thing to achieve for an open intake municipal shelter. Thank you to Laura Hobgood-Oster and Jimmy Smith (our rescue coordinators) for working so hard in getting animals to rescue. Their dedication to our shelter is one of the reasons we can achieve this status.

• 155 pets received (started month with 79 pets)
• 62 pets adopted
• 17 pets euthanized (7%!!!!)

Our journey continues. Thank you for helping us make the lives a little happier for the homeless animals of Georgetown, we couldn’t do this without your help!

As one fiscal year ends and another begins I would like to thank everyone on their contributions for making 2011 a good year for our animal shelter. To recap the year statistic wise: We took in 1546 animals (up 86 animals from previous year). We adopted 683 animals (up 83 from the previous year) – or 44%! And we euthanized 304 animals or 19% (down 14% from the previous year) – yay! And we achieved NO KILL STATUS for the month of September – this is the 3rd time this year. In the animal shelter world this is what we strive for. The definition of “No Kill” is euthanizing less than 10% – we euthanized 16 animals (or 9%) for the month. A huge thank you to our staff for being vigilant with sanitizing and disease control – we didn’t let our guard down this year and it paid off – no major disease outbreaks!

We made lots of shelter improvements in 2011 all paid for with donation money. We completed installation of retractable shade awnings for all the dogs on the adoption side, installed a misting system (thanks to John Ball), had the shelter painted (goodbye salmon color), installed fans in dog kennels, got a new washer & dryer, made a community cat room (play room for cats). The Friends of the Georgetown Animal Shelter bought us a hydraulic surgery table with fundraising proceeds.

We started a new training program with our dogs called the “Working Minds Program” and it’s made such a huge difference in the way the dogs behave, as well as how it calms the shelter. Than k you to all the volunteers that really embraced this program, and helped make it a success.

We provided the community with 4 free spay/neuter clinics for outside cats. Thank you to our staff and volunteers that helped with these free clinics. We did see many less cats coming into the shelter this past cat/kitten season and I feel these clinics certainly attributed to that.

We started temperament testing our dogs – ensuring we are putting dogs into our community that are safe.
This was the first year that The Friends of the Georgetown Animal Shelter took over all our fundraising events. The Friends hosted 2 open houses, had a dog walk, sponsored the garage sale, did a cookbook fundraiser (cookbooks are still available for x-mas gifts), hosted a wine tasting, and helped the Rotary with a beer/wine tasting at their annual golf tournament. All very successful events – with the biggest event, Art for Animals coming up in 2 weeks. Thank you so much to the Friends board of directors and members for all your hard work and dedication to the Georgetown Animal Shelter.

ART FOR ANIMALS – October 23rd – 2pm til 5pm, Community Center, San Gabriel Park

Art for Animals 2011 – A Chocolate Affair is one event you won’t want to miss. Where else can you eat all the chocolate you can hold for only $5.00 admission price. Art for Animals is a success because the community has really embraced it, and donated over 300 items (all kinds of art as well as gift certificates, etc) which will be available in either the silent or live auction. The silent auction begins at 2pm and closes at 3:30pm. The live auction begins at 3:30 and ends by 5:00pm. Throughout the live auction we will also be having a raffle drawing giving away lots of restaurant gift certificates and at the end of the live auction we will raffle off a $250 Walmart certificate (must be present to win). The live auction will consist of approximately 30 items from fabulous art, wonderful quilts, handmade pottery and a weekend getaway at a bed and breakfast in Brenham. Mystery gifts and t-shirts will also be sold. Advance ticket price is $5.00, and tickets can be purchased at the Animal Shelter, Visitors Center, Framer’s Gallery or Wonderful Things. Tickets at the door will be $7.50 per person.

HELP WITH ART FOR ANIMALS – we could never pull off this fabulous event without you – our wonderful volunteers and supporters. We need lots of volunteers to volunteer to help with this event. Please email me if you can help – we need at least 50 people on Sunday.

On Saturday, October 22nd we need volunteers to help us with set-up. We will begin at 10am and should be done by early afternoon. We need strong helpers starting at 9am to help set up the tables. Again, please email me to help on set up day.

HELP US FIND A HOME FOR ANGEL – Angel is a sweet Pit mix girl that has been at the shelter since early July and desperately needs a home. The staff and volunteers love her and she would be your loyal buddy if you could fit her into your home. Angel came to us from a miserable home that neglected her so badly that her collar was embedded into her neck and had to be surgically removed. So for a couple of months Angel wore a harness while her neck healed. This didn’t spoil her sweet nature and loving spirit. Angel gets along with most dogs and walks well on a leash after she settles down. Come meet Angel and see if you don’t fall in love with her!

November 5th – Animal Shelter Open House hosted by Friends of the Georgetown Animal Shelter – 1pm to 4pm – refreshments will be available.

Tails From The Kitchen – cookbooks for sale for $15.00. Need a x-mas gift for the hard to buy for person, get them a cookbook. In the cookbook are “tried and true” family recipes that will certainly appeal to all.

ANIMAL SHELTER VOLUNTEER APPRECIATION X-MAS PARTY – Mark your calendar for December 13th @ 7pm for our annual volunteer appreciation x-mas party. This is our way of saying thank you to all for all you do for us all year. You can start looking now for that perfect white elephant gift that everyone will want to steal! Location and more to come in later emails.

I’m always a little sad to see the summer end but this year I am really looking forward to the cooler fall temperatures, and hoping they are just around the corner. I know our dogs must love these cooler mornings. Hopefully in a few weeks we can go back to afternoon dog walking. And speaking of dog walking, don’t forget we want ALL dog walkers to have received the new training that Tara taught us. So if you need training please let me know.

BENEFIT FOR MAX MIXSON – Sept 17th

Max Mixson, our Animal Control Supervisor is currently battling colon cancer. Max does have insurance but our insurance has a high deductible that must be met first. To help Max we are hosting a pancake breakfast at Applebees (350 S I H 35) on Sept 17th from 8am til 10am. The tickets are $6.00 ea. PLEASE come by the shelter and buy a ticket, we are really hoping for a great turn out. Max is a super nice guy and has no family in the area – so we are his family and he needs our help. Tickets can also be purchased at the door at Applebees. If you can’t attend the breakfast but want to help donations can be made directly for Max. If you need to write a check, write it to: Georgetown Police Officers Association.

ART FOR ANIMALS 2011 – A CHOCOLATE AFFAIR

The next planning meeting for Art for Animals is September 17th @ 11am at the Parks Admin Bldg (come to the meeting after eating breakfast at Applebees). Please join us; we still need more help on our committees. If you are working on a “Masterpiece” to donate for Art for Animals the cutoff date is Oct 1st.

DOGS IN NEED

We have 2 dogs that have been at the shelter for a long time and really need to find their forever homes.
Angel – she came to us the beginning of July. Angel is a 3 year old American Bulldog and lives up to her name. Angel gets along with most other dogs, knows basic commands and walks nicely on a leash, and is housetrained.
Angel had been very neglected and came to us with her collar embedded in her neck, which we surgically removed (still has scars). But even with all she has been through she still loves people and just wants to be with you.
Butch – he came to us the end of June. Butch is a 1-1/2 yr old Akita Mix. Butch is housetrained, walks nice on a leash, and knows sit, good with kids and other dogs.

Sept 22nd – Golf Tournament & Wine Tasting

Join Friends of the Georgetown Animal Shelter on Sept 22nd as we pair up with the Rotary to play golf and drink wine (dinner too). To register for the golf go to: www.georgetownrotary.org. Golf not your thing but you would like to join us for dinner & wine tasting. Tickets are $25 with advance purchase or $30 at the door. Join us at 6:00pm at the Cowan Creek Pavilion (in Sun City) for a fun time with wine/beer tastings and a complete dinner (shrimp, tenderloin, veggies). And all funds go to support the animals at the shelter. There will also be door prizes and a raffle. Go to www.friendsofgtownshelter.org and click on the link to register.

WISH LIST

To help us maintain our dog’s mental health we like to give them kongs (frozen and filled with food and peanut butter) but sometimes the kongs get chewed up, and then we need more. Currently we could use more medium size Red and Black kongs.
Other things on our wish list are:
Canned dog food (for the finicky eaters)
Canned kitten food (any flavor without fish)
Wild birdseed

STATS FOR AUGUST

• Intakes: 100 animals
• Adoptions: 66 (35%)
• Euthanasia: 22 (11.5%)

FOSTER HOMES FOR HEARTWORM POSITIVE DOGS

Currently any dog that comes to us with heartworm disease gets treated before we finalize the adoption (not all shelters do this). Unfortunately this is going to quickly change because the company that manufacturers the necessary drug is no longer manufacturing it (and won’t even give out a date when they might again have the drug available). So this means the only way to treat heartworms is the slow method. This means the dog has to be put on heartworm preventative and have very little activity. Over time the heartworm preventative will kill off the heartworms. It is very difficult to keep a dog quiet living at an animal shelter. We are hoping there might be some people reading this newsletter that can help us. We need the hw positive dog to live in a foster home and only be leash walked for an undetermined period of time. I know this is asking a lot, if you can help us please let me know.

As always, thank you for your support, your time, your money, and your heart for caring about the Georgetown Animal Shelter – our journey continues.

Oh, it’s so hot, isn’t it! Thank goodness that we used our fundraising efforts to purchase retract shade awnings for our dog kennels; at least our dogs have plenty of shade. We are using our pools, hosing down the dogs (some just love to the squirted) and giving the dogs their daily ice in their water buckets (thank you to our volunteers for supplying the ice). Luckily there is light at the end of the tunnel and in another month we will be enjoying cooler weather.

Foster homes Needed

Usually when we ask for foster homes it is for cats and/or kittens. Right now we have 3 dogs that are undergoing heartworm treatment. It would be so much nicer for these dogs to be able to recuperate from the treatment in a house with air conditioning. After a dog gets their first treatment they need a quiet home for 1 month before their second treatment, and then another month of quiet before they are as good as new and can be adopted. When we say quiet home – this means no running, jumping or rough playing – the dogs need to be leash walked and then kept relatively calm. If you can help for a month or two please let us know.

Art for Animals

Our biggest fundraiser Art for Animals 2011 – A Chocolate Affair is just a little more than 2 months away (October 23rd). We still need more people to help on committees to solicit for donations for desserts and gift certificates. If interested please come to our planning meeting on August 27th @ 11am. We meet at the Parks Admin Bldg (1101 N College). And if you are an artist I hope you have started working on “the masterpiece” that you are donating to us.

Training with Tara

By popular demand we are hosting another 3 session training with Tara to teach our volunteers Tara’s “Working Mind Program”. This program will teach you how to teach our dogs kennel manners, as well as loose leash walking. The people that have already taken this training “love it”. It really is amazing how quickly and easily the dogs learn this easy program. The sessions are scheduled for:
Sept 11th, 25th and Oct 9th all @ 11am. Please email me if you would like to attend. Each session lasts about 1-1/2 hrs. Anyone that wants to walk our dogs should really consider taking this training. If anyone that has already taken it wants to attend again that is ok too.

ATTENTION GOLFERS

Sept 22nd the Friends of the Georgetown Animal Shelter and the Georgetown Rotary will be hosting a golf tournament at Cowan Creek Golf course in Sun City. For additional information go to: www.friendsofgtownshelter.org. If you are not a golfer you can come to our “drink wine and save puppies” dinner beginning at 5:30pm.

NATIONAL DOG DAY – a Benefit for the Georgetown Animal Shelter
Thank you to Hill Country Books and All Things Kids for planning a super fun day on August 27th from 10am til 2pm with so many fun things planned:
Hill Country Bookstore, 719 S Main St
10:30 – Book signing and reading by Austin children’s author, Jeff Crosby with his latest book, Wiener Wolf
Dog balloon demonstrations
1:00 – Scavenger hunt with prizes
2:00 – Raffle
All Things Kids , 703 S Main St
11:30 – Dog rescue games
Free play zone all day
Make your own Dog Tag Necklaces & Braclets
Dog face painting

Statistics for July

• Impounds: 150 animals
• Adoptions: 65 animals
• Euthanized: 15.8 %

To our volunteers and supporters thank you for all you do for our shelter and our homeless pets, our journey continues. Thank you for being on this path with us!

Georgetown Shelter Dogs Now Receive Training

We (staff and volunteers) have been busy with our “Working Minds” dog training program, taught to us by Training by Tara. The results have been amazing, with the dogs “getting it” so quickly. The dogs are being taught kennel manners and loose leash walking. I’ve already seen results with a dog that recently got adopted and the people said they adopted it because “it was so well trained”. The volunteers have taken a very active role in this training and are even coming here in the mornings to help feed the dogs. The dogs all have to sit quiet before they get their food, as well as sitting quiet to be leashed up and then walk nicely on a leash.

Not only is this program wonderful for the dogs behavior it also empowers the volunteers – now they know the time they spend with the dogs is making a difference – a trained dog will have a much better chance of being adopted. Now the volunteers have the tools to teach the dogs, as well as feel more confident that now they can handle even the more challenging dogs (wild child as I call them).

And the 2nd best part of all of this – is now the volunteers have taken on the roles of being “the trainer”. They want to train all our new dog walkers as well as long time walkers – we want to make sure everyone is on the same page so all dogs are trained in the same way.

Tara is using our shelter as an example to other shelters – which is very cool – one of my goals is to be the shelter that other shelters emulate!

ATTENTION ALL SHELTER DOG WALKERS

Since we have now started using this new training program we want everyone that walks dogs to be on the page – using the same techniques. Therefore if you are a dog walker and have not received this training from Tara, Debbie Thompson or myself please arrange to come back in for training. Debbie Thompson (who graciously has offered to train volunteers) is here each Monday and Friday morning and will be happy to train you (she is usually here from 8am til Noon). If you cannot make it during the week she will also be having a training session on Aug 6th @ 1pm (at the shelter). Please call or email me and let me know when you will be coming in.

Statistics for June

• Impounds: 161 animals
• Adopted: 65 animals
• Euthanized: 12% (this is down 11% from last year) – even though we didn’t realize our goal of 10% or less – still a good month considering all the cats coming in.

SHELTER IMPROVEMENTS

The outside of the shelter is currently being painted – good-bye salmon color. Painting should be completed within 2 weeks. The “Friends of the Georgetown Animal Shelter” purchased a hydraulic surgery table that we received this week. I’m sure our Vet’s back will love it! Thank you to “The Friends”.

DOGS TO RESCUE

We were very lucky last week that Laura Hobgood-Oster and Beth Kosar arranged to get 12 of our dogs to rescue groups – thank you so much to both of them. This summer has been hard on all shelters in the area with huge numbers of dogs coming in. We are very grateful when a rescue group can help us by taking a dog and freeing up cage space for us.

ART FOR ANIMALS

Art for Animals 2011 is only 3 months away. If you were going to make something to donate to us, start working! Everyone that donates art gets two free tickets to the event. We need donations of any kind of art form, from sewing, quilting, jewelry making, stained glass, photography, painting, drawing, clay and ceramics. The deadline for donating art is October 1st 2011. We also still need volunteers to help us plan Art for Animals. Please email me and let me know you would like to help – this would be a great way for new volunteers to get involved.

Try to stay cool during these oppressively hot days.