Dog Shelter Education

[Here’s my post I tried to do yesterday.]

Hey, let’s change the subject. Cheerful stuff! No one reads this kind of post! I’ll write anyway.

Yesterday afternoon, since there was no internet in Cameron anyway, I went on a fact-finding mission to Aggieland Humane Society in Brazos County with my MTOL co-directors, Jean and Mark. Our brains are now very full.

We met a smart person

We found the whole facility to be warm and friendly. You feel welcome as soon as you approach the place, too.

We met with the executive director, Kathy Bice, who started out as an Animal Control Officer and has learned the animal shelter business from the ground up. She was incredibly generous with her knowledge of building animal shelters. More important, she gave us invaluable information for ways to raise the funding our Milam Touch of Love organization will need to create a quality facility for our county’s animals.

One good thing she stressed was that we’d need a long-term plan to get where we want to be. We have a good start, but need to keep up our work getting donors and members.

As someone who’s worked with a lot of nonprofit executive directors, I was quite impressed with Kathy Bice’s range of skills and congenial manner. The Aggieland folks are lucky to have her, and we’re lucky to benefit from what she’s learned.

What we saw

In addition to chatting, Kathy took us on a tour of the facility. One thing she said stuck with me: “Our shelter is a happy place.” (Quite a contrast to how incredibly sad the Austin shelter I visited was.)

And she was right. The dog and puppy area was bright and clean, with cute dogs and much information on each. They have places to examine them, quarantine areas, and really cool laundry facilities.

The staff and volunteers seemed happy, as did people looking for dogs. We got so many ideas.

The cat area was also beautiful. I have trouble seeing precious kittens I can’t help, but I did okay. It helps that I know what a good job Aggieland does with spaying and neutering and owner education programs.

They even have a mobile spay and neuter clinic! They have generous donors! We can aim for that.

In any case, we learned so much and have a much better idea of what we need and how to get there. I highly recommend you give to your local shelter. They do a lot, and it isn’t cheap!