EBHS Unleashed
Staff and volunteers of the Elmbrook Humane Society will be blogging about what's going on at the society, as well as other observations about life in Wisconsin.
The mission of the Elmbrook Humane Society is to promote the human-animal bond through adoption and education, to provide shelter to homeless animals, and to prevent animal cruelty and neglect. EBHS services the city of Brookfield, the villages of Butler, Chenequa, Elm Grove and Nashotah, and the towns of Brookfield and Delafield. EBHS shelters unwanted pets and strays, and rescues injured domestic animals and wildlife, provides resources for individuals with companion animals and provides Humane Education to schools and civic groups.
Visit our web site at www.EBHS.org.
HOW CAN I WORK AT A SHELTER?
Rarely a week goes by without someone asking the inevitable question…”How can you work at a shelter?...How sad...I could never do that.”
Well first of all, I would have to say I’m a pretty optimistic person and have always preferred in life to see a glass empty versus half filled. So when someone asks how I can work at a shelter, I’m confused! You see when I walk into work everyday and say hi to my co-workers, we often stop to share a brief funny about some antics our dog or cat did over the weekend or how we had to clean up yet another poop accident from our foster early in the morning, etc. We share stories that many around the water cooler at most businesses wouldn’t understand. We share animal stories, the trials and tribulations of fostering and the unpredictable life of living with usually several animals. Why?...Because we all share one common bond. Everyone who works here is not just a fan of animals, but is a HUGE animal lover!
Lucky Lady
Lady or "Lucky Lady" as we call her at Elmbrook is one lucky and loved little pooch who was reunited with her owner today after 3 days on the run! Lucky jumped out the window of her owner's parked car on Saturday near 150th/Capitol. Her owner, Dan, left her for a short time with the windows cracked. He was devastated when he returned to find his loving companion of 9 years gone! He immediately called area shelters and looked everywhere for Lucky but no leads turned up and they only had one sighting in the 36 hours since she went missing! Today, after 3 days on the run, the dog's luck began to change! Almost 10 miles from where she disappeared, a kind local Brookfield resident, saw Lucky and she jumped right into his car. Although Lucky wasn't wearing a collar, he immediately called Elmbrook Humane Society and our staff quickly went to work searching lost dog reports trying to make a match to locate Lucky's owner. Within minutes we were on the phone to Lucky's owner and through tears he confirmed that this indeed sounded like it was his dog. Lucky was afraid upon arrival at the shelter and had a few wounds that staff cleaned up but otherwise was in good condition overall. When her owner arrived, it was a tearful reunion and Lucky immediately perked up and her tail was up and wagging nonstop! The kind citizen that helped Lucky was also contacted as Lucky's owner wanted to thank him personally! The man who helped Lucky said he did so because he too has a dog and hoped that someone would do the same for him if his dog was ever lost!
WHY DON’T I HAVE A CAT?
I’m always asked how can I work around all our adorable cats and kittens every day and not adopt one. It isn’t easy.
Adoption
According to one dictionary it means to take into one's family and bring up as one's own; to select and enter into a new relationship. When someone wants to adopt a child, there are all sorts of legal hurdles to jump through, classes to take, back-ground checks and who knows what else. People who seek to add a child to their family certainly have to be committed to their final goal. The decision is not entered into lightly. Different people look to adoption for different personal motives. Once the adoption has been realized, there is happiness, excitement, and then come the everyday ups and downs of child-raising. I don't want compare children to animal companions, but there are similarities. Certainly the shelters and rescue groups don't put the families through as many challenges. I think it has become easier than in previous years to add to your animal family.
The first time I adopted a dog, I was living in Maryland. We went to the local shelter to check out the animals. There was a cute puppy, terrier mix, and we filled out the required paperwork. That was followed up by a call and a visit from an adoption counselor. The person inspected our house and yard and ended up telling me that we needed to improve our fence so that a dog couldn't escape and that we couldn't have the puppy we had picked because it was part pit bull and would probably kill our cat. Well, I was shocked and kind of upset. I went right back to the shelter and picked out another dog, a 6 month old lab. This time I was asked if I realized how destructive labs could be and was I sure I didn't want to wait to find another dog. Well, I was more stubborn than the counselor and I took that dog home with me. She was so frightened that she had to be carried to the car. We had her for 13 years. And I never did improve my fence (and she never escaped).
Thank Dog It's Friday!!
Everyone's happy when Friday comes - even dogs! Come enjoy a Yappy Hour with your best friend(s) from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Friday, July 9, at Elmbrook Humane Society.
