This is the second part of our series on the Langley Animal Protection Society (LAPS) and the Patti Dale Animal Shelter. The Langley Advance spent a day watching as the shelter’s staff and volunteers took on their daily tasks.
The Patti Dale Animal Shelter’s day starts at 8 a.m., but it may not end until up to 12 hours later.
While the employees check in and out, some for far longer than their assigned hours, volunteers drop by every day to help out with tasks that range from walking dogs to cleaning out the cat cottage. The facility couldn’t run without the volunteers, noted shelter manager Sean Baker.
On one recent day, Diane Givens was one of the volunteers who had come by. She was feeding and cleaning out the kennels in the cat cottage.
"This is all brand new," said the seven-month volunteer.
She moved to Langley from Calgary recently and wanted to give back to her new community. Givens heard about the shelter and signed up.
"It’s very fulfilling," she said.
She said she is there three mornings a week, but staff say she actually comes in more often.
She’s one of a host of volunteers, more than 100 of whom come in at least semi-regularly.
There are dog walkers and fundraisers, people who board animals at their homes for long periods, and even people who just come and sit quietly with feral cats.
This year, LAPS is likely to see about 200 kittens at the shelter between May and October.
Another cat back from the vet has had his hairless ears diagnosed – it’s not a big problem. Jose is apparently suffering from a hormonal issue, the equivalent of feline male pattern baldness.
Despite it being a cold, rainy weekday, a few members of the public dropped by LAPS in the afternoon.
Matt McDonald and Jodi Tarzwell stopped to donate an extra pet carrier they had acquired after helping some friends move a dog.
They stayed to tour the kennels and see some of the animals available for adoption.
"Oh, I would adopt him in a hearbeat!" Tarzwell said as she checked in on Annabelle, a Jack Russellwhippet mix.
It’s been a while since they’ve had a dog, Tarzwell said.
"We always said we would never buy a dog from a breeder," she added. They want to adopt a dog that really needs them.
Ushering the visitors in and out is Tina Jensen, who is holding down the front desk.
"I’m kind of slightly involved in every different aspect of the shelter," she said.
As well as dealing with the phones, selling dog licenses, and talking to people who want to adopt, Jensen directs calls about bears and cougars to B.C. Conservation officers, and smooths ruffled feathers of people who have to pick up impounded dogs.
Some days are good, and some days are stressful, but at the end of a long day Jensen can spend 10 minutes petting a cat or sitting with the dogs, and the stress goes away.
"There’s just something about animals, they rely on us, and unfortunately there’s some that aren’t properly cared for," Jensen said.
"They just bring you back down to earth." One of LAPS’ last clients on this February day is a dog who has had two good homes, but suddenly needs to find a third.
Winston is a 12-year-old Wheaton terrier, and is in a bind. His first owner died several years ago, and he went to another family member. Now he can’t stay in his second home, either. His current owner is very ill and going into the hospital, probably for an extended stay. It’s unlikely he’ll be able to keep caring for Winston.
A friend of the owner has contacted LAPS to see if there’s hope to adopt an elderly dog.
Gwen Fitzsimmons and Jayne Nelson will try to determine that.
Nelson and Fitzsimmons both work with the dogs that come in and need behaviour tests.
They start simple, bringing Winston into a room away from his owner’s friend. He’s obviously not too happy, after being separated from the only person he knows, following a few days in a kennel. He keeps circling the room, panting, and going back to the chair that his human friend just departed.
"I think he’s very stressed, so some of the test will be inconclusive," said Fitzsimmons. But Winston cruises through the first tests.
First Nelson sets out a bowl of food, lets Winston take a bite or two, then uses a fake arm to pull it away. He doesn’t bark, or snap at the arm, or make a single aggressive move.
After the food tests, Jenny Ramirez, the Animal Control Officer, does the "being strange" test, barging into the room, stomping around, waving her arms a bit, and generally acting oddly. Winston notices, but just stares.
Next it’s time to test how he reacts to other animals. He gets to meet dogs in a variety of sizes, from his own medium-large to a tiny ball of fluff. Winston sniffs noses and tails, and is friendly but not boisterous.
Out and down the hall, and he’s led past a room where some of the adoptable cats are sitting. He glances through the glass at the cats, but his only reaction is boredom. An up-close meeting with a resident cat – Winston even gets a tail rubbed across his nose – and he’s nothing more than calm. He gives the impression of a quiet, older gent who’s politely putting up with a lot of nonsense.
It’s a series of good signs for Fitzsimmons.
The verdict is that he’s friendly and polite, good with other animals, and could go to a home with either cats or dogs. It will take a while to get him settled in, but by the end of the session,
Fitzsimmons is convinced that barring major medical problems, she should be able to find someone to adopt him. She hopes he’ll be able to stay in one of the staff’s offices, rather than a kennel, until he’s ready for adoption.
"We’ll find him a home with someone who loves him," she said.
. Read the first part of our series on a day at the Patti Dale Animal Shelter at langleyadvane.com
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Tiny kittens are very cute. This can often lead to them being taken away from their mother while they are still too young to go.