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Strut for this mutt. Local Charitable Event Mutt Strut (Humane Society of Indianapolis) The Humane Society of Indianapolis swept our non-profit categories for the year, taking home the society’s first win for Best Place to Volunteer, and once again winning Best Local Charitable Event for its super-sized dog walk, Mutt Strut at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. NUVO talked with Larry Messing, the society’s chief development officer, and Shawna Sims, a volunteer coordinator, to get a better sense of just why you dig on the society. 7929 N. Michigan Road, 872-5650, indyhumane.org.
are just thrilled to be out there and love the opportunity to get their dogs out as well as see other dogs from the area. We have at least 6,000 people there, and at least that many dogs.
NUVO: What are the coveted volunteer opportunities at the Humane Society?
NUVO: What’s the cutest thing you’ve seen so far working at the Humane Society?
LARRY MESSING: I think the one that everyone loves doing is spending time with the animals. Obviously, the best way we can make a dog or cat attractive to a potential adopter is to make sure that the animal is as socialized as possible. So through the volunteers, we give the animals an opportunity to have more human interaction, to get outside and get used to being walked. We have about 16 acres of property here, and we have trails. So a volunteer might take a dog out and walk him on the trails, or might just sit there and pet him.
SHAWNA SIMS: I guess a story that sticks out in my mind is about one of our long-term dogs, Liberty. She didn’t do well in our big dog room — she was a larger dog — so we had to move her into one of our puppy rooms. I just remember all of the volunteers working together. She was here for months, and we could tell she was starting to deteriorate mentally, but all the volunteers — our puppy partners, canine companions, advanced canine companions — all worked together to make sure she was getting good time out of her kennel and being trained. Everybody was just working together really hard to make sure we found her a home and eventually we did. That’s just an example of how all the volunteers work to do what’s best for the animals here.
NUVO: Do the dogs and cats get used to seeing certain volunteers?
935 South East Street Indianapolis, IN 46225 phone: (317) 974-1770
NUVO: Any memorable Mutt Strut stories? MESSING: The cool thing about Mutt Strut is that people dress their animals. We always have some coollooking animals out there that are dressed up. You’ll see everything from people dressing up in the racecar theme to just anything they want to do. It’s fun to watch people’s creativity.
MESSING: They’ll see different people. There are certain animals certain volunteers are drawn to, but they’ll get a lot of interactions with a MESSING: Just yesterday, we had lot of different people. someone come by and drop off a very NUVO: And that’s good for the tiny little kitten in our donation bin. It animals? was not weaned yet from its mother. The kitten’s no bigger than my hand. MESSING: Absolutely, because We have kittens here all the time — in their lifetime, when they get especially right now, this is a big kitten adopted, they’ll have interactions time for us. As I’ve always said before, with a lot of different people. when you’re a volunteer or when you NUVO: How big is the Mutt Strut for work at the Humane Society, there’s no way you can have a bad day, the community? because you can just go out into the MESSING: It’s huge. In the past two lobby and play with kittens or dogs, or three years, we’ve not always had and your day is made. the greatest weather. But it’s amazing. 2nd: Tonic Ball This last time we had some rain that (Second Helpings) came through, but people came out in droves and they had a great time. No 3rd: Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure matter what the weather is, people
100% RECYCLED PAPER // NUVO // 2012 // best of indy guide
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