Winter 2013 Issue
www.animalshelterwrv.org
Happy Tails Newsletter We are on a mission to enrich the quality of life in our community by connecting animals and people through innovative programs that inspire and have impact beyond our borders.
We’re On A Mission The close of 2012 ends our 30th anniversary year and we want to thank all of you who have helped us celebrate this incredible milestone. Milestones like these are important because they allow us to take pause and recognize where we are today and how truly far we have come. They are also opportunities for us to look forward and begin planning for an even more amazing future. We are excited to announce that we have updated our mission and vision to better reflect not only who we are today but where we see the future of the organization going. We are proud of all we have accomplished but know there is still much work to be done. Please join us on the next exciting chapter of our journey! Mission We are on a mission to enrich the quality of life in our community by connecting animals and people through innovative programs that inspire and have impact beyond our borders.
Vision We envision a compassionate community where all animals are recognized for their inherent value and the human-animal bond is celebrated.
Values Compassion for all animals Belief that every animal has intrinsic value and the right to be free from cruelty, neglect, and abuse Commitment to ending pet overpopulation
Appreciation of our qualified and committed staff and volunteers
DIRECTORY ANIMAL SHELTER OF THE WOOD RIVER VALLEY
A NON-PROFIT CORPORATION
ID #82-0351171 100 Croy Creek Road P.O. Box 1496 - Hailey ID 83333 Telephone: (208) 788-4351 Fax: (208) 788-3601
CALENDAR OF EVENTS Animal Shelter of the Wood River Valley
28th Annual Paw’n Pole X-C and Snowshoe Races With Your Dog
Saturday, February 24, 2013
10am at the new Croy Nordic Trails
Website: www.animalshelterwrv.org Email: info@animalshelterwrv.org
Right across from the Shelter!
Hours of Operation: Mon: 10 am - 5 pm Tue - Fri: 10 am - 6pm Sat: 10 am - 4 pm Sun: Noon - 4 pm
This year’s theme: We Are All Super Heroes! Best costume and Silly Pet Trick contests. Race entry fees: $5/child, $10/adult, $25/family includes lunch and raffle ticket entry
BARKIN’ BASEMENT THRIFT STORE
For more information, please call the Animal Shelter at (208) 788-4351
111 S. Main Street P.O. Box 1496 - Hailey ID 83333 Telephone: (208) 788-3854 Hours of Operation: Mon - Sat: 10 am - 6 pm Sundays noon - 4 pm
BOARD OF DIRECTORS: Rosemary Aquilante, President Priscilla Pittiglio, Vice President Christine Ferguson, Secretary Sam Christian, Treasurer Chris Koch, Member at large SHELTER MANAGEMENT: Brooke Bonner Director of Development & Communications Jo-Anne Dixon DVM Executive Director/ Medical Director Nadia Novik LVT Operations Manager Robin Potts Shelter Manager THRIFT STORE MANAGEMENT:
Andrea Parker Manager Paul Duffy Assistant Manager
Newsletter Layout & Design Services donated by Christine Ferguson
Save the date! Animal Shelter of the Wood River Valley
Dog Days of Summer Annual Benefit Dinner and Auction Friday July 26, 2013 Beginning at 5:30 PM Trail Creek Pavilion in Sun Valley
$175 per person Advanced reservations required for this sell-out event
World Spay Day Event in Honor of Bella and Her Pups People are often surprised to learn that nationwide more than 3 million cats and dogs are euthanized in shelters each year, the majority of which are healthy, sweet pets who would have made great companions.
It is hard enough being a lost dog in the bitter cold of winter, but with six little ones to take care of, Bella and her puppies hardly stood a chance alone and cold on the side of the road. Lucky for Bella and her family, a caring citizen picked them up and brought them to the Animal Shelter. While Bella’s owners were eventually located, they could not take care of her or her unplanned litter. We are happy to report that Bella and her six pups received great care at our Shelter, thanks to your support. Mom and pups have all been spayed and neutered and happily placed into new, loving homes.
Mama Bella
While the story of Bella and her pups has a happy ending, many stories of unplanned litters do not end so happily. People are often surprised to learn that nationwide more than 3 million cats and dogs are euthanized in shelters each year, the majority of which are healthy, sweet pets who would have made great companions. One of the main reasons we are able to provide a no-kill shelter to this community is our commitment to being part of the solution through spay/neuter services and community education. DJ puppy
This year, World Spay Day is on February 26, and we will once again be participating to help spread awareness about the importance of spaying and neutering pets. In conjunction with our regular No-cost Community Spay/Neuter Program, we will have a one-day goal to spay/neuter 26 animals for the community on February 26th, which will double our normal spay/neuter numbers for the month! The Animal Shelter started the No-Cost Community Spay/Neuter Program in 2006, altering over 2500 dogs and cats for County residents to date, in addition to over 1500 Shelter animals altered. This successful program is a vital step in keeping the local homeless animal population manageable for the Shelter, ensuring our ability to remain no-kill. We hope this World Spay Day event will shine a spotlight on spay/neuter as a proven means of saving the lives of companion animals and preventing pet overpopulation. Hillary puppy
New Year, New Goals 2013 is already shaping up to be an exciting year for the Animal Shelter. The successes you helped us create through your generous support last year continue to grow and make change in our community. Whether you donated time or talent, adopted or fostered a homeless pet, or spread the word about our terrific programs, you are directly responsible for the good we are able to accomplish on behalf of the amazing dogs and cats in our care. Here are a few highlights of the exciting improvements and changes you’ll be seeing in our programs and services in 2013:
Volunteer Program Volunteers are vital to the success of the Animal Shelter and the quality of life we provide our animals. Caring and committed individuals spend thousands of hours every year giving their time and talent to help the animals. To better steward and support our volunteers, we have created a new full-time Volunteer & Events Coordinator position, and are happy to welcome Brittany Farrell to this new role. Brittany has been hard at work updating our volunteer program, implementing a new online, easy-to-use interface for people to sign up to volunteer, receive updates on volunteer opportunities, log volunteer hours, access training materials, and more! Check it out on our website: www.animalshelterwrv.org > How You Can Help > Volunteer. We will also be holding regular volunteer orientation sessions for new volunteers to ensure everyone working with animals or in other capacities for the Shelter are properly trained and can have the most rewarding volunteer experience possible. The first training was held on January 22 for a group of current and new volunteers, now ready to jump in and make a difference in the lives of homeless pets. If you’re interested in attending a volunteer orientation, contact Brittany at brittany@animalshelterwrv.org or (208) 788-4351. By providing volunteer opportunities for children and teens, we are helping to teach compassion and unconditional love.
Volunteers are vital to the success of the Animal Shelter and the quality of life we provide our animals. Expanded Service Hours In order to better meet the needs of the community, beginning the first of the year, the Shelter will be open to the public from 10am-5pm on Mondays. The Shelter is now open 7 days a week. Whether to look for a new pet, buy a dog license, learn about volunteer opportunities, or just to visit or walk one of our furry friends, we hope to see you at the Shelter.
Additional Dog Training Classes Our staff works incredibly hard to make sure all of our dogs are adoptable, well-mannered, and safe. We have training programs tailored to the specific needs of the animals, get to know each dog that comes through our doors, and work with them on learning behaviors to help them find and keep loving homes. In an effort to support our adoptions and help ensure lifelong placement of our animals, we recently began offering introductory adult dog training classes to the public. The classes are designed to help Shelter adopters work with their new pets as well as long-time pet owners hoping to improve on a specific behavior challenge they may be having with their dog. Because each of the classes we offered last summer filled up immediately, we will be expanding the number of classes offered this coming summer.
Volunteers take adoptable animals to events and public locations, helping to socialize them and introduce them to potential adopters.
If you’re interested, be sure you’re on our email newsletter list and keep your eyes peeled for the class announcements in early summer. To receive our e-newsletter, visit www.animalshelterwrv.org and click on the “Newsletter Sign-Up” on the left column of our home page.
Focus on Quality of Life and Decreased Length of Stay A major part of the Animal Shelter’s operating principles is to provide a high quality of life for the animals in our care. We devote significant time and resources toward the goal of keeping our animals healthy and happy while they live in Shelter. Staff and volunteers spend hours each day working with the dogs and cats, providing training, enrichment, and loving attention to every animal waiting for a home. However, no matter how well we care for the Shelter population, there is still no substitute for a permanent, loving home. One of the best things we can do for the well being of the animals in our care is to decrease the amount of time they spend with us in Shelter. We recently began working on additional programs and marketing efforts to improve the speed at which we find animals homes, and these efforts are paying off. The average length of stay of 44 days in 2012 was a full 30% lower than just two years before. In 2013, we hope to continue this trend while maintaining our commitment to finding each animal a loving home, no matter how long it takes.
Our experienced staff works with each dog to enhance their adoptability and teach basic manners.
Animal Shelter of the Wood River Valley Photo Gallery Thank you to our many adopters who keep in touch with us by email and Facebook, and to the many thoughtful kids that continue to amaze us with their gifts of generosity.
Apple is so sweet - our family has loved her from the start.
Gracie is the sweetest and most loyal dog I have ever met and she makes me smile everyday, even though she is a total bed hog.
We adopted our beloved Jodi from ASWRV nine years ago. The minute Jodi and I laid eyes on each other, our fate was sealed, and we have loved each other ever since.
Stacee’s first week in her new home with Oliver and Danku. You have made our family complete!
Janna Crist
Jake Dahlgren
Andrea Nelson
Danielle Edelman
Stu and I are very happy. He is a great dog (except the 10% when he is acting like a puppyWHICH HE IS!!!)
I wanted to send you a photo of Koda the kitty you helped me adopt a few weeks ago. She is the sweetest kitty and such a snuggler!
Scout and Tundra are great companions - - Scout is a fast little doggy and keeps Tundra on his toes!
Thank you!! Casey Hanrahan
Carolea A. Pothier
Mike and Katie Aaskov
Zane Lyon and Wylie Zellers, both 9-year-old students at Hailey Elementary School. The boys raked leaves for a neighbor and donated their earnings to the animals at the Shelter.
Tallulah - “Lulah” - one year later. Lulah makes us laugh every day. Her beautiful tail is wagging all the time.
Here is Animal Shelter alumnus Primrose, now Rosie, in Southern California. She travels well and makes friends wherever she goes.
We are so very grateful that we found Rey through the Shelter and added him to our family. He is our “ray” of sunshine.
Roxanne
Jackie & Peter Anderson
Shannon Avery
Alex and Ron Taylor seen here buying doggie treats in town with their adopted Shelter dog Jake.
The Benefits of Pet Licensing Nearly 1/3 of all pets are lost at some point during their lifetime. Licensing your pet is one of the most important steps you can take to increase your chances of reunification should your pet become lost. Why does my dog have to be licensed? The goal of licensing programs is two-fold. First, licensing helps prevent against rabies outbreaks by requiring a certificate of vaccination for all dogs over the age of 6 months. More importantly, licensing your pet increases the chance that you will be reunited with your pet in the unfortunate event that he or she is lost. When you license your pet, your contact information is on file with the Shelter allowing us to contact you if your pet is found by a valley resident or brought to the Shelter. What is the benefit to me? If you’re like us, your pet is part of your family. Licensing your pet acts as a form of insurance, enabling the Shelter to contact you if your pet becomes lost. What is the benefit to the Animal Shelter? Your license fees are helping solve pet overpopulation and homelessness by directly supporting the Shelter’s spay/ neuter and community education programs.
BARKIN’ BASEMENT THRIFT STORE 111 S. Main Street in downtown Hailey Telephone: (208) 788-3854 Store Hours: Monday - Saturday: 10 am - 6 pm Sundays: Noon - 4 pm Call to schedule a pickup of furniture donations. Donations can be dropped at the Barkin’ Basement anytime between 9 am - 5 pm, Monday through Saturday and noon - 4 pm on Sunday.
Purchase your 2013 Blaine County, Idaho dog license online at www.animalshelterwrv.org or at any of the following locations: Animal Shelter of the Wood River Valley Sawtooth Animal Center Sun Valley Animal Center St. Francis Pet Clinic Ketchum Police Department Sun Valley Police Department Proof of current rabies vaccinations is required when purchasing a dog license!
THREE WAYS YOU CAN SUPPORT THE SHELTER:
SHOP DONATE OR VOLUNTEER AT OUR THRIFT STORE! Please contact Barkin’ Basement Manager Andrea Parker if you would like to help as a Sunday volunteer. (208) 788-3854 or email barkin@animalshelterwrv.org
ANIMAL SHELTER OF THE WOOD RIVER VALLEY P.O. Box 1496 Hailey ID 83333-1496 Return Service Requested If you would like to receive a paperless newsletter, please contact us at info@animalshelterwrv.org.
www.animalshelterwrv.org
www.facebook.com/AnimalShelterWRV www.facebook.com/BarkinBasement
Kady
New Hours of Operation at the Animal Shelter!
OUR TOP DOG SPONSORS: Sherry Daech www.sherrydaech.com
To better meet the needs of the community, the Shelter has extended its hours. We added Monday to our lineup and we are now open to the public seven days a week!
39 - YEAR VALLEY RESIDENT LONGTIME VALLEY REALTOR/ BUSINESS PRINCIPAL LIFETIME ANIMAL LOVER
SCOTTEVEST INC. Laura and Scott Jordan
www.scottevest.com TRAVEL CLOTHING FOR THE TRIP OF YOUR LIFE Proud Sponsors of the ANIMAL SHELTER OF THE WOOD RIVER VALLEY