MIAD BRIDGE
Helping Homeless Animals My Time at MADACC A journey of volunteering with animals. Kindness Being kind is an impactful form of service. Purrrfect Life Service influences everyone’s life differently.
DECEMBER/JANUARY 2016
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CONTENTS. FEATURED.
8. 18. 24.
My Time at MADACC A journey of volunteering with animals. Kindness Being kind is an impactful form of service. Purrrfect Life Service influences everyone’s life differently.
DEPARTMENTS.
6. 16. 22.
Interview An interview about rescuing an abused cat. Take Action Time or no time, you can help homeless animals. DIY Homemade pet treats for your furry friend.
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WELCOME.
dear reader, Service is the selfless act of doing something for someone else. In this issue of MIAD Bridge, the focus is on service through helping homeless animals. There are many ways to do this – from volunteering your time, donating old blankets, or rescuing and adopting a pet in need. Specifically in Milwaukee, there are plenty of options to do your part, which are discussed in the following articles. Saying it is important to spend time helping someone else other than yourself is an understatement. It is important to spend time helping others to grow as a person. Through service, I have fallen in love with animals. When they are cared for, they show how much they appreciate it. It’s a great feeling seeing someone else (in this case an animal) benefit from something as simple as giving them your time. I was not personally a cat person prior to me volunteering, but that drastically changed. The “Featured” department, introduces Thor, an adopted cat from MADACC (The Milwaukee Area Domestic Animal Control Commission). He was abused for the first year-and-a-half of his life, and ended up
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abandoned. He has a crooked tail, and every time he eats, he thinks it may be his last. Luckily he found a great home and now has another cat to play with. MADACC is a great place to volunteer, as they can always use help washing dishes, doing laundry, dog walking, maintaining the cat-condos, or cat/dog socializing. They also take donations, such as cat and dog food as well as old blankets or T-shirts. They are also always looking for people to rescue both cats and pit-bulls! In the department “Take Action,” there is an infographic of some of the different options there are to help homeless animals. As I briefly touched on, there are many different ways to help animals, and there is a way suited for anyone’s busy schedule. The “D.I.Y.” section, which is the last department, gives easy treat recipes that can be made at home for your own furry friend! These include tuna catnip treats for cats, and biscuit treats for dogs. Overall, remember that service can be a two-way street. You get out of it what you put into it. P.S. – Don’t forget to take a moment to appreciate the furry friend you already have at home.
Enjoy,
Illiana Durbin Editor in Chief
Service is the selfless act of doing something for someone else. MIAD Bridge | 2016
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INTERVIEW.
PHOTOGRAPH BY ILLIANA DURBIN
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Meet tHor
An interview with Illiana Durbin about volunteering at MADACC (Milwaukee Area Domestic Animal Control Commission) & how it turned into rescuing Thor, an abused cat.
what did you learn? I learned a lot on how MADACC operates, specifically in the cat condo area. I learned that I will have an 8am shift every Thursday morning to perform cat condo duty for the morning. With that being said, I also learned that volunteers have a lot of responsibility and do and are quite a big contribution to the animals and MADACC. Overall, a lot is expected from volunteers. I also learned with the renovation going on, the laundry and dish room are getting completely redone and for the time being those are closed until the beginning of next week.
what are some observations and feelings after todays experience? Some observations I had today were with the renovation going on, everything keeps moving around and changing, and even the volunteer I was shadowing was confused on where some things are kept now. Today was great working with the cats finally. I was able to clean their “condos” and take them into a room so they could stretch their legs and walk around for a bit. Playing with the cats in another room was definitely my favorite part. There was one cat that just clicked with me, and he was so much fun to play with, he was talkative and really friendly. Didn’t want to stop playing when I finally had to leave. So, I adopted him today and get to pick him up Monday! I am going to name him Thor.
what was the activity performed today at madacc? Today I shadowed another volunteer for working in the cat condos. I fed the cats breakfast (wet food), changed their litter boxes, switched out their dirty blankets with clean ones, wiped down the windows, and completely cleaned out the vacant cat condos, so they are ready when new cats come to the front. When all of this was completed, I was also able to play with the cats for a little while too.
identify any challenges or questions that are surfacing for you? A challenge I had today was like stated earlier, trying to find everything because things get moved to different areas everyday. It’s also a challenge having the laundry and dish room down for the week because there are only so many clean cat blankets/bed/litter boxes available for the cats at a time. Another challenge I had was one of the cats wouldn’t eat anything, and was throwing up, and I wasn’t sure what to do, but I was able to let someone know so a vet could come check on him.
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MY TIME AT MADACC
The Milwaukee Area Domestic Animal Control Commission
Article by Shannon Smith
I have decided to start volunteering at Milwaukee Area Domestic Animal Control Commission, although I haven’t started yet my orientation has been scheduled.
“Why are there so many stray/feral animals?� MADACC reports that they take in 12,000 animals a year, more than any other animal control center in the area. On average 600 animals are admitted each month during the winter season at MADACC anin summer 1300 kittens are admitted. These kittens come from feral cats, the population can easily grow and become a nuisance in the neighborhoods of Milwaukee. The number one reason for the excess cat population is lack of spaying and neutering in the populations. This includes both indoor and outdoor cats, house pets in heat can escape and within ten minutes be a parent to a litter of kittens. The excessive populations of kittens have no place to go oftentimes, some are
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adopted out, others euthanized and the unlucky are used to train dog fighters, fed to snakes or abandoned by a parent. Across the country about half of all animals brought into a shelter are euthanized. There are estimated one million stray animals across the USA, the number is increasing each day. In order to lower these populations some organizations trap the animals, neuter or spay and then return to where they were captured. At first I wondered why they do not try to adopt out the stray and feral populations. There is a strain on shelters, sending these populations to the shelter could mean they would be euthanized. By releasing the animal they can continue to live the life they are used to without contributing anymore offspring to the stray and feral populations. These animals often will live longer in the wild if spayed or neutered, they have less health issues and are more concerned with survival rather than mating. Homeless animals also have the difference of being stray
“while most no-kill shelters say no, leaving animals with no other place to go, MADACC says yes.”
or feral. Animals that are strays used to live with humans and respond well to them. Feral animals grew up apart form humans and do not make good pets. So for feral animals the best solution is to let them remain homeless but neutered or spayed.
“70 million feral cats make America their home, there has been little effort to control the populations.” There are too many feral cats, nature cannot support them. The issue is that to protect nature for sterile cats they must either be taken to animal shelters or sterilized. At animal shelter the unfriendly cats are often killed, many animal rights activist react strongly to this and much public opposition is risen. TNR (Trap Neuter/Spay Release) is a permanent solution for the population issues but is time and money consuming. Some oppose TNR saying these cats are killing
wildlife, spread diseases. Overall it isn’t a simple problem, these animals are widespread, growing in population and all solutions have opposing arguments. Feral animals cause problems for humans and nature and animal control places such as MADACC are working to fix the issue.
Illustrations by Jackie McGarigle
MADACC offers low cost spay and Neuters for animal owners, same day drop off and pick up form surgery is convenient for owners. The high number of feral and stray animals in the nation means more organizations are needed to fix the problem. Today was Tier 1 training. As a large group of volunteers we learned how to do the laundry and the dishes of MADACC. First we went to the laundry room, Kathy showed us how to load the washer and dryer. Most importantly I learned how to keep the clothing and toys sanitary while washing them. The large pile of laundry was quickly done away with by the other volunteers and myself before we switched over to dishes. There I learned how to use an industrial dishwasher/sanitizer. After the day I’m curious about the importance of sanitation in animal control and shelter facilities.
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How important is it to keep a sanitary environment for a facility with many animals in it. Today (6-26-16) I worked at MADACC for 6.5 hours in order to proceed through Tier one of volunteering so I can move onto working with animals. I continued similar work before, I cleaned dishes including litter pans, food/ water bowls, bird cages, animal traps, and cat carriers. Cleaning them entails a very specific procedure to make sure everythingis sanitized in order to prevent diseases spreading between animals and humans. In the laundry room there is still specific procedure to make sure no dirty contaminated laundry touches anything clean.
“if asked to supply cat food they get about ten bags or so but if asked for dog food they receive three hundred.”
After cleaning everything in the morning I spent a couple of hours sweeping the two rooms and then mopping thoroughly with a mixture made by an employee for me. I learned about all the different animals they have to be prepared for, I cleaned reptile dishes and saw a rabbit while working. I had a good time though, every time someone dropped off things to be cleaned they always thanked me for helping out. Not only does it feel nice to help out the people working at MADACC but I knew I was helping the thousands of animals that will be brought into the organization. Sanitary conditions means that they will be less likely to get sick and be more adoptable and more comfortable. Some challenges were fitting some cages in the sinks, especially the 5 minute soak in sanitizer. Some large items that didn’t fit in the machine had to be rotated in the large sinks in order to be cleaned properly. That meant ten minutes or more of effort to get on item clean, plus all the time I spent cleaning it out and scrubbing it in the first detergent. This service reminded me of a class reading, in A Paradise Built in Hell they talked about how during Katrina rescuers tried harder to help animals than the sheriff did to try and save people. It makes me reflect on how we see animals as our companions and we are very compelled to help
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them when they are in distress. That’s why there are so many organizations out there dedicated to animals regardless of whether or not they are government funded. Perhaps that also explains why we chose to help animals over people many times, we see animals as helpless but our friends, we love them. It’s clear even in the difference between cats and dogs, during training we talked about donations and how if asked to supply cat food they get about ten bags or so but if asked for dog food they receive three hundred. People are only generous to what they know is helpless but kind. Cats are shy, they are often considered independent and mean.
“dogs are kind to anyone they meet, friendly and outgoing creatures who are seen as dependent to humans.” These perceptions change how these creatures are helped. How important is sanitation in animal shelters? I researched the answer to this question and came up with a surprising amount of information on why animal shelter are in desperate need of strict sanitation. First of all animals coming into shelters are usually sick and in poor health to begin with. They roll on the floor and lick themselves, some come into shelters shedding dangerous parasites. The importance of sanitation is most needed in all places in a shelter. It seems that the most afflicted areas are area with
high traffic of animals throughout the day; such as animal control vehicles and exam rooms. In the article I am reading they talk about the pros and cons of cleaning supplies. They say detergent is sometimes good while disinfecting solutions are sometimes good. While volunteering I use both products. Bleach is talked about as being an excellent pathogen killer but if only last outside of a container for 30 minutes and is bad to breathe in. Accel is used at MADACC and is stable for 90 days in solutions. Having as table solution for 90s days saves times in places where making the solution is impractical, like on an animal control vehicle. Laundry sanitation is spoken about, bleach is an effective way to remove harmful pathogens and is what I used while volunteering. Overall sanitation in shelters is a main priority since many of these animals are stressed or already in poor health meaning they are more susceptible to disease.
“How frequent is animal abuse and neglect in Milwaukee?” In Wisconsin the Wisconsin humane society sees hundred of cases of animals that come from abuse or neglect. There is an animal cruelty task force that helps with prosecuting abusers of animals. Animal abusers are 5x more likely to commit violent offenses. Someone who harms animals should be seen as a threat to both animals and people. There is organizations made to encourage people to report any suspected animal abuse as those people are 76% likely to also be harming a family member. In Milwaukee domestic abuse is rising, a large increase over the years. Today (6-27-16) I continued cleaning. I was surprised to see how the floors I spent a long time cleaning were once again. It makes sense, these items are covered in cat litter, those up, wood-chips, poop, hair, dirt and more. All of the items have to be shaken out before going into the industrial washer, some of the
pieces are bound to miss the bin below them. The dish room has the same issue, things have to be shaken out before being cleaned. Add to that the floor gets wet and people’s shows leave behind muddy footprints. So today I swept the rooms and then mopped again. After all clean floors are healthier for animals. As I worked I saw a dog walker come back in with a sweet pit-bull. MADACC only has pit-bull breeds and mixes up for adoption since rescues will take any other type of dog. So it brings up my question: why are pit bulls hated so much? How far does this hated extend? Today (6-28-16) I mopped, swept, did dishes and laundry. I also scheduled training for dog walking with my supervisor. I’m excited to move onto working with animals this week. I also met some of the animal control officers and staff. They were really nice and helpful. Also other volunteers stopped and took time to talk to me.
“Animal abusers are five times more likely to commit violent offenses.”
Today (6-30-16 I did training to become a dog walker. Unlike the other training it was a one on one with my supervisor Kathy. We began by going over sign in protocols and then she took me through the steps of how to walk the dogs with their longest resident, Dodger (first picture). The picture up above is from pet-finder and I do not own it. Dodger is a sweet dog who was an excellent walker, he even flopped down on the grass and rolled around, it was adorable. He is up for adoption and would be an adorable pet. After walking dodger Kathy let me try to walk a dog so I did my first walk with Lola, she was small and sweet, excited to go on a walk. Then I walked another dog who is not up for adoption yet so I cannot
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talk about her but she was sweet as well. It’s really rewarding to walk dogs who have no home yet but lots of love to give. Also my own dog has arthritis so it’s tough to walk him since I feel guilty when he limps. Since I’m used to my dog who had dog aggression these dogs were easier to walk except they are much stronger than my cattle dog. After walking these ‘dangerous dog breeds’ I have to wonder why people discriminate against pit-bulls?
Why do people discriminate against dangerous breeds. Most importantly pit-bulls? At MADACC I walk pit-bull terrier mixes. They only keep pit-bulls at MADACC for adoption. Any other breed can go to a rescue. So why is it so hard for pit-bull breeds to be adopted? Why is there so much discrimination? As I did research most of the hatred comes from stories online and the media. All these outlets of information always emphasis the stories of pitbulls attacking children, adults and other animals. They are portrayed as killers. It doesn’t help that pitbulls are often bred to be fighting dogs. They are trained to be killers by humans. It’s not their natural instinct, rather they are tortured to hurt other animals. Dogs do not usually fight to the death. It’s not natural to make dogs attack each other to the death yet people do it so often. It’ because pit-bulls are easily trained, they want to please their owner.
“PIT-BULLS USED TO BE CONSIDERED FAMILY DOGS.”
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Pit bulls used to be considered family dogs. Their origin originally came from war dogs, trained to latch on to enraged bulls and hold on until it was subdued. Even then the dog was used for entertainment, they were placed in rings with bulls and forced to latch on so people could bet on how long they would last on the other animal. After the bull baiting was banned
Rescue | Helping Homeless Animals
illegal underground dog rings began in the UK. They brought it to the new world but that quickly died off and the dogs were used to herd and work. Pit bulls were generally seen as good dogs, a sign of athleticism, or sidekicks to children on TV. But around 1986 they began to face breed specific bans in communities.
“This hatred came from the spread of illegal dogs fighting across America in the 80s.” They were the preferred guard dog of drug dealers and gangs. The problem is people are blaming the dogs for the attacks while the true blame lies on their human owners. Apparently some bans are being considered for lifting but at the same time places like Fon du Lac, WI are considering a new ban. Sometimes pit bull owners have to avoid certain states for traveling through with their dogs as they can be seized by animal control and destroyed just because of their breed. This hatred comes from a lack of owner responsibility and a lack of public education.
I talked to Kathy about the lack of education pet owners seems to be suffering from. Why is there so many ignorant animal owners? How to animals suffer from ignorant owners? We talked about how a lot of children they go to schools to educate talk about their dogs losing their fur and how they only feed bones or table scraps. These kids don’t realize that their dogs are suffering from mange or that they need real dogs food. There seems to be a lack of owners
understanding the maintenance an animal needs. Some dogs never go inside a house or never go outside of the house. Some people don’t think their dogs need to go on walks. Even some owners don’t change out the dog water regularly. There are court cases where a dog was left outside in 28 degree weather. The owner was initially convicted but then the jury said that the owner wasn’t intentionally harming the dog. Rather they said that there are some dogs that can withstand the cold and the owner could have mixed it up. The owner was ignorant and if the freezing dog wasn’t reported it could have died.
“Underfeeding isn’t the only problem.” Overfeeding animals is a huge issue. Animals are being overfeed and under exercised. 54 % of dogs and cats are obese in the US. They get type 2 diabetes, osteoarthritis, high blood pressure, heart and respiratory disease, kidney disease, and shortened life spans. Dental health in animals is often overlooked. Many owners do not proved adequate things for dogs and cats to chew on to clean their teeth and results in horrible teeth and gum disease. The dog I got from a rescue a little less than a year ago was neglected with his teeth. It was obvious he had chew on cages until his teeth were nubs. He has undergone 2 dental removals and cleanings. But it’s too late. His ground down teeth opened up to his nerve and pulp allowing infection to travel into his bloodstream and causing him to have heart disease. If the rescue I got him from fixed his teeth he might not have his heart
condition. Although it isn’t bad now he will most likely die from it. All from neglect. 80% of dogs and 70% of cats have some form of periodontal disease by the age of 3. This disease can lead to heart, kidney and liver disease. That number is too large, this disease originated in an area owners can manage with tooth brushing. Will there ever be no-kill animal control? I always here so much about no-kill shelters and how they are superior to animal control and ‘pounds’. How realistic are no-kill shelters? I often hear these shelters are filled with animals no one will every adopt. That they are housing angry, dangerous feral cats and unsocialized dangerous dogs. Since they are full they often turn away animals. And most of the time it’s injured, sick or animals with behavioral issues. Pretty much they are not no-kill they just are making other shelters do the killing. Like the Milwaukee Humane society. They stopped offering their services as animal control in 1996, turning over the difficult task to the government and only focusing on adoption. The solution is not no-kill shelters but nokill communities. That way all animals in the community have somewhere to go. No-kill doesn’t mean all animals brought in live. Rather it means healthy animals are not killed. Sick animals are often brought into MADACC and will not recover from easily preventable diseases such as parvo. In the last few years they have improved on their management of animals and have lowered their euthanasia numbers drastically. Remember that MADACC is open door. Anyone can bring any animals there and they have to take it. They can’t say no. No-kill shelters will often say no leaving an animals with no other place to go.
“‘No-kill’ doesn’t mean all animals brought in live. Rather, it means healthy animals are not killed.”
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TAKE ACTION.
How you can help Different ways you can help homeless animals depending on your busy schedule. How much time do you have to spare? 5 min
Share an adoptable pet on social media.
Have more time?
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15 min
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Have more time?
30 min
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Explore a nearby animal shelter’s website. Donate money online.
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Find items to donate: Example: old blanket, a T-shirt, or basket.
45 min
Drive to and thank an animal shelter for what they do.
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Have more time?
1 hour
Have more time?
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Have a fund-raiser or bake-sale for homeless pets.
lifetime
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1 day
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Have more time?
Sew a blanket. Go to a local shelter and clean kenels or help with dishes.
1 week
Volunteer at a local shelter daily or even weekly. Foster an animal.
Have more time?
Give a forever home to a homeless animal.
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by Joshua Reilly In class we had an exercise that had us contemplate certain abilities we have and certain interests we have. To further our thinking we also were contemplating whom we associate with and our attributes towards others or the mere things we were interested in. This was very interesting because it is not often we sit and write about the talents we have or the attributes we can provide to people around us. In Abundant Community chapter five starts to examine more of what we had in class and through lecture. Not only will chapter five talk about our gifts, associations, and hospitality but also encompasses finer attributes. The main attributes I found necessary for a reflective essay were “kindness”, “cooperation”, and “forgiveness”. In reading these passages I feel that these attributes not only make a person better but also help the people around them in a profound way. Kindness is a quality that people should practice more in their everyday life. Being kind to one another not only helps and also emphasizes good nature onto one another. Our attitude can turn a person away with just one sentence or gesture that they think is harsh or rude. Growing up I know that my mother always taught my little sister and me to be kind to one another and those around us. It is something that is instilled in children in many different ways but overall the act of kindness should be prominent and only helps us as individuals. Abundant Community states, “it is the opposite of envy” (location 1448/3026). Envy is something that will turn people against each other, envy is something that causes disputes in relationships and among
friends, and envy causes jealousy and irrational behavior. Clearly I feel that being kind can only help us as individuals but how does this help our community? Generally speaking, if we are kind to one another we are more social with one another. We feel that when a person is kind to us we should pay gratitude back, being kind to them as well. I always try to be kind to my neighbors. Do I ever feel that I am upset about a situation? Yes, but how I go about dealing with it only shows my true nature to the neighbors around me. Being kind in turn forms friendships and trust with other individuals. When trusting other people we are more comfortable, we work together better, and this in turn helps people cooperate. A quote that I find true in Abundant Community states, “When we put people in competition with each other, for one to win, the other must lose” (Kohn, Alfie location 1471/3026). I feel that this really encompasses what cooperation is; it is coming together and helping one another for the greater good of everyone. People around us have many different types of personalities and not all personalities coincide with one another in any given situation. Obviously we can see that throughout mankind people have not cooperated with one another properly. Not cooperating has caused disputes that in turn cause wars, famine, and societies to crumble, which make cooperation a necessity for community to thrive. Around the lot that I live on we all try and help each other out. We don’t look at living on our lot as every man for himself and if you are screwed well then so be it, change it on your own. Out of all 8 individuals we feel that it is necessary for us to talk to
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AN ESSENTIAL TOOL IN RELATIONSHIPS.”
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Helping Homeless Animals
PHOTOGRAPH BY ILLIANA DURBIN
“FORGIVENESS IS
have disputes with people, we will betray people, but how we act in these situations is the key to keeping healthy relationships. I have had to forgive people in my life and people have had to forgive me as well. Just as how I mentioned that people grow up with a sense of kindness, the envy is still in peoples hearts, even though we don’t want to admit it. We need to learn to forgive just as much as we need to learn to be kind to one another. Our communities need to understand that the path to one becoming a better person is not to shun them out f they misbehave but to forgive them and give them another chance. This can happy in many different forms and I am sure someone may ask how many times should we forgive? This question is completely debatable and we try to employ laws throughout society that enforces punishment, in a variety of ways, on those who act out more than others.
each, to help each other out when we can and to cooperate when dealing with common areas such as the yard, walkways, garbage, etc. Our little lot is much like our communities should be working. We should be talking to one another and helping each other out for the greater good. Cooperation makes relationships form easier and when you form a relationship you are more likely to help one another. Although my paper has discussed the good, there is always bad within community; we are not all perfect. Forgiveness is an essential tool in relationships. When forgiveness is talked about in chapter five, the first thing stated is “forgiveness is the willingness to come to terms with having been wounded� (location 1492/3026), which sounds harsh at first. This directly implies that to forgive must in turn be because someone has betrayed you or hurt you. People do not act out well with one another when being betrayed and it causes dysfunction within a group but then we realize why forgiveness is necessary. We have all done things to wrong people. As individuals we know that we are not perfect, we will
The only difference is that criminals are less forgivable than others; they are in connection with crimes, breaking the law, and disturbing the peace of other individuals around us. Why should they be any less forgivable? Maybe these people were never taught kindness and are unable to cooperate with others around them; maybe, they are not getting the treatment they need to be apart of society. Starting from the roots of being kind to one another and cooperating with one another, this will only help us forgive one another and hopefully under circumstances less severe if we all learned productive fundamentals as a child. The reading of Abundant Community really helped give a sense of how others should interact with one another, how we can help one another, and how communities thrive when certain attributes are being instilled within the citizens. In conclusion I would like to emphasize the attributes that I felt were beneficial for every individual, which was kindness, cooperation, and forgiveness. At the beginning of chapter five it clearly states that certain attributes cannot coexist without people implementing other attributes. In the same way these ideals are connected and can only benefit those around us, implementing one in your personal life will only help fuel the others. When I look at myself as an individual I feel that I strive to be a certain way, I strive to portray myself in a certain manner to the others around me, and I feel that if we all looked at how we acted on a regular basis, we can only further our communities and the people around us. Show kindness to your neighbors, cooperate with your neighbors, and have the heart to forgive your neighbors. This will only help form a better community.
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D.I.Y.
Show your furry friend some love with these yummy, easy, do-it-yourself treats they wil love!
Tuna Catnip treats Ingredients 1 1 1 1 1
(5 ounce) can tuna, no salt added and packed in water, drained cup oat flour* large egg tablespoon olive oil heaping tablespoon dried catnip
Instructions 1. Grind old-fashioned oats in a spice grinder (or a super clean coffee grinder) until it is transformed into a light powder. There you have it — oat flour! 2. Place a rack in the upper third of the oven and preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside. 3. In the bowl of a food processor fitted with a blade attachment, combine drained tuna, oat flour, egg, olive oil and catnip. Blend until mixture is smooth. It will be thick but pliable and not terribly sticky. 4. Roll dough into 1/2 teaspoon balls and place on prepared cookie sheet. Use a skewer to press an X-shape into each cookie ball. 5. Bake cookies for 10 to 12 minutes until they are dried on top and slightly browned. Allow to cool completely before offering to your kitty. 6. Place treats in an airtight container.
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BISCUit dog treats
Ingredients 2 cups white flour (or whole wheat) 1 tsp. salt 1 egg 1 chicken or beef bouillon cube 1 cup hot water baking sheet cookie cutter in the shape of a bone!
Instructions
D.I.Y. doggie door Step 1: Measure Your Dog Door The size of your doggie door will depend on the size of your dog. Step 2: Cut Your Dog Door Into Your People Door
1. Preheat oven to 350˚fahenheit.
You can take your door off its hinges or, if you’re confident in your cutting skills, leave it erect.
2. Put the 1/2 cup of water into a microwavable bowl and heat it until it’s almost boiling. Then drop your bouillon cube in the water to dissolve.
Step 3: Sand It Down
3. Now throw all the ingredients into a mixing bowl and begin to stir until everything is combined. 4. Sprinkle some flour onto your work surface and begin to roll out the dough. Then grab your cookie cutter and start cutting out your dog biscuits. 5. Place the dog biscuits on the cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes! 6. Feel free to get creative with this recipe and add some bacon, cheese or even some liver powder. Your pup will love you for your effort. Wet kisses and wagging tails are in your future!
After cutting the outline for your door you’ll likely be left with some sharp edges. Step 4: Install the Flap The flap to your doggie door should be made of rubber. One often suggested material we agree with is the mud flap from an automobile. If you’ve got an old one lying around that’s perfect! Step 5: Secure Your Dog Door While the new dog door is great for allowing your pup to roam in and out freely while you’re at home, you should never leave it unattended when you’re at work or away on vacation.
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Article by Maria Bhatti
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PHOTOGRAPHS BY ILLIANA DURBIN AND PIXABAY
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An article on how service means something different to everyone. Our definitions of service come from our past experiences.
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n todays society there is a constant referral to the “normal family” and the “perfect life”. As a generation that is bombarded with television shows, reality stars, and famous lifestyles, we begin to lose touch with what is real, and what is not. Our youth is so impressed with these famous people that can do all of these amazing things, when in actuality these people are a very small part of our population. Our idea of what a normal family is has expanded from the typical mom, dad, son, daughter and dog to having a single parent, two moms/dads, grandparents, and older siblings. Has this steered our children to be considered more lost than before? We, as individuals, community members, and as a part of society have a moral obligation to serve our neighbors to the best of our abilities. Service is an action that we do for someone else, whether it be volunteering or paid, to benefit the person receiving the action. The service doesn’t have to be something extremely substantial to qualify because things that start out on a smaller scale have the potential to impact a larger audience. It can be as simple as an interaction between two people, or work on a larger scale, such as an organization helping the community. Service is extremely important because it helps us, as a society, function and work successfully together.
My idea of what service entails is pretty general because I see it as a beneficial action between two people. An interesting point was brought to my attention about the context of the word. To many people when we think of service we think of it in terms of our everyday lives. Andrew Hillstrom brought up what he believes to be different definitions to different statures of people. His personal definition was “something you do for someone else with fore knowledge that you will not personally gain from providing this service” (Hillstrom). Although I agree that nothing tangible can be received, I think knowledge is always gained from the experience.
What helping at Quad Graphics taught me For political figures, he feels as though the term is thrown around much too loosely. They claim to provide a “public service” to the people, but at a large benefit to themselves, which he perceives as a job and not a service. The importance of your service often reaches farther than just the action of you doing it, but how it will impact the recipient. In a time where it is typical to constantly worry about yourself, it is a breath of fresh air to turn around and see what is going on around you. Be open to those people that are around you and receptive to their thoughts and concerns.
Although I have not been the most present community member I have provided some services as a volunteer for Quad Graphics, as a teaching assistant at MIAD and recently a volunteer at the Hope House of Milwaukee. At Quad Graphics I would help set up and work stations at fund-raisers and company parties. One party was at the Milwaukee Art Museum and I was attending as a guest when I found out that they could use extra help working at the craft tables. Children around 5-10 years old would come over and create craft projects with glitter glue, foam shapes, and construction paper. Kids that are this age deserve our encouragement so that when they look back on the experience they are reminded of the benefits. This is how many kids base what they will do in the future because they receive positive feedback for productive activities, rather than attention for negative things.
Being a Teaching Assistant at MIAD More recently I was hired to be a Teaching Assistant at MIAD. Even though I was paid for what I was doing I took it as an opportunity to share what I know about design with the younger people involved in the program This program was with high school students that were accepted into the precollege majors program, and had an
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interest in graphic design. I formally assisted them in terms of the processes they would go through and the programs that they had to learn. Although that is what I was hired to do I took their feedback and learned directly from them. They were constantly telling me how they learn and what they want to get from the program.
Constantly worrying about what other people thought about me By doing this I believe that I helped them by giving them technical skills, but they helped me get a better understanding of how I work as a designer, and how the younger generation works and thinks. My current volunteering position is at the Hope House. I help supervise kids from the community, or from the homeless shelters in the building, while they work on homework, play games, or do crafts. I have found my time there so far to be very humbling. Every time I go I am reminded of where I came from and where I am now. There are some kids there that are really receptive to the program and appear to be grateful that it is there for their use. Others resist the program, and are constantly testing the coordinators and their limits. This shows me that even though a service is being offered to them it doesn’t always mean that they want it. If children have an unstable home environment “normal” kid things to do can feel like more of a chore. The constant worry of essential things (food/ shelter/warmth) seem to take precedence over playing with
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blocks or coloring (Christon). As a child it is also very hard to be accepting to learn if you don’t experience this push in your everyday lives. The common response is normally something along the lines of “you don’t anything about me”. It seems to be an unproductive statement because of course I don’t know you, we’ve just met. Even though I don’t know exactly what you have been through, you also don’t know what I have been through. This resistance often leads to nothing. If we can be more receptive to these children they can learn how to reach out to others, rather than holding in their emotions. As a child I can relate to some of the situations that these kids have gone through. I was constantly worrying about what other people thought about me when I couldn’t afford new clothes, food and even transportation to school.
My family life was extremely unstable This made going through a school system filled with divorced parents even harder. Being in a very close community I felt that everyone was constantly in my personal life, which made me extremely uncomfortable. Through all of the parent and community gossip I managed to put all of my effort blindly into school. I would usually bury myself in school work, even in grade school, so that people would notice me for something positive. That way, even though my home life was constantly scrutinized, they couldn’t hold it against me because I was very successful
in school. It became an outlet for me because had very encouraging teachers, who provided a very solid service to me, of being there and constantly encouraging me to do well in school so that I can go on and do something with my life. As I got older I would look for people to confide in and talk to about my life. I started seeing a therapist in eighth grade because my mom thought it would be a good idea for me to have someone outside of our lives to listen to me. The therapist would always listen and agree with me, but she started adding all of these attachments to my situations which made me feel like I had some form of clinical issue. She gave me a this false sense of comfort and really pulled me from my very grounded reality. She would tell me all of the things that others already told me and that made me lose confidence in her advice. So even though this service was provided to me, it eventually became unwanted. The most important service that anyone has ever given to me is my high school art teacher, Kim Haller. She, like me, was small in her physical presence, but always had something important to say. I would constantly go to her for advice when she was around, and she never acted like I was an inconvenience. Her ability to tell when I was unhappy became extremely helpful because she could read me so well that I didn’t even have to say anything to be heard. In our society it is extremely important for children to have people to listen to them, face to face.
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PHOTOGRAPHS BY ILLIANA DURBIN AND PIXABAY
CONTRIBUTORS.
Illiana durbin Editor and chief. Photographer. Copywriter.
PIxabay Photographer.
jackie mcgarigle Illustrator.
shannon smith Copywriter.
joshua reilly Copywriter.
maria bhatti Copywriter.
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PHOTOGRAPH BY PIXABAY