Happy Dance

What a day it has been! You finally drag yourself home and the second you walk through the door it begins. You know it’s coming.  You’ve waited all day for this and here it is! Let the dance begin!  It never starts slow, it’s always full force. Round and round they go with tongues hanging out and tails wagging. You can see the smile on their faces reflected from the smile on your face. All is right in the world, especially your small part of the world that includes your animal family. Your pets don’t care that you were late for that important meeting or the reprimand you received from your boss for the big mistake you made today. Forget about the disagreement you had with your friend. None of this matters. In their world, you are the greatest thing since catnip and rawhide bones.

This scenario occurs over and over in millions of households throughout our country every day. Imagine (if you can) the thousands of cats and dogs in shelters just waiting for a home of their own so they can do the happy dance for their pet parents upon arriving home.

I am a pet parent of a recently adopted Chihuahua from Animal Welfare Society. Pita is a rescue from a puppy mill down South.  She was used for breeding, and when they were done with her she was discarded. Thank goodness for Companion Pet Rescue and Transport in Tennessee. It steps in and rescues these unwanted dogs and transports them up to Connecticut to area shelters for adoption. Every dog that has come to our shelter from Companion Pet Rescue has been quickly adopted into a forever homes. I can’t even think about the fate of my wonderful little girl if CPR hadn’t been there for her.

Animal Welfare Society in New Milford is a no-kill shelter and our main goal is to care for our communities homeless animals until we can find the perfect pet parents for them. At no time are their lives in question. If no match is found for a cat or dog, it will stay at our shelter and live out the rest of its life there. The staff and volunteers consider such cats and dogs as residents of our shelter family. We know their likes and dislikes and what gets their motors going and tails wagging. We work with training the dogs and socializing the cats and always give them extra attention.

We are in great need of responsible adult and young adult volunteers. There are many ways one can help with volunteering: from hands on feeding and cleaning to walking dogs and assisting with fund-raising. Please look into our Web site at http://www.aws-shelter.org/ and see the many ways you can volunteer and help our shelter help our community animals. However you choose to volunteer, please understand we will be counting on you and your commitment to our shelter family.

No spare time to give? No problem. Another great way you can help our shelter animals is by becoming a sponsor. You pick the dog or cat you want to sponsor, or we can pick one for you. Visit our Web site or stop by for a visit and meet the animals in person. Then choose the level of sponsorship you prefer. All the details and payments are available online.

Want to get  more involved?  Become an Animal Welfare Society member.  For just a $20 tax-deductible donation, you can become a member of AWS. Your donation will help with food, shelter and health care for our animals awaiting adoption.

Come and have your say at our monthly members’ meetings. We value your input. Meetings are held on the second Monday of each month. Check our Web site regularly for more info, updates and important messages regarding how you can better our shelter and make the wait for new pet parents go by quickly.

Of course our number one way of maintaining care and shelter to our animal friends is by your generous donations. AWS is a non-profit organization, and all donations are tax deductible. Every cent goes directly to the care of our residents in the form of food, medical and upkeep to our shelter. You know what your monthly expenses are like so you can imagine what ours are like.

We have been blessed with a very caring community, and I’ve said it before and I will keep saying it: Thank you! Together we can make a difference in the life of a homeless animal.

It has been my experience that animals that are rescued from shelters seem to have a sense that they were saved and are extremely devoted to their new owners. With every lick and  purr, they seem to be saying thank you, thank you, thank you! I know I will spend the rest of  my rescue dog’s life making up for the first five years of her life.

Spoiled, you say… . You betcha!