Why should your shelter win?

I am going to second Anthony's (Gencare) response and go with Liberty Humane Society. Though, I have done a LOT of homework on the other shelters in the top 20, and many of them are VERY deserving, I still stand strong with LHS, not just because I work there, but because of the actual NEED for the makeover.

Some of the shelters in the top 20 are selective admissions. Some of the shelters are all admitted. All admitted shelters are in dire need. These are shelters that work with city, county, and state animal control.

I went to LHS to look at dogs. I found a dog. It took me many months to finally adopt him due to my living situation. I moved to a new apartment and surrendered my security deposit to get this dog. I don't like to use the word "saved" by any means, but I saved him from what could have happened to him, something that happens to a lot of dogs who can't find homes. I love him tremendously.

Aside from getting that dog I wanted so badly, Liberty Humane Society gave me a job when I needed one most. I learned what REALLY goes on in the shelter.

Our facility looks like what it claims to be; A converted garage. There are many remnants of the buildings past life still lingering. We have sinks held up by milk crates. We don't have a "public" bathroom. We have chickens living in our bathroom right now in crates. We have some trailer extensions in our building that house the sick animals and recent intake dogs, or dogs that are unavailable. We do not have indoor runs for our adoptable dogs. We do not have a leash free area. We rely on volunteers and staff to take dogs out for walks many times a day. Cages are constantly being cleaned. Our isolation room looks like a dungeon. We have one working washing machine. We have tons of laundry to do on a daily basis in order to keep cages bedded. Dogs make a mess constantly, so with that we run out of newspaper and cleaning supplies often.

We take in 100% of what comes through our doors from Animal Control and the Jersey City public. Our cattery at times houses over 200 cats, not including what we have in foster homes. Our kennel is filled to the brim constantly. When a cage goes empty, it's quickly sanitized, papered, bedded, and filled.

We do not have a veterinarian on staff, nor a vet technician. We cannot afford a facility that would be suitable for such things. Our staff work around the clock to provide care and temporary housing for the animals we take in.

As an employee, it gets frustrating working where things run out. We run out of things all of the time such as cleaning supplies, medicines, food, bedding, newspapers, dog toys, treats, and other needed things. Who would have thought that old newspapers were so important?

I have to admit, our volunteers have been amazing. They have helped us in times of great need, fostering animals, taking animals out on day trips, donating items, and also zootooing their brains out.

I've visited other shelters in the makeover. Some have not even let me past their front desk. Don't judge a book by its cover. I adopted 2 animals from LHS with no problems, and they are living perfectly happy lives.

LHS also intakes mostly Pit Bulls. Most of our adoptable dogs are Pit Bulls. Many shelters will not even take Pit Bulls. In Jersey City, most of the unwanted dog population are Pit Bulls, and the people in this area are still stuck on myths. Perhaps other shelters are too? Is that why these other shelters don't have Pit Bulls?

I am very supportive of all of the needy shelters on this site. St. Tammany has been a very strong contender. Any shelter that looks similar to ours based on their photos is okay in my book. Of course, I want LHS to win, but I also want the most deserving and neediest shelter to win.

For me this is not about personal gain or a good pat on the back, but for the living and breathing animals that we grow to love. They need our help. All of our animals need a new and state of the art facility.

I think all shelters need money but I would really like to see Habitat for Horses get the makeover. With horse slaughter being so debated right now, it would help get recognition the horses so deserve and this rescue helped after hurricanes rescue more than horses. Horses are very expensive to care for, pasture upkeep, fence, gates, stalls, barns, vet care, farrier bills, trailers to upkeep etc. not to mention the hay, grain and supplements.

St. Hubert's has a long history of caring for homeless pets and acting as advocates for companion animals. However, it's not just about St. Hubert's. We need a larger, more modern shelter so that we can continue helping other shelters less fortunate than ours. We take pets who are in danger of being put down from shelters in South Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Mississippi, Alabama and even Puerto Rico. We bring these pets here to Madison and find them new homes. Our new shelter will triple our capacity, which means that we will be able to take three times as many dogs and cats from other shelters as we can now. If we win the Million Dollar Make Over, we will be able to save many more pets from all over the country, not just here in our own area.

St. Hubert's in Madison NJ all the way! Everyone I know has either adopted a dog from the shelter or taken traning classes at the school.
When I moved out of the Madison area and adopted Belle, I found out just how important this shelter and school are. Belle was in a desperate situation and her rescue group had no room for her. I agreed to take her eventhough she was never evaluated before she came to live with me. She was my first rescue and I was not equipped to handler her. I knew I needed help and our first trainer said she was aggressive and that I should re-home her. They were not even willing to help us try and I was almost convinced to give up myself.
Then of course I came to my senses and ran back home to St. Hubert's. Belle was evaluated as fear reactive but highly workable and their possitive training methods not only work on her but on me as well. I've never felt so much support and encouragement to succeed as I did with Arthur and Pia.
St. Hubert's adoptions succeed because their dogs get a head start prior to being placed in homes. That's so important and makes a huge difference for the pets finding their forever families.

I hope that my shelter wins for these reasons:
1.) I really believe that the most important thing a shleter does in teach good pet parenting.... my shelter does with the latest, positive reinforcement methods... that is not too say it is easy training - it takes time and practice - but it is so rewarding.
2.) My shelter has a plan in place to upgrade the structure in place.
3.) Out of all the shelters in my state - not one has such a community program for pet therapy, aggressive dog rehabilitation, pets in the classroom.
4.) My shelter goes around and gets animals from other places as far as Puerto Rico
With this said, I have seen other places that if they don't get an infusion of money - they may go under.... all shelters could use the money too? so - Richard has a tough decision to make - I just hope we can get into the top 10?

I agree with Pia that the passion that the users of this site have for helping animals is really an awesome thing. It’s unfortunate we all can’t win.

My choice is Liberty Humane Society of Jersey City for several reasons. LHS does a great job with dedicated staff and volunteers, but it could do so much more with better and expanded facilities. There isn’t an adoption room for prospective adopters to get to know a pet that they might be interested in. There isn’t a training room for working with the shelter dogs, but there is a training program for them! Volunteers spend there time working with shelter dogs to help correct behavior concerns and to make them more adoptable.

There isn’t a leash free dog area. Most importantly, there isn’t enough room which often means crowding to intake all of the surrenders and strays that they are faced with as an open admissions shelter. The facility has a run down look to it that may discourage adopters from visiting and from looking beyond the facility and focusing on the shelter animals. Volunteers have spent time and effort fixing the place up to some degree, but volunteer time is limited and what is more important, working with and caring for the dogs and cats, or painting the place to brighten it up?

Even with an extremely low number of affiliates, LHS has managed to tally enough points to be ranked 4th out of over 2500 deserving shelters. This tells me that we have the drive, energy and desire to get as much possible benefit that we can out of whatever improvements we are able to receive as a result of this contest.

I noticed that most of the individuals (I think all except one) answering this question are supporters of St. Hubert’s. There have been many great exchanges between our two shelters on Zootoo and I have picked up a lot of beneficial information about training that I have brought back to LHS for use in our training program for the shelter pups. Also some of our volunteers have taken training classes at St Hubert’s, speak very highly of those classes and recommend them to others and we have also found what they have learned at St. Hubert’s to be beneficial in training the shelter dogs at Liberty Humane Society. We are particularly happy and grateful for anything that can help us to improve the image of Pit Bulls through training, promotion, awareness and public education, which is the mission of our Bullies are Deserving Dogs Program. Pit Bulls are absolutely wonderful dogs and we do our best to place every one of them that enters our doors into a loving home. This is just another reason why I would want to see LHS win the makeover, so we can provide even more support for this great breed. Whomever doesn’t make the top 10, I hope they support a deserving sister shelter. I know we will.

I ope that St. Huberts is the winner. When I see the dedication of our staff and volunteers to this facility, it is truly wonderful. And the amount of points we have worked so hard to get proves that we are small but mighty.
I am always impressed with the shelter and the humane attitude of all the folks who work there. I am impressed by the staff who are hired by local towns to provide servies to the towns. when we had a situation in my neighborhood with three dogs who were allowed to llose, they were very helpful.
But my favorite is the dog training school I know that my dog is a joy to live with thanks to all the help we got there. She went thru courses, repeated courses, and eventually was able to be certified to visit hospitals and nursing homes.
Now that I volunteer at the dog training school, I learn something new every day, and am able to encourage other pet
owners. The professional staff is just that - professional. I am so lucky to be there.

I support St Hubert's!!! The shelter programs and outreach are fabulous but what I want to highlight is the Dog Training School, where there are more than 80 classes held in a week. Having the Dog Training School in proximity to the Madison shelter enables many adoptable dogs to be exposed to basic training and socialized around a bustling town. A dedicated team of Canine Coaches transports dogs from the shleter to the school and also takes them on walks around the town. Great postitive experiences for the dogs, making them even more adoptable and well-mannered. Quite a few dogs are taken through Basic obedience classes. Imagine adopting a dog that has gone through a temperament evaluation, has been assigned a personality type by the Meet Your Match program, AND has had basic obedience training! That's a huge asset to go home with. Please Zootoo help St Hubert's to expand and enrich it's programs by selecting US to be the 2009 winners!

My Vote goes to St. Hubert's. I selected them because of their ability to affect animals around the world. In addition to all of the wonderful programs that are offered in the local community, St. Hubert's rescues dogs from Puerto Rico and from shelters around the country. Many of these animals would have been euthanized if not for St. Hubert's. Two of my dogs were rescued from a shelter that was going to put them down. They are now my best friends and as therapy dogs, give back to the community every chance they get. If St. Hubert's wins, everyone wins! They have a fantastic outreach program to help other shelters with supplies as well. The dog training school is internationally renowned and has hosted trainers from as far away as Japan who have come to learn how to improve their training methods. Simply put the 70 year-old facility just can't support all that still needs to be done or the vision for a better tomorrow for pets everywhere. St. Hubert's vision for helping animals around the world is a Million Dollar one and worthy of the win!!!

St. Hubert" should win as they help so many dogs including aggressive dogs in their rehabilitation /socialization and finally adoption. The shelter is in desperate need of a makeover as they are celebrating their 70th anniversary. It appears as the shelter is over 70 years old. If St Hubert's was to win the money they would be able to continue to rescue dogs from Puerto Rico as well as transfer dogs into their shelter from other shelters in NJ as well as from other shelters around the country. They have a great track record for placing dogs, rehabiltating them, training them and providing most of services to the community. I work at Morristown Memorial Hosptial, which is one of the many places the shelter has a contract with for pet therapy. The pet therapy dogs all have been either trained or adopted from St Hubert's... this is the biggest gift an animal can give to a human.. which is happiness and love during a period of time in a human's life when the end of the road is either a positive one or a struggle to the end. I can not explain in words how valuted these dogs are to people/children with illnesses. The smiles are endless when the dogs come in and service our patient's.

St. Hubert's is a wonderful shelter with many caring workers, trainers, volunteers and community support. I cant think of a better shelter to donate to.