June 15, 2009

(ZT Pet News Photo by John McQuiston)

BROOKSVILLE, Fla. -- It's not a normal night's sleep. "Any little noise, the dogs start barking," Joanne Schoch said.

Then again, it's not a normal week for the Humane Society of the Nature Coast's executive director.

She's living in one of the shelter's dog kennels, sharing the four-by-seven foot space with an American Staffordshire Terrier named Darlene.

It's not desperation borne from the bad economy. Instead, "we desperately need to expand our kennel services," Schoch (pronounced "shock") said.

The human/canine kennel-mate arrangement is the centerpiece of "Heart to Heart Week," an event designed to raise awareness of the shelter's needs and to raise money to address them.

The no-kill shelter in this rural town about 50 miles north of Tampa has 17 kennels. Some are patched. Some show rust.

The cat cottage in the next building is a converted chicken coop. Its semi-absorbent floors mean that no amount of scrubbing will erase the odor of cat urine. The shelter's main office is housed in a trailer.

"I've never seen one do as much with as little," said Bonnie Kauffman of the place where she volunteers two days a week.

Looking for a publicity splash last year, Schoch first considered something similar to a sit-in protest of the 1960s, vowing to stay in a kennel until donors met the shelter's "demands."

"That wouldn't work," she said.

But it led to what became Heart-to-Heart week. She would live with a dog inside a kennel for seven days, leaving only for bathroom breaks, once a day for a shower and -- at the health department's insistence -- three times a day for meals.

People could "buy" her additional minutes of freedom for $1 apiece.

"Joanne was nuts," Kauffman said of her first reaction to the idea. "But the more I thought about it, it makes sense."

Schoch recruited volunteers to live in other kennels. Businesses sponsored some and sent workers to take 24-hour shifts.

Wal-Mart donated camping cots -- after Schoch measured the kennels to ensure they'd fit inside. Volunteers brought enough food that Schoch says all of the kennel-dwellers gained weight.

She knew the humans would be able to cope. But how would the animals handle it? Living in a kennel is stressful itself. Add the commotion, the extra furniture and the constant presence of someone else in their already confined spaces. What impact would that have?

"It was wonderful for them," she says. The round-the-clock attention helped their socialization skills and allowed more time for obedience training.

"It is a great opportunity to teach them a little bit more of the social graces that they need to know in a home," Schoch says.

The event helped the shelter too. By the end of the week, $16,000 had poured in. Even better, adoptions for the week rose almost 40 percent.

"When we saw the increase in adoptions," said Schoch. "We knew we were going to do it every year."

A year later she sits on her cot, back against the cinder block wall, bordered by chain-link fence on the other three sides of the kennel. Glasses perched on her nose magnify the brown eyes under a head of gray-white curls. Wireless Internet and cell phone service let her do her job almost normally.

Darlene paces what's left of the floor space before climbing onto the cot and lying down at Schoch's feet.

Several kennels down, Wendy McGinnis sits in a similar position, tapping away on her laptop. Normally a Hernando County Sheriff's Deputy, she has drawn a 24-hour shift in the kennel sponsored by the sheriff's office.

She says no one has joked about the deputy now in jail. The confinement is "different" she says.

"It's not as difficult as I thought it would be."

Her kennel-mate, Rocky, stands vigil near the gate. The border collie mix is a Hurricane Katrina refugee who has waited more than three years for adoption.

Because he might once have had to literally fight for food in Katrina's aftermath, Schoch won't adopt him to a family that has other pets or small children.

McGinnis gives Rocky high marks for behavior. And for leaving her alone to concentrate on college coursework.

"I knew I'd get a break from chores at home and the kids at home and the husband at home so I could get some homework done," McGinnis said.

She has gained an appreciation for what life is like for Rocky and other shelter dogs.

Schoch says that was another of the week's goals. "I don't care what shelter you are," she says. "A shelter life is no life for a pet to have long term."

A week of her own life in a kennel is more than enough to tell her that.

Zootoo Pet News held this story for release until after the 2nd Shelter Makeover Contest's conclusion. The Humane Society of the Nature Coast was a contestant and finished among the Top 10 Finalists.

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