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this would like on so many of the dogs that we have on the shelter. it really looks like they have their sunday best on. this would help to attract …
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Getting back to the vetport at JFK, it is rat infested. I have had a rat run a couple of inches in front of me. And, on many occasions, when other workers had to get something off of a shelf, a rat was there to scare them to death. When and if we do have those rare people who find their way to the vetport, no one wants to be in this type of environment.
The dog kennels are abutted to a very large horse stable. The stables have nothing to do with Bobbi. Right outside the dog runs, where prospectice dog owners would come to look at a dog to adopt, there is a gigantic pile of horse manure piled right next where our customers would be sitting and getting to know the dogs.
It is not a pleasant site, as there is usually a very huge garbage container that is filled with horse manure. When the nice weather comes along, you can bearly stand being outside there. And the horse flies are totally impossible to deal with. We try to sit with the dogs in the runs outside, but you keep getting bit all over yourself by all the flies from the horse stables.
And those stables are massive. I love horses and one day when there was a shipment of horses myself and a friend went in to look at them and admire them. We counted about 40 horses in that stable.
So it's so difficult with the rats running all over the place to get people to sit down and come and visit a dog until the dog and the person form a bond. These poor dogs are so isolated at JFK airport. At Atlas Mall, people can sit down inside in a comfortable chair and make themselves at home. This helps to get them to know the animals and the animals get to know them. And most often than not, there is a human and a dog/cat falling in love, and an abandoned dog/cat who lived in a 2 x 3 cage for six months, is getting a new lease on life.
At the vetport at JFK Airport, since the dogs hardly see anyone except the kennel workers, they are not getting socialized properly. We do not get any volunteers at the vetport since it is so rat infested, smelly from the horse manure outside, and very uncomfortable from getting bit non-stop by the flies from the horses.
Bobbi's workers clean out the cages twice a day, inside and outside, to keep her area as sanitized as can be. But it is not her fault that we are connected to a horse stable where they throw out their waste material right outside out sitting area outside.
When we get a volunteer they won't come back anymore. And there is no place for a prospective dog owner to be comfortable and warm to bond with the dogs.
And Bobbi is notorious for taking dogs that could use major socializing. They need to be around people. Some of the dogs will roll on their backs for you or lick you unceasingly, but around strangers they act like they're aggressive. When all the dog is doing is being protective.
We have so many dogs that have to get more attention. There is no way they will get the attention they need where we are now. We need to be in a heavy populated area where it will be convenient for us to get the volunteers we need. And to make it possible for people to bond with the dogs who long to be with someone.
If we would have turned away these dogs, they would have been euthanized by now. But as soon as they get familiar with you, they are the most loving dogs i've ever seen. sometimes it takes a week or two of the dogs' seeing you and then one day they're your best friend.
Of course, there are many dogs who are already socialized and they are very friendly, but we could get homes for them so much more quickly then it is possible to do now in the situation we are in.
I took a dog home from the vetport . He was there over 6 months and his health was not holding up well. He got kennel cough, a heart condition and a kidney problem. He would bark at strangers and even get a hold of their pants. After I nursed him back to health, he went to Atlas Mall instead of bringing him back to the vetport. Ater 4 weeks, he is now in his own home. That's because one of the volunteers bonded with him and he with her.
The mice/rat droppings get in the cages and some of the smaller dogs or older dogs don't have the immune system to ingest that. Sometimes, at night, before the staff leaves the vetport, we give them treats. We don't like to leave anything that will attract a rodent, but sometimes just a few crumbs left from a dog biscuit will be enough to find rodent droppings visiting Read Less