In October, the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals sponsors Adopt a Shelter Dog Month annually to encourage people to give dogs in shelters a second chance.
In Milledgeville, the Baldwin County Animal Shelter, at 1395 Orchard Hill Rd, rescues dogs and cares for them until they are adopted or transferred to another facility. On any given day, more than 40 dogs call the shelter home.
To celebrate Adopt a Shelter Dog Month, this reporter sat down with Tracy White, director of the Baldwin County Animal Shelter, to talk about the joys and challenges of adopting shelter dogs and how Georgia College & State University students can support the local shelter. White joined the shelter staff earlier this year.
Question: What is the shelter’s current capacity for the dogs, including how many can the shelter take care of at one time?
Answer: I think it’s up to 80 animals (dogs and cats) in the shelter. At the moment, I think we’ve got about 60. We don’t like to be up to the high level in this shelter because the fewer we have in the shelter, the more chance we have to get them adopted or rescued. At the moment, I think we’ve got about 40 shelter dogs. I’d say about 32 adult dogs and the rest are puppies, which are all ready for adoption.
Q: Tell me why a student or community member should adopt a shelter dog, and what are the steps they can take to adopt a dog at Baldwin County Animal Shelter?
A: Everyone should adopt a shelter dog; they are the most loving dogs that you can get. They’re very loyal and everyone deserves a second chance, and so do these dogs. The process is you come in and have a look at the dogs, fill out an application form and get approved, and then you can take your forever pup home.
Q: Dogs, or any pet really, come with a lot of responsibilities, so who might not be the ideal person to adopt a dog?
A: I would say people who just don’t have the time. The dogs and puppies are part of your family, they’re like your children. You wouldn’t leave your children 14, 15, 16 hours a day. They need medical care, they need to be taken care of, they need to be loved on. So, people who can’t give their dog time are the type of people who shouldn’t adopt these dogs.
Q: How can students support shelter dogs if they are unable to adopt at this time?
A: They can sign up for Shelter Buddies. They come (to the shelter), they get trained in what the procedures are here, and they can come anytime between the hours of 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. They can take dogs out for a walk, they can sit in the kennels with the dogs and socialize, and just basically they can come and love on the dogs.
Q: What do you think students should know before adopting a dog?
A: Students really should know whether they have the time for the dogs. Because these are shelter dogs, sometimes they need a few weeks to decompress, a few weeks to understand that this is their forever home. Sometimes the first couple of weeks they might poop in your house, but you just have to give them time.
Q: Are there any common misconceptions about adopting from a shelter?
A: Most people think they (shelter dogs) are aggressive and not nice dogs, just because they’re strays. Yes, we do get some aggressive dogs that we can’t adopt out, and we do get dogs with behavior problems. I think a lot of people don’t come to the shelters because a lot of the dogs that we have here are pit bull mixes, so a lot of people are scared of them. But basically, all these dogs are loving, and people really should come and have a look.
Q: What types of dogs do you usually see coming into the shelter?
A: A lot of dogs coming into the shelter are pit bull mixes, or pit bull with lab mixes. A lot of people in the community are actually scared of pit bull mixes, so that’s why they have such a bad rap, and a lot of people won’t adopt them. But I felt like that when I moved down here. I moved down here from upstate New York, and this is the first time I’ve been to an area where there’s so many pit bull mix strays. When I first started here, I was scared of them until I realized there was nothing to be scared of, that they are really loving dogs.
Q: Why do you think this area has a higher number of pit bull mixes?
A: I think a lot of the reasons why we have a lot of strays here are due to the community not spaying and neutering their animals. We could pick up 10 to 20 strays a week, and I think basically if we spayed and neutered our pets that there wouldn’t be so many strays out there in the community, because they just keep on breeding.
Q: Do you have any favorite adoption stories of dogs who were here and finally got adopted?
A: We have quite a few. We have such a close bond with these dogs, and I have such a good team of staff that we socialize with these dogs every single day. At every adoption we get really happy that they’re going but upset that they’re going at the same time, because we do form a bond with everyone here.
If you are interested in adopting, email the shelter at [email protected] or call 478-445-5514. The shelter, at 1395 Orchard Hill Rd, is open from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday for students to meet adoptable dogs. Photos and biographies of available dogs are updated regularly on the shelter’s Facebook page.