here are some dogs
Gomez is always one of the first dogs I walk, when I come in before the shift starts, because he lives in the intake room full time. The thing about Gomez is that he is painfully shy and frightened of everything, so when I walk him I have to move really slowly and I cannot look directly at him, or even approach him. He wears a leash all the time, so when it's time for a walk I open the door to intake and let him scurry into the foyer, where I slowly pick up the end of his leash and then he follows me outside. He usually walks either behind me or alongside me, but always as far away as possible. I think he's probably a real sweetheart, but he spent most of his life chained up and never developed any social skills. On the nicer days folks open the outer door of the intake room, which leads to a very small fenced-in concrete pad, and Gomez likes to stand out there and watch everyone. You still can't look at him directly though.
Bentley is a puggle, half-pug/half-beagle, with a very beagle-like bark. He doesn't really like other dogs (or, he barks at other dogs, always), but is otherwise a good walker and very good about waiting for me to clip on his leash before leaving the kennel. He also never, ever makes messes in his kennel (that I've seen anyway), which I sincerely appreciate. In fact he's very tidy all around, and it's rare that I have to replace the blankets on his bed, or all of his toys. Being half-beagle, he's a little stubborn and he sure likes to sniff stuff, but he doesn't have a full-on houndish personality, which, again, I appreciate.
Daisy, on the other hand, is an elderly coonhound who is very sweet and very houndish. She barks and barks and barks and barks, and has recently developed a tendency to pee and poop in her kennel (in her inner kennel, getting her blankets and toys dirty too). I honestly think she just doesn't notice. She's too busy barking. It's one of those deep, monosyllabic hound bays, the sort you can hear even when you're working outside on the other kennel wing. Though, sometimes when I look at her and say, "Daisy! Why are you barking so much?" she looks back at me and then she stops and lays down for a while. Maybe she just wants the attention.
Minerva is a boxer-mix, and a real doll. It's taken some time for her sweetness to come out; when she first arrived at the shelter she'd come from an abusive situation and was terrified all the time. She still cries sometimes, and when she does it sounds like a child sobbing, it's hard to listen to. She's finally starting to flesh out a little bit, by which I mean, you can't quite see her ribs or the points of her hips anymore, and her fur is amazingly soft. She's big, but most of it is legs, and I think she probably loves to play. I only usually take her on a first walk though, the pee-opportunity walk, so I haven't really played with her yet. But she's another one who keeps her kennel (both inner and outer) very tidy.
Elaine I think I've mentioned before; she's a Dogue de Bordeaux/pit bull mix, and weights at least half of what I do. Probably more. Her head is enormous, and she has the most expressive features. Mostly she expresses, "Take me out of here, these other dogs are really loud." This evening when I took her on her first walk, which is only supposed to be five minutes, she parked herself by the dumpster (good smells there) and would not budge. I mean, I tried. I tried for like ten minutes. But she was enjoying the grass, and enjoying the breeze, and all the interesting smells, and watching the other humans take other dogs on walks... Finally I enlisted the help of another dog walker (sans dog) to get Elaine back inside, but we only went as far as ten feet from the kennel wing door before she parked herself again. I don't really blame her: she loves people, she loves moving, and she shares a kennel wing with Daisy. I wouldn't want to go back in either.
Bentley is a puggle, half-pug/half-beagle, with a very beagle-like bark. He doesn't really like other dogs (or, he barks at other dogs, always), but is otherwise a good walker and very good about waiting for me to clip on his leash before leaving the kennel. He also never, ever makes messes in his kennel (that I've seen anyway), which I sincerely appreciate. In fact he's very tidy all around, and it's rare that I have to replace the blankets on his bed, or all of his toys. Being half-beagle, he's a little stubborn and he sure likes to sniff stuff, but he doesn't have a full-on houndish personality, which, again, I appreciate.
Daisy, on the other hand, is an elderly coonhound who is very sweet and very houndish. She barks and barks and barks and barks, and has recently developed a tendency to pee and poop in her kennel (in her inner kennel, getting her blankets and toys dirty too). I honestly think she just doesn't notice. She's too busy barking. It's one of those deep, monosyllabic hound bays, the sort you can hear even when you're working outside on the other kennel wing. Though, sometimes when I look at her and say, "Daisy! Why are you barking so much?" she looks back at me and then she stops and lays down for a while. Maybe she just wants the attention.
Minerva is a boxer-mix, and a real doll. It's taken some time for her sweetness to come out; when she first arrived at the shelter she'd come from an abusive situation and was terrified all the time. She still cries sometimes, and when she does it sounds like a child sobbing, it's hard to listen to. She's finally starting to flesh out a little bit, by which I mean, you can't quite see her ribs or the points of her hips anymore, and her fur is amazingly soft. She's big, but most of it is legs, and I think she probably loves to play. I only usually take her on a first walk though, the pee-opportunity walk, so I haven't really played with her yet. But she's another one who keeps her kennel (both inner and outer) very tidy.
Elaine I think I've mentioned before; she's a Dogue de Bordeaux/pit bull mix, and weights at least half of what I do. Probably more. Her head is enormous, and she has the most expressive features. Mostly she expresses, "Take me out of here, these other dogs are really loud." This evening when I took her on her first walk, which is only supposed to be five minutes, she parked herself by the dumpster (good smells there) and would not budge. I mean, I tried. I tried for like ten minutes. But she was enjoying the grass, and enjoying the breeze, and all the interesting smells, and watching the other humans take other dogs on walks... Finally I enlisted the help of another dog walker (sans dog) to get Elaine back inside, but we only went as far as ten feet from the kennel wing door before she parked herself again. I don't really blame her: she loves people, she loves moving, and she shares a kennel wing with Daisy. I wouldn't want to go back in either.