Leader gives peek at dog shelter

[bigdoglover]

BY Timothy Alex Akimoff
Statesman Journal

May 29, 2006

It's no secret that Marion County residents love their dogs.

The county has a good-sized dog population that requires good dog control.

Marion County Dog Control supervisor Phyllis Morris and her dog, Mocha, stopped in to talk to the Statesman Journal about dogs, life and the new county dog-control facility.

Despite construction delays, Morris said, the high-tech shelter is on track to open in Salem in mid-July.

Question: The Willamette Humane Society has been serving the Salem area since 1965. Four years ago, it asked Marion County to find a new place for its stray dogs. Why do we need two separate dog shelters?

Answer: Currently, the reason we need two shelters is because the population has grown and the need for space for stray dogs has grown. Marion County Dog Control has been serving the community since 1918, and in 1972 the community asked Marion County to have a dog-at-large ordinance to keep dogs at home. Since then, as the community has grown, so has the dog population. The humane society bases their structure on all the animals they take in and not just stray dogs.

Q: Marion County picks up at least 2,000 stray dogs every year. Is this number higher or lower than other Oregon counties' numbers? Why?

A: That's hard to answer. I would say that any county that has a similar geographic and population base has the same number of strays collected in the community. A good comparison would be Deschutes County. It's similar in population to Marion County, and they have about the same number of strays. Other counties like Multnomah, because their population density is much larger than ours, have a larger number of stray dogs.

Q: What is the main purpose of the new shelter? In what ways does it differ from the Willamette Humane Society's shelter? What are some of the unique characteristics of the shelter?

A: That's three questions in one. I'll hit them in a row so I don't miss anything. First, stray rescue, return to owner and adoption. We differ from the Willamette Humane Society because we are dog-only, and we are stray-dog-only. People who can no longer keep their dogs because of illness or they are moving, the humane society is still going to be taking those dogs. They call them owner-relinquished dogs. We tried to make a shelter that is functional, friendly to both dogs and customers. Some of the unique characteristics have been brought on by new practices in shelter medicine. You look at the methylmethacralate floors, we're not going to be using as many medications and antibiotics to reduce what we actually have to do for the dogs to keep them in a healthy environment.

Glass doors on the dog kennels do the same thing; they protect the dogs from having one disease transferred to another.

Q: Euthanizing dogs is an issue many people don't like to talk about, but with the number of stray dogs being turned in vs. the number that are returned, one would imagine that it would be necessary. How do you plan to implement a euthanasia program at Marion County Dog Control?

A: That's kind of a two-part question as well, so I'll address the first part. Euthanasia is an issue people don't like to talk about because no matter who does it; it's difficult at best. The state, in and of itself, has a euthanasia task force that trains anyone in a shelter environment to perform euthanasia. The Oregon Veterinary Medical Association gives us certificates of completion of the program. How you actually look at it based on the number of dogs that come in vs. ones that are are returned to owner, an adoption program is just as important as a euthanasia program, if not more so. And an adoption program is going to be helping the dogs that are left behind to do a behavior evaluation that allows us to understand what a dog's needs are. That can help us match it to a family.

If a dog is too ill or its behavior is beyond (what) our rescue groups or foster homes can manage and it's aggressive, that's where our euthanasia program comes in. Kindness and caring are the most important things about the euthanasia program. We'll only euthanize one dog at a time. It will be done in a quiet environment, they will be given a big, fluffy dog bed to lay on. They're going to be given something to relax prior to their being given an overdose of anesthetic medication, which is what most of us are given before we go in for surgery. The dog basically gets loved and petted throughout the euthanasia experience and has an opportunity to die with respect and dignity.

Q: This shelter has been billed as safer and healthier for dogs and people. How will this be accomplished, and why was it necessary?

A: It's necessary for us to meet the expectations of the citizens, when you look at keeping up with what's current in shelter management and both for disease and adoptions and community support. If you learn something about how to reduce disease, it's something that will pay itself back very quickly.

Q: The cost of the new facility has jumped from $800,000 to $2 million, and the expected opening of the facility has been pushed from March to July.

A: The cost really didn't jump. We had an estimate of $800,000 from the architect. Between the time we put the bids out and received them back, Hurricane Katrina happened. Construction materials doubled and tripled in price. That includes steel and plywood. So, I think what you see is a reflection of what has happened to the building-material market. We were all surprised to see it come in at $ 2 million.

Q: What are the biggest challenges in the dog-control business? What are the biggest rewards?

A: I think the biggest challenges we face are similar to those in code enforcement and law enforcement. That's educating the customer about the laws that we're supporting and trying to get them through the process. We try to educate the owners about how they can keep their dogs behind the fence. Some of that has to do with spay and neuter because people don't realize that (if) their dogs go into heat or if they're fertile, they start looking for love in all the wrong places. I think the biggest rewards for us would be seeing people reunited with their dogs or finding a home for a stray dog and seeing that be a really good match. The other one is when the community is really happy when they feel we are doing something that is really valuable.

Q: What kind of a dog is Mocha? What wisdom can you pass along to dog owners that could help Marion County deal with stray dogs?

A: Mocha is a Rottweiler. She was a stray; she came in as a feral, 6-month-old dog. The staff had put her on the euthanasia list because she was really unsocial and very fearful. My experience and training at the time was that you can rehabilitate those dogs, some of them, if they have the right attitude towards learning. Mocha was basically at the bottom of the dog-hierarchy scale. Her brother was too, which made them very trainable. They socialized very quickly. I had them both pretty socialized within a week. My husband came when I was working with her and absolutely fell in love. One of the big things that could help us a lot is that if people would license their dogs so we could return them to where they go. That would be huge for us.

Q: How has dog control changed in the last 10 years, and how does the county plan to use the new facility to keep up with those changes?

A: I don't think the shelter is going to help us keep up with changes as far as dog control. Dog control has changed over the last 10 years. It was originally at the sheriff's office. But what we've seen is that dog control is very similar to code enforcement. So they brought dog control into the code enforcement environment which is under public works. Some of the things we've done is reevaluate the program. We've built infrastructure, which gives us the ability to do a better job of customer service within the community. We've added a Web site, online licensing.