Serendipity at the animal shelter

Some of you know that I am a very spiritual creature by nature. I am also a therapist. Over the years I have gathered many tools of the trade. One of them is the use of vision boards. The idea is that you create a board that has images that remind you of what you want, and of course my image board has many images related to Downsy Dude Rescue Ranch. However I am going to write about this image that I did not initially relate to the project but rather to meeting like minded people.  Little did I realize just how this would manifest.

My most recent visit to the shelter was to finish my cat personality analysis training. I was to do a personality inventory on a shelter cat while under the watchful eye of a trainer. This way the shelter could allow me to then do cat  personality inventories on my own.

I went in an hour early to spend some time with a few kitties I have identified as frightened. One little new shy kitty caught my attention because she was missing about  a third of her fur. It appeared that she had been shaved in several locations on her body. Sometimes cats come in with mats or debris stuck to them and the kindest way to remove it is to shave them. This poor little kitty only had the name of "Six" indicating that she came in from a home or location where there were too many cats. She actually looked almost exactly like one of my tortoise calicoes, which is very interesting, given what happened next. If you have read my blog before you know that I have a Down's syndrome son who has a favorite kitty named Daisy. Daisy is the torti.

While I was setting on the floor in the cat suite, a Down's syndrome young man came in and sat on the bench very quietly. We said hello and he just smiled at me, not quite knowing what to say next. He was beaming with positive energy and it showed on his face. Before I know it Six was on his lap, closed her eyes and went to sleep purring. He quietly stroked the kitty, bald spots and all, with out ever commenting on the condition of her fur.

The door opened and the Young man's mother stepped in. I gave her a knowing smile and just went back to my work. After a while I shared with the mom that I also had a son with Down's. We talked about the many gifts that come with it and we both agreed that the extra chromosome that both our son's were born with should be called "the love Gene." We laughed in a way that only two mom's of Down's kids could do. As we talked we discovered that we had more and more in common. Both of us had recent terrifying experiences with illness, both are at a cross roads in our lives. I told her my plans for Downsy Dude Ranch and she nearly cried. She told me that she can not continue at her current job and has been praying for answers about what she was to do next. As I explained the concepts I was basing Downsy Dude Ranch on, you could just see the light bulb come on in her eyes. We agreed to stay in touch and exchange email information. She thanked me for the inspiration and then she told her son they had to go look at kitties in a few more locations before deciding on an adoption.

Her son spoke up and said "this one likes me, I want this one." I have to tell you it was very hard to not burst into tears at the sight of this young fella holding this ragged little cat with half her fur gone. He never noticed the fur. He only noticed that the cat instinctively knew she should belong to him. He knew, and the cat knew.

When I asked the universe to surround me with like minded people, I never dreamed I would be in the right place at the right time to see this very special, nonjudgmental young man demonstrate what I feel in my heart. I never dreamed I would meet his mother who needed the message I had for her. The experience has filled me with gratitude and affirmed my belief in the use of vision boards.

If you are interested in reading more about how I use my Vision board, and how to create one for yourself,  you can look here : Vision Boards

More dog training at the shelter-Comedy and insight

Yesterday I went for the next phase of clicker training at our local shelter. We started with a dog named Augustus who has had a few weeks of training. Augustus is a  large pitbull/terrier mix with some kind of brindle marble coat. Just a beautiful dog who loved the attention of the six ladies in the room. We took turns practicing the commands sit, lay down, and stay wait while opening a door. Next we moved on to crate training. The idea is to reward the dog for going into his crate so that he would view it as a positive friendly place to be. Well, as dogs often do, Augustus decide to clown around a bit. When the trainer moved toward the crate, Augustus decided he would take a leap and jumped up on top of the crate. We all howled with laughter and he beamed setting up there wagging his tail with the pride of a performer who just nailed a good punch line. Of coarse August immediatly picked up on the laughter and jumped down and back up 3 or 4 times before we could contain ourselves enough to redirect him.

Once Augustus had trained us on the basics, we brought in a dog who had not received any training. Duke is a mastif chow mix large enough to drag me across the floor with my feet skidding, and he did. LOL. Much to my amazement within only a few minutes this smart boy was getting the basic commands about 90% of the time. Remember this was his first training session. As I worked with Duke I was taken by the ease of trainning and what a shame it is that the owners who surrendered him did not take advantage of the free training that would have enabled them to keep this dog who came in looking buck A wild. I have no doubt that both of these dogs will make fabulous companions for the right owner who is willing to spend the training time, which from what I have seen so far, can actually be very minimal.

I have to add the joy and gratification I feel after being privileged to behavior train these pooches keeps a smile on my face for hours after I leave the shelter. I think I am benefiting as much as the dogs.

Lewis-finding more of his Down's syndrome gifts in volunteer work at the animal shelter

I love Wednesdays. Wednesdays have always been the day that Lewis and I tweaked out of my busy schedule to make a committed effort to spend good quality time together. I learned raising two kids that time goes by in a flash and we must cherish the time we have. Often we would struggle with what to do on our Wednesday outings. We generally looked for free or low cost stuff to do, just because budget required it.  Now we are spending time volunteering at the animal shelter every Wednesday.

It is so wonderful to see the spark light up in Lew's eyes when Wednesdays come. He emerges from his room proudly sporting his T-shirt that says Volunteer on it. The anticipation that is apparent in his demeanor is so beautiful. He can't wait to get  to the shelter to give of himself to cast away animals.

Down's people often do not have the part of our personalities that cast judgement. He is the most accepting and forgiving person I have ever met. He can work with animals that others may avoid because of the way they look. Often shelter cats, for example, come in with issues that have made them loose patches of hair or even have wounds. Many would avoid the animals with the worst issues, but not Lewis. He goes in every week and seeks out who seems to be in the worst shape. He spends time with those animals before he goes on to play with the cute kitties etc...  If a kitty growls at him or another animal, he simply states, "this one is a little grumpy" and carries on. He knows the growl does not belong to him. Brilliant compared to the rest of us LOL. Just another example of how a Down's syndrome guy can teach the rest of us. So often I aspire to be more like him.

Cat love-a Purrrrrfect day at the shelter with the Downsy dude

Today we spent another afternoon at the shelter. Lewis  decided we would focus on the cats for now so we started in the kitten nursery. Our job was to coax the kittens to the front of the cage. We had toys and canned food on a tongue depressor as tools. Kittens who hide are rarely adopted so it is important to create a desire for human interaction. Today there were six cages of kittens with the youngest being 12 weeks. These are pretty big kittens and the bigger they get the less apt to become adopted they are. We had so much fun with the kittens (and them with us) that all the kittens were at the front of the cages by the time we were done. One smart kitten even learned how to give a high five in less than ten minutes.

As we were leaving that area a young couple came it and spotted two of the kittens still frolicking full of energy from our play session. Guess who went to their forever homes today.

Next we moved into the grown cat area. There are suites there were several cats are allowed to play in larger areas. Lewis loves the '"cat rooms" and spent a good deal of time in there just playing with the cats. I was summons to a cage by a small gray howler. She was clearly distressed. I opened the cage and she quickly climbed into my arms. For a few minutes she tried to climb all over me, even on my head. When she would calm down and just let me hold her I would slip her a cat treat. She very quickly adjusted her behavior to maximize her treat experience. She was so happy and grateful to be held that she started giving me hugs- literally put her paws around my neck and planted her cheek on mine. She settled into my arms and fell asleep purring like a maniac.

 Time and attention is such a simple gift to give to a needy animal. In return I had a per-fect afternoon and came home with cat love all over me.

Next post: Wait till you hear what I saw a pit bull do today, it will warm your heart

Volunteer training at the animal shelter

Yesterday Lewis and I went to the volunteer training at one of our local animal shelters. We will be providing enrichment activities to the animals waiting for their forever homes. We will also be involved with an animal behavior specialist who will teach us how to teach the animals things that will make them more desirable for adoption.

Lewis did really well with the exception of a bit of a sensory issue when several dogs would bark at once. He is very enthusiastic about spending every Wednesday afternoon with the animals. Wish us luck, this is the beginning of our new adventure and I am very excited about it!