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Doggone busy days give us no time to paws
It’s been all paws on deck at all our Homes in the past couple of months. We’ve been busier than a Border Collie with a flock of cranky sheep to herd.
Our Hobart Home has seen a lot of dogs recently, both surrenders and strays, and plenty of people coming to fetch their escapee dogs who ended up with us. Overall dog numbers are a little up for this time of year as we usually see a greater influx of dogs in winter.
Small breeds are popular as usual, but we’ve also been seeing a lot of Bulldog crosses and Staffy crosses. And we’ve been overwhelmed by puppies! We saw 24 puppies in March alone, including nine Hound pups in one litter.
Launceston got a new pressure washer so staff have been having fun playing with their new toy, going on an absolute cleaning frenzy. The decking at the Home was given a blast and came up a treat.
The washer was purchased through a kind donation of vouchers by Bunnings Warehouse, and volunteer Karen McKenzie helped out with a financial donation. Karen raises money for the Dogs’ Homes by selling plants at the Ampol service station at Westbury.
Best of all, gentle giant Alfie and gorgeous big girl Willow finally got adopted after being with us since July!
Dog numbers have been up in Burnie, with staff seeing numerous pups coming through and getting plenty of boarding dogs as well. Earlier in the year the Home saw a lot of Hounds, then an influx of German Shepherds, and staff are now seeing more working dog breeds.
Seven new volunteers were inducted in early April. In partnership with Department of Justice, the site has had two people working at the Home as part of their community service, doing odd jobs around the site.
Devonport had lots of boarding dogs over the Easter period.
On the donations front, all our Homes are chock-a-block full of donations of bedding, coats and towels and simply don’t have any more space. We deeply appreciate the donations and support, but unfortunately, storage space is at a premium at all our sites.
In particular, a Hobart staff member described their pile as “a Mount Everest of donations that gets cleared and magically reappears again within days”. We get numerous offers of doonas and other thick bedding that we can’t use because our doggy charges like to destroy them and clog up our drains! We prefer fleece-style blankets that are easy to wash (and easy on our clothes washers) and quick to dry.
Our statewide foster care co-ordinator Mel has been busy recruiting new foster carers. We’ve received quite a few applications in the south, but we are still crying out for carers in the north of the state.
Newsletter correction: please note that we incorrectly published that we had 24 litters in March alone. This should have said ’24 puppies’ not ’24 litters’. We just apologise for the error.
