A busy week comes to an end, and I look forward to spending some quality time with the pets at home. So often I'm not at home, and so often when I am at home my mind is swirling with work-related thoughts. It's hard to let go of the mental "To Do" lists, the ideas for making things better, the planning, strategizing, rehashing and self-judging. Do my dogs and cats know when I'm distracted? Do they feel short-changed when I'm physically present but not fully engaged?
I have this notion that when the weather warms up it'll be easier to make the transition from working to living. If I can come home and play with the dogs in the yard, or dig in the garden a little bit, I'll be able to let go of all that "stuff" and revel in the moment. That's what I look forward to on this Friday in February . . . with another weekend of snow and bitter cold in the forecast.
But, back to my original plan for this post . . . random notes on the week gone by. By the end of this week, we were getting lots of phone calls about a certain little puppy who had been in foster care until a few days ago. Apparently his foster mom had posted his photo on Facebook and sent it to some friends via email. Is this what it means for something to go "viral?" This little puppy's photo sure made an impression on a lot of people. I hope we can generate this kind of buzz for other animals in the future. Of course, this pup is a small mixed breed (Chihuahua/Pug?) and there is always a higher demand for the little dogs.
I'm grateful for two of our most dedicated and stalwart volunteers this week. A long time friend of our organization passed away earlier this month. She didn't have much when she died, but the people responsible for her estate knew that she would want our organization to receive the benefit of any valuable items she left behind, which included quite a large doll collection. H and M gave up an afternoon to sort through the belongings and move the valuable things to storage until our Giant Garage Sale.
Journalism students! This week, we received multiple requests for interviews from journalism students. They all want to report on how the economic downturn is causing more pets to be surrendered to our shelter. It's a compelling topic for sure, but as of this date, we don't have the data to back up any such claim. We have not yet seen an increase in owner-surrenders (compared to the same months in previous years). The top three reasons for relinquishment have always been, "cost," "no time," and "moving." While we've had a handful of relinquishers state that they were recently laid off, we don't have sufficient evidence to claim that more surrenders have been due to financial hardship than in the past. My fingers are crossed that this continues to be the case!
Donation income is actually a bigger concern for me than animal intakes. Our holiday mailer brought in less than we had hoped and when donations dropped off after January first, they dropped LIKE A ROCK. Nevertheless, I'm not going to despair. We had a very productive Development Committee meeting last Saturday and a number of things are in the works. This time of year is always slow for donation revenue.
To wrap up on a happy note . . . Boogie went home this week! I envision her curled up on the sofa with her new adoring people.
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