the i'm jane piers i'm your host for this episode of adopt a oh i know i'm not the face that you guys are used to seeing for this show but we're happy to announce at the belmont media center is going to be picking up some episodes about once per month and visiting different shelters in the boston area so for our of those are going to be visiting the northeast animal shelter in salem massachusetts the buddy dog i mean society and sudbury save a dog and also inside bury and the boss and animal rescue league is a really excited to be partnering with tuned and remember that every story can have a new beginning we started all those years ago when a local man found a dog at the dump and at the time animals found his trees were held for a certain number of days and then were given to research in this manner and thought you know there had to be a better dog so it does fluctuate but ok so you guys work with rescue groups in the south correct that will bring dogs out here as well as surrenders and things like yeah but so we're fortunate that here in new england we have a pretty successful spay and neuter rate you don't see a lot of stray dogs running in packs down the street which is fantastic so because of that we end up with a little extra space and our shelter and we are able to work with rescues out of areas where that is still a big problem so we've partnered with some rescues from various locations which have three rescue partners in puerto rico rescue partner south carolina area and a couple rescue partners out of qatar for dogs actually and then we also are working with you know some of those rescues we work with cats as well and then we have a rescue out in new york city for cats great and so what's the process for somebody who maybe sees a dog either on this show or on line it is interested in coming in meeting them so we are open six days a week to the public you know people we welcome people to stop in any time we're open and visit with the animals take the dogs out for a walk spend some time with the cats whatever the case may be  really get to know them and once they find an animal that's the right fit we then can go through the application process we don't do same day adoptions there's a few reasons behind that so then the animal would be available to pick up the end of the next business day or you know if they still need some follow up with the vat it might be a little bit longer that's how we go about that and so finally how can people help you guys out whether it's through donations or volunteering how can they get involved that there are several ways to help out we have an individual volunteer program we're fortunate to have a waiting list for that actually we get a lot of offers to help from the community which is fantastic so you're welcome to get on that waiting list sometimes we have corporate groups that want to come in and how those animals that come in from out of state come in kennels that we need to clean and send back for the next rescue group to come in so we have some of that trail clearing those are sort of our onsite volunteer opportunities but there's a lot to be done off site as well people will run collection drives schools youth groups whether it be goods or fund raising for  us we have several different ways only to have a spot on our website actually that people if they're really interested can go to look for some more ideas for kids or adults alike good and so you guys have peace book website all that i'm here with kareem and today we are here with duke tell us a little bit about do do you get is about i would say seven or eight years old now he's been at the shelter for a pretty long time he's one of our longer term residen here he is an american bulldog mix duke's a really really sweet guy he doesn't love other dogs and he definitely doesn't love cats so his best home would be probably an adult only home he likes to go on mostly short walk so he's not a big fan of the heat that's for sure the big guys have a guy but he's super playful he does love to play fat she loves toys one of his favorite things is just lying in his kennel on his comfortable he loves blankets on his comfortable bed and squeaking away at all the a stray so he's a local dog from would definitely do best in a home without small children kind of scare him a bit but older kids are probably be fine and no cats but pumpkin loves small dogs so he would love to have a home where can have a playmate and hang out with them he does also have a bit of separation anxiety so he would really prefer home or someone's home with him during the day he really needs that person there with him as well and if you like to play with or he is older he definitely loves toys he loves a good squeaky toy you give him that he does love to play ball and he used to be in a playgroup here with another small dog he's not a couch potato kind of guy but he's also not like that real young typical beagle that's go running around crazy either so it's kind of a good mix i think is part of perfect age for someone great any health concerns with him not yet he does have a we do have made a special diet just for kids kidney is but he's not on any medications or anything it's just more the type of food be feed him just to protect him for his age group anything else we know about pumpkins no i just i know people often are looking for a pair brad and they don't think of a shelter but we do have them and we get them here pretty often so pumpkins a prime example of a pure beagle if you look want a little bit  older dog he's perfect yeah i think he's someone to think about all right so if you want to know a little bit more about pumpkin stay  yeah roger was a local surrender he hasn't been a body doc for too long yet we do know that roger has had a lot of training he's gone to a lot of classes and he knows supposedly a ton of tricks we've definitely got sick going on and he knows pottery moore has  is play dead roll over down all that good stuff he does not like cats and he definitely would do best in a home where there's no small dogs he can't really be around anything smaller than him would say he did used to go to daycare and had a great time but with the bigger dogs only and no babies or anything like that definitely older children home for him he's really sweet he's supercut only he's definitely a super young dog and needs that exercise the kind of  energy out but i think he's i mean he knows a ton of you want like a pretty well trained dog right off the bat and rogers definitely a a good choice c a coming up underbite thing going on and he like toys and everything loves playing ball yeah all that stuff of hiking walking yet so good for an active fan good or not to sam liat well rounded well trained well rounded yeah all right so if you're interested in learning a bit more about roger check him out now residents he came to us from a rescue in the south and he's been as buddy dog now for quite a long time has been like those handsome gray hairs around hair i can think of and he's definitely not your typical older dog those of you get the impression that an eight year old dog is not an active dougherty we'll put that rumor to rest because this guy will play fetch with you pretty much all day every day right now and we've been here yeah he's not very with other dogs he's very very selective with other dogs so he's probably in a need to be the only dog in his home he has lived with cats and he lived with kids before if he's going to live with kids now we have to say older kids for sure maybe teenagers and objects because he does it kind of protective of his people  and that can be a problem sometimes when he's a little training in that area so just say for him to be around older people i would say ok yeah but he's housebroken had no health issues an awesome shape as you can see from all this running here so when when you guys have people who come in and they have a dog already but they're interested in the dog do you require they bring in their pets we do have i have to do a meet and greet just to make sure because a lot of dogs are selective who they're going out with we want to make sure it's a good fit for the family to doesn't stress out their resident dog so it's definitely a requirement my folks are here at the northeast and most out there in salem massachusetts i'm here with laurie and she's the director of the shelter can you tell us a little bit about when you guys started sure the shelter open in one nine hundred seventy six we worked out of the basement of a clinic we only had two rooms we did some pretty amazing work out of there the first year we found homes i think it was for three hundred dogs we didn't even do cats the first year and then it you know obviously the need for cats was noticed and so it grew to that and we were quickly placing you know two thousand three thousand pets the year where just recently last year we placed more than forty five hundred pets and so and we do just dogs and cats but you know there's still a high do i need for them  to be rescued and have a safe place to be until they can find a new and this is a really really great shelter so you've got play ards and so room for them to kind of come out and play how many animals can you have here at one time we typically have a little more than two hundred pets at a time on our on you know in the facility so it is a big big building and you know our purpose is obviously to be able to house and care for the pets in our care in the best way possible so yeah we did find you know we have community room for our cats that they can be free roaming we have the players for the dogs so they can you know our volunteers come out walk them every two or three hours they call the hours and play they have play groups they have that kind of stuff i mean we want them to not be you know the theory of all the homeless pets in a pound we want them to be loved and cared for and know that the whole time they're here waiting for their new you know and so on that know you guys i'm sure have a lot of people who come and help out and volunteer they're here every day walking dogs playing that path we do try to have at least ten to fifteen volunteers on per shift and some of them won't come in you know help with the direct animal care so people come in and do you know office work we have a counselor assistance so they would help you know facilitated options get to pay board we have volunteers everywhere and they make just everything so much better for our pets we couldn't do it without them so great so how do you  up in this shelter here we get pets from a variety of different situations you know locally we get pets that you know people kinky people whatever reason they're moving and he's allergic it just wasn't what they thought it was going to be it can be anything you know and we understand that life changes for all of us you know and sometimes it's just not going to work for your lifestyle and we try to help people who need it who feel like they need to give up their pet find ways to keep their pet because i mean ideally we want them living in a home and if we can help someone be successful with that than then that's our first goal but sometimes ultimately it's not and it's just not the right time for someone to have a pet so we do take them in for those kind of reasons i'm with people who you know they found a pet but then we get a a a lot of our pads that come from out of state their shelters are just bursting and most of the shelters are don't have the luxury of being noticed so most of our pets come from the transports would be pretty much down the east coast virginia west virginia georgia florida once pets arrive here there's a process they have to go through it's not like somebody can bring in a pet and we just magically make it available for adoption in the go home with you i mean there's a lot of medical work involved you know behavior really kind of assessments and to make sure a pet is adoptable so i think it's pretty time consuming and pretty costly but i mean they're all worth it and that's why here for what's important for people to know is that when you're adopting  are you guys taking care of a lot of those things for them so even though yes to be associated with and some people think i'm doing a good thing why do i have to pay this fee for it but really you guys are doing a lot of work to make sure that as ready exactly i mean sometimes you know some pets are pretty easy you know i mean they need the basic medications abatement vaccines they you know the baby neuter that kind of stuff those are pretty standard but you know we do get these special pets in every now and then and you know maybe we'll see alli a little while here al are you know she's our nine year old cat that is diabetic so she gets insulin shots every day and you know we had to go through a whole process with her of kind of daily blood checks to make sure you know she was balanced and you know to get her to that stable point where she's ready to go home it does take a lot of work and a lot of effort every pet costs us just about six hundred dollars to save and none of our adoption fees hit that mark so you know i mean we a cat like allie who is like i said she's a senior can add so if she goes home we have a seniors for seniors program so say a senior adopt her i mean her adoption fee of fifty dollars i mean it is it is a really tough balancing act and that's why we do have to rely on not only obviously the adoption fees but private donations make this all happen people who love pets much as we do but you know maybe they can't be here working involuntary on the staff but they want to support saving each one of that so they you know male and checks or or you know would donate online or that kind of where can you direct people who are looking for more information about the shelter you guys have facebook website and all that stuff we have and so our basic web site you know has obviously more detailed information about us i mean our programs and all our pets that are available for adoption and how you can help with you know fostering volunteering you know fundraisers of your own you know some people do company collections or that kind of all that kind of information on our website but we also do the social media part of it we have facebook is probably our biggest be a hound if you adopt him you need to expect to hound his nose is always going to be down on the ground sniffing things to see very smart already gives paw and said good way so expect a dog that's going to do more sniffing then retrieving in playing with a ball he comes from a kind of sad background who surrendered twice in the second time the family that had him was a little bit abusive towards him they just didn't treat him the way that he needs to be treated so he's really looking for somebody in a quiet home quiet environment kids may be ok with him but if they're rowdy and rambunctious it's probably not going to be the best fit house that has more of a quiet setting inside and out would be better like a busy street you may find that he starts to inherit some barking towards cars or trucks noises that he can't decipher but as he grows up and gets a little bit older and has an owner that's confident and can help him break out of his show a little bit he should find his own confidence in learning how to react in the right way to big noises and more stressful situation energy so he will get a lot of his energy out by sniffing but like toys that make him work something like that inside of the house would be good you can roll around and will dispense treats that type of thing makes him work mentally and with his nose but outside he loves the dog parks that's what one reason he pulls on leash a little bit is because he wasn't walked as much as he was brought to the dog park but the combination of both a focused walk and then playtime at the dog park will be ideal for him because he gets that that focus and he is locked in with you on a walk the way you want it to be for a few minutes and that builds up a little bit of not necessarily frustration but just keep his energy pent up a little bit so then once he gets the dog park and he can let all that out then if you walk home from the dog park the walk back will be much calmer i can guarantee you that and then he'll probably just want to curl up with you on the couch or on his bed they said he loves his bed but he likes to be next to his person too so it's cute all right why he's a great looking dog he's full of energy so if you're looking for a dog like do check him out right now that and what prediction do we know she's hound lab mix is what it says on the file and she's about fifty pounds but she's going to require a much more experienced dog owner so sandy has a little bit of dog aggression that shouldn't turn you off from owner she's a sweet sweet girl especially with people she loves her people and is very friendly with other people passing by is just from her past she's a rescue from georgia so a lot of the times we don't know what they went through in their first few years down there before we rescued them so sandy could have had a really tough life and now she's here looking for a much better life and with an ex with an experienced owner and some  professional training sandy should and possibly can break the dog aggression habits that she has and so if somebody has a dog you probably would recommend that they come in to you know not the home for an established dog in the house they can get territorial obviously and if sandy wants to be a part of a family she's going to want a dedicated owner kind of like you did somebody that will focus on her and she does have to split time with another family and how about he doesn't say so but again kids kids and young dogs can kind of be in the same level sometimes because kids want to be so handy with dogs dogs see it as paws instead of little people's hands that can get you into trouble sometimes they get that type of thing and if she's dog aggressive kid a rambunctious kid is probably not the best scenario for sandy she's going to need a home that she can just come into and create her own boundaries and gay in her own trust within within the new home with the new people when she slammed down right now is she usually playful pretty active or a she kind of a lounge or she again kind of like duke was the hound in or she likes to sniff a lot but this is how she seems to be when she's with people and she's in a relaxed environment  probably be a couch potato she can just lay in the yard and soak up the sun but even at this point when she's calm like this if we were to bring another dog around she would kind of go crazy so that and that would start owner if she behaved really well here and some dogs do perform really well here until they get home in their new home and in a comfortable setting and then people start to see the the real personality of the dog breakout so sandy could show really well to somebody here it would just surprise an owner to see her lay down be so calm and think that's what he's getting one hundred percent of the time when they get home and then if you take her to the park you mate you're going to see something totally different  so would you recommend that she goes to a home where they maybe have a nice big garden they don't need to take her to a dog park that would that would be ideal that interaction with other dogs i guess it will be baby steps and very progressive throughout the rest her life but there are some dogs that don't just don't want to be around other dogs they don't want to play with other dogs and if she can build a bond with an owner in a big yard plenty of space to run toys things to occupy your time out there in an owner that will pay attention all right so last night i got a cat and her name appropriately is alley cat cat telephone about alley cat alley cat has been here a couple weeks but alley cat is actually a diabetic cat so we get animals with cats and dogs with some medical issues but there are owners out there maybe you that want to give a little extra loving care to a cat or dog and that's always one way you can do it is by adopting one with a medical condition through but it lasts three or four months so you're only making that payment a couple times a year to benefit alley cat and she's a sweet cat once she bonds just like any other cat but they warm up to you and as you know as soon as they rub up on your leg they're basically yours and she's super playful and she'd be just a great companion for somebody at a quiet household somebody that is looking for a cat probably no other animals that suck to bring a cat into another cat's home and we haven't seen her interact with dogs ok so there are any she's diabetic but does that mean that she has to be any specific type of car is it just the medicine is just the medicine there may be a preferred food by the vet may give you a suggestion as as any cat would be in a new environment they're so smart that it and they're so independent that it takes them time to warm up to a new place and new people so it's just going to take patience from an  owner if you've had cats in the past you know how they can be temperamental and they have their own agenda they make they they make time for you more them wanted you to make time for them but she'll be a great companion for somebody and a love bug once