Oregon Humane Society

Saturday, April 25th, ten of us visited the Oregon Humane Society. With group volunteering, they like us to "socialize" the animals. It's something they can train us to do quickly, lets us have face time with the dogs and cats right away, and gives the animals some attention getting them more ready for adoption!

Our group had an orientation and tour then went to the dog runs. We got into pairs and our staff person Sasha would bring us a dog, introduce us and then leave us to do tricks, fetch, brush and pet our dog. After about half an hour some of us headed to the cat colony rooms and some of us (those of us with cat allergies or who have cats with FIV at home and are worried about passing a cold) stayed with the dogs. We arranged it with Sasha that this exact group can come back and skip the orientation so we can have more time with the animals. It would be great to start a new group though if others are interested, and then we could have two Return Serve teams rotating through OHS!

We didn't have any adoptions in our group Saturday, but we all have a token to pass to a friend or family member worth $55 toward the adoption of a "lifelong, loving companion from the Oregon Humane Society"! If you or someone you know is thinking about adopting, please let us know and
we'll get you this great deal!

Also, the OHS website is pretty great. There's a pet cam in the cat room where Wendy was on Saturday (she was almost famous) and then here is the page for the animals we met: dogs and cats. We hope these guys are all adopted by the time you read this, but if you're browsing, here are a few of the dog friends we met: Angel, Ginger, Roxy and Zuko (both pictured here on our blog). We were told average adoption time is 10 days so really the animals rotate through pretty quickly. OHS will keep an animal as long as it takes to be adopted as long as it remains healthy at the shelter. In 2006, OHS found homes for 8,671 pets, 99% of dogs and 86% of cats. For more on their policies, here is a link to the OHS FAQ page.

Our first animal project definitely a success - more to come!