Volunteer Orientation - Open To Anyone Who Loves Animals!!

Please mark your calendars for Sat, Oct. 20th at 10am. We’ll be having a NEW VOLUNTEER ORIENTATION SESSION. This is a great chance for you to come out and see the shelter, if you have not before, and find out ways to get involved. We need help AT BARC, at offsite adoption centers, and behind the scenes. The only way we can make a real impact is for more caring citizens like you to get involved! Come see what its all about! If you love animals…and you want to make a BIG DIFFERENCE with your volunteer time, this is the place to do it.

At 11am, we’re inviting all of the current volunteers to join in for a BARC Updates section. Come here about the latest news and information from BARC Director Kent Robertson and head veterinarian Dr. Ohashiegbula-Iwunze (famously known as Dr. O).

Afterwards, all are invited to stay and help with the Wags to Whiskers event….a special time for all the volunteers to gather and make sure each of the animals receives a little extra TLC. Folks will be dog walking, playing with the cats, grooming, assisting with adoptions….not to mention free hot dogs. You don’t want to miss it!

610 Adoption Report 6.23.07

We were very successful at 610 despite the torrential downpours throughout the day.The first adoption we can’t take credit for officially. Kelly M., a foster had brought her foster dog Zeus to meet several potential adopters. Zeus was lucky enough to find a great home. Kelly did the paperwork so I don’t know much about him, but I do have a picture!!

The 2nd adoption was actually to Sarah, a friend of Kelly’s. Kelly needs to gets credit for that one too! Sarah had wanted to adopt Zeus, but he was too big for her place. Kelly had said her last foster was a great chow and she might like one of those. Low &behold Barc had brought us one that day. They bonded and Sarah thought she was a perfect match. She was renamed Bailey and after buying some supplies they were on their way!

The 3rd adoption was to Erin. She is about to go off to grad school and have her own apartment. She wanted a kitty to keep her company and her mom agreed it was a good idea. She fell in love with our calico kitty Laverne. Laverne is now named Molly and until Erin goes to school, will be living with her mom and their 2 dogs Rocky & Shannon.

We had a couple interested in our dog Kate Hepburn. Their dog Daisy looked just like her. Daisy and Kate loved each other and the couple was finding it hard to resist. They said if she wasn’t adopted by the end of the day to call them.Our driver arrived early to pick up the animals going back to Barc and we had to make the call. While the driver was waiting a woman came by and was instantly intrigued by our Canaan mix, Marcus.

In the nick of time this became our 4th adoption. Marcus will be going home with Kalin who is a dog trainer. Her other dog Luke, an Australian dingo, is a service dog.

Our 5th adoption was our couple who did return to claim Kate. Much to Daisy’s relief,she now has a play buddy. Once they put some meat on Kate’s bones you won’t be able to tell those two apart. (Pictured:Daisy on left, Kate on the right)
Kate was renamed Maggie, short for Magnolia to go with the flower motif.

A truly great day and until next time,

Bethany, Kelly H., Lauren and Margaret
Friends of Barc Volunteers

Before & After

Before & After. To make a difference in an animals life is not only a transformation of their spirit but as you can see in the pictures, quite often times a physical transformation as well. These 3 stories show the life changing events created by adopters, rescue volunteers and Barc staff members. We all have the power to make a diffence in an animals life!

1. Ollie, aka Elmo. Remember Elmo, the poor hair-bedraggled little boy dog who we "lost" in the system a few times and who bumped into walls cause his hair was so matted and completely covered his eyes?
He found a lovely home with a lovely woman who sent in an after "pic" of now-named Ollie -- wow!Who would have known there was a cutie pie under there? Petsmart groomers donated one entire day to working on Elmo -- they were happy to do so, reports Amy. Amy reports she and Ollie are in love and happy for ever and ever and ever. Thanks Amy.

2. Jamie, the Westie. This is a rescue group story and I will let Sandy tell it (slightly edited for length) in her own words, "Mr. Robertson:When I first saw this dog, I thought he was a cream/silver cairn terrier in the darkness of his kennel (North Ward A). Can we say dirty westie? I've attached his shelter pic and an after grooming pic. You can see that he's very sweet and cute; we're calling him Jamie. I just want to thank you for helping me pull him.We are totally in love with this boy and can promise you we will find him a wonderful family that will love him, too.Thank you so much for helping the poor animals who need help in the City of Houston. This little boy is very thankful, too. You and your team have helped so many dogs. All they want in this world is to be loved and Westie Rescue Houston will make sure the dogs we pull will get that." Come anytime, Sandy.

3. Lloyd. Lloyd, one staff member, recognized a very large Sharpei/Rottweiler male dog that was ready to be euthanized. He asked for a few days to see if someone would want to give this dog, whom he was partial to, a home. He was granted that and he asked volunteers if they would spread the word about Lloyd, the "purebred Sharpei/Rottweiler mix". A crusade began on behalf of Lloyd -- one volunteer took photos, sent them to several other volunteers, who >contacted rescue groups, placed photos on craigs list on the internet, called friends, promoted him at BARC...and a lovely couple responded. Turns out, they have a spayed female Sharpei/Rottweiler mix and they started receiving tons of Lloyd's photos from many different sources. It's a match made in heaven -- Lloyd got a bath, ear cleaning, flea treatment and was loaded into a very small car for a very happy and crowded drive home. Kellie, you're a dream come true.

Wallisville Petsmart Adoption Report 5.5.07

We had a good day yesterday, when we got to BARC, wonder of wonders, small dogs, this does not happen. So we proceeded to pick them quickly. And when we got to the store, we meet Maggie and her foster mom, Susan. Maggie had been one of the dogs, that had been on death row last year, she was very thin and needed a lot of love back then but her foster mom Susan has done a great job, so good in fact that even though she was a “large” dog, Maggie had one person seriously interested in her, and left to consult with his wife, while he was gone Maggie was adopted by a very sweet gentleman to live with his wife and their other dog at home. The gentleman had been concerned about his dog being alone so much during the day while he and his wife were at work, when he saw Maggie he was amazed at the similarity between her and his dog, he swore that they could have been littermates.

One of our small dogs was adopted rather quickly as well, she is a cute Chihuahua mix and she went within the first hour to no one’s surprise. Chihuahua’s being the fashionable dog of the moment. her new owners gave her the name “Chica”, she’ll be going to a home with two young boys and they were quickly impressed with her fearlessness, while they were looking at her in the store. “Little” Chica was being walked by the children and a huge, emphasize Huge husky happened to be walking a little to close to the boys and Chica was ready to fight, a small Chihuahua ready to take out a dog four times her size, the boys were thrilled and Mom was impressed, and best of all, Chica found a home.

We had Cat adoption as well, its not one I usually do on the weekends and it was kinda nice, this kitten went to a man and his family that work in the salvage business, and the fathers other job is a yoga instructor, he’s very knowledgeable about yoga and excited about it, he’s working toward saving enough to open a yoga studio in the area.

sincerely
Joyce Moore
Friends of Barc Volunteer

Wallisville/Pasadena Petsmart 4.29.07 & 4.30.07

We had a good weekend at the 2 PetSmart stores I worked. Though Saturday was a slow traffic day, we still managed 2 good adoptions. Thanks to Kathy and Tracy for coming with foster "Sally" and helping out all day! Hopefully Sally will have better luck next weekend!
The first adoption was to Candy and her grandmother. She was looking for another dog to go with the cocker she has at home, and chose "Maurice". I didn't know his name til I got back to BARC and Barb told me I did a good thing! I was more excited about my second adoption!
I had been packing the 2 remaining dogs in the crates for the trip back to BARC, and cleaning the adoption room, when I get a phone call asking if we had dogs for adoption. Felicia said she would be right over, so naturally, I wait! She and her 3 daughters got there very quickly and looked in the crates and immediately wanted to see Midge! They took her for a walk around the store, then came back to look at the chihuahua mix I also had. As soon as I pulled her out, they said no thanks, they wanted Midge! The girls were very nice and gentle with her and will be coming back for visits! Midge had visited all our PetSmart stores, so it was nice to know she will be sleeping in someone's bed from now on!
Today at the Pasadena store, my only adoption was the brown and white lab mix. Tarrah and her husband will be planning to have a child in a year or so after she finishes her degree, so they wanted to have a dog used to the home first. This was another good match! I also possibly recruited a new volunteer for that store, unless Linda hires her as an employee first!
All in all, a very good weekend for 3 good dogs! Hope to see all of you this Saturday, May 5th, at the 1 year birthday celebration of the monthly Meet & Greet in the Heights!

Mike

Friends of Barc Volunteer

Westheimer Petsmart Adoption Report 4.21.07

We had a good day at the Westheimer store this past Saturday! I took 3 dogs to the store - 2 of which were heartworm positive, and the cat section was already well stocked. I didn't keep notes, so this will have to be from memory, and those that know me, will know you're in trouble!
The first was Susan and her little HW+ pomeranian mix! She had seen the puppy on the web, and drove from Kingwood to BARC to adopt him. But he was already with Ria and I at the Westheimer store!
However, as a result of using the store signs on the kennel at BARC, Barb was able to call the store and find out we still had the dog! So attention all drivers - please use the signs when taking your dogs from BARC - they WORK!! Susan drove to our store and soon was leaving with her new little family member!
# 2 was an adoption Ria did, so unfortunately, I have no information on the woman. The fox terrier mix was the other HW+ dog we had, and she was very aware of that and willing to treat any way necessary! Nice lady!
The last was Keisha and her new kitten. This adoption almost didn't happen due to a variety of circumstances, but we worked things out and by the time it was over, I was feeling better about it! I've learned not all adoptions have that warm fuzzy feeling right from the start, but this girl was persistent trying to convince me she would take good care of her new kitten! Ria was giving me some weird looks over this one!
Sp that's the end of my memory for the day! Thanks to Barbara too for stopping by to help out and get supplies to Ria!

Mike

Friends of Barc Volunteer

610 Petsmart Adoption Report 4.21.07

It was a slow day at 610, I am going to blame it on the nice weather and all the happenings around town.

Despite Tom bringing Lauren and I 3 adorable (and small) dogs we only managed to do one adoption. Of course this was the very exciting adoption of the loveable Albert. Albert's foster parents Elizabeth and Jason had been diligently taking him to Sat. adoptions for months trying to find that special home. This was his lucky day and he finally has a family suitable to his vivacious personality. The only leary one in the bunch was their shy older dog, but I am sure they will be best friends in no time. Albert will insist on it! ( see pic - Albert is the chocolate pointer mix in the front)
One of our kittens also went home with a nice young man to be the companion to his other 3 year old cat. Kitty's foster mom Heather had prearranged this adoption.
We also directed a lot of people to BARC so hopefully they had some good adoptions at the shelter this weekend.

Until next time!
Bethany and Lauren

Friends of Barc Volunteers

Wallisville Petsmart Adoption Report 4.21.07

We had one dog, Buddy, A854751, I selected from the others on the basis of what I thought was good health, and when I took him out of the kennel and put him on the leash, before I had made it to the door, the dog had weaved it’s way in and out of my legs almost constantly. Once we got to the store, Buddy spent most of the times going under my legs, a wise decision on his part he thought he was hiding from the enemy and my big legs are good cover, but we know that he needs to be seen and approached, all in the name of good marketing, so for the sake of his future, may he have one, I would shove him out and try to maneuver him into view, I’m sure he thought I was the cruelest woman he had ever met.

almost after I had decided give up on him and took out the beagle mix, a young boy went into the room and asked if he could take a dog out of it’s cage, yep, Buddy’s, I said yes praying to that the dog would get a clue, the boy took him out and Buddy cooperated even approached the boy and they spent a good ten minutes on the floor in there, just bonding, and Buddy was responding back to him. After feeling emboldened by this I suggested that they walk around the store, and use the area set up next to the adoption center for some getting acquainted time, with my heart in my mouth, I watched them start out of the door anticipating Buddy’s earlier behavior, but nope, the little four legged fur bearer got a clue, he went out with the boy, walking like a dog should, head held high tail up, he was a picture. We had some tense moments while negotiating the adoption, the boy was here with his father on a visitation, mom had to be contacted on a cellular phone and sent picture’s and we awaited her okay. I was a little unsure of this once I realized the divorced father and mother thing, and politely asked to speak to the mother herself to try and find out if Buddy was going to be truly welcomed, Buddy didn’t need any further disruption in his furry life. After speaking to Mom and finding out that the boy’s earlier dog had passed away last year and he was ready for another one, and Mom herself welcomed the idea, the adoption was welcomed by the custodial parent where the boy and dog would be primarily residing. All during this time Buddy and the boy where sitting together watching this, and bonding, this entire adoption was a fit, the boy needing something and this dog so desperately needing the boy, the kind of thing we do this for, happened here.

Our other adoption was much less dramatic, a young couple starting their new family choose on of the rottie mixes, a tough little puppy that they hadn’t named yet, A855100, the couple was young and you could see that they cared for each other and that this little pup was getting a mom and dad. They spent a great deal of time in the store selecting just the right food bowls and crate for their new baby.

sincerely
Joyce Moore

Friends of Barc Volunteer

Want to Help us prepare for kitten and puppy season - Why Not Foster?

Hoards of kitties and puppies have recently come in to the kennels of Barc. To help deal with this overcrowding BARC has hatched an incredibly brilliant scheme to increase its adoption rate by increasing its adoptive kennel space (and animals' adoptability!) via foster and foster-to-adopt homes.

Why should you foster?

By becoming a foster you can make sure an animal receives the best care that only the one-on-one environment of a home can provide.

A foster home can be a place where an animal learns that people are a wonderfully fun species and remind you of the joys that only an animal can bring!

As a foster you can help animals learn positive behaviors, rejuvinate their spirits and make them plain old happy again. What a great feeling that is!

Also importantly a foster home is where the animals' immune systems is most likely to be supported while they recover from their trauma of being homeless and then picked up by Animal Control. A healthy animal is an adoptable animal!

Pictures above are just a few of the puppies and kittens being turned in to BARC weekly. Please also remember our adult animals need loving fosters too!

If you would like to find out more about fostering contact one of our foster coordinators:

For Dogs: Julie Keeton juliekeeeton5@aol.com & Kathy Deffebach kdeffebach@sbcglobal.net

For Cats: Heather Fields Heather.Fields@coair.com &

Jennifer Fields Jennifer.Fields@sanofi-aventis.com

Wallisville Adoption Report 04.07.07

Our one adoption was a real neat sharpie mix. He went to a family with an eleven year old boy, I got the feeling that it was his first dog, and his first lesson in responsibility. I think he will take it seriously, he was making the selection very carefully, he would walk the lab, and then the sharpie, finally deciding on the sharpie, they look good together.
Sincerely, Joyce Moore
Friend of Barc Volunteer

610 Petsmart Adoptions Report 3.30.07

The bad weather set it up to be a poor day for adoptions and the empty store parking lot was not a good sign. Yet, we perked up when we saw the cute dogs Mike brought us.
Our first adoption was our spunky black and white kitten Shadow that foster mom Mary had dropped off in the morning. Claudia was looking for a kitten to keep her and her roommate entertained and Shadow was just the guy for the job! This would be a first pet for them both so we took Claudia around the store and made sure she had all the new kitten essentials. After Shadow was promptly renamed Chase the two took off eager to start their new life together.
The second adoption was near and dear to my heart. Jazzie my foster doggie was adopted by Theresa, her wonderful husband and 2 adorable children. Their 14 year old collie mix recently passed and they were tentatively looking at dogs. Jazzie being a collie mix herself tugged at their hearts. Since they are familiar with the high energy and nature of the breed, they tugged at mine! I knew they would be the perfect family for her! After answering lots of questions and a unanimous family decision Jazzie went home with them. Of course not before Jazzie and I shared a tearful goodbye.
Thanks to Kelly who is always the best volunteer to work with and Mike for driving the dogs out for us. Until next time!
Bethany
(Friends of Barc Volunteer)

Thank You, From Adopter to Foster

Hi Mary,
Bogart aka Bogie ;) is a wonderful cat and a great addition to our family. He balances our otherwise "touch-me-not" cat and we love it. He fit right in and got comfortable in no time. We instantly knew we wanted him when we saw him and I must admit, it was his ear that did it for me. I'm very happy he found you and eventually found his way to PetSmart.
I admire your work with these animals because I believe they should be treated with dignity and respect and most of all love.
Warm regards,
Maria

Wallisville Adoptions Report 3.30.07

One of the dogs we brought to Wallisville was a very healthy hyper eight month old male lab puppy, we nicknamed Chewie, being that young his world is still very much orally centered, so Chewie would be a description of his pastime and favorite activity and focus in life. I caught him chewing on the corner of the adoption area, the part of the drywall where the floor molding is coming off of. Seriously Chewie named himself.
Chewie found a family with four young children, and after being very clear with the mother about chewie’s needs in the teething area, and the hyper nature of Labradors in general, they completed the paperwork and Chewie went home with them.
Our other dog, I named him Payaso, Spanish for clown, his file lists him as a Tibetan Terrier, he didn’t find his home today, he did try, he was calm and accepting of being petted and approached by strangers in a crowd, really you could say he put his best paw forward, but to no avail.

Joyce Moore
Friends of Barc Volunteer

Offsite Adoptions

These are just a few of the photos from our successful adoptions every Saturday at the 610 W. Loop Petsmart. We also hold adoptions at 5 other area Petsmarts. Please visit the Friends of Barc link for a complete list and maps to these locations.