I have to give kudos to Miss Franchessca Rae Petraline (my daughter). She was ten when I took over as director of the Humane Society of North Central Iowa. One of our biggest concerns was a dog who had been nicknamed Jumpy Bear. He was a huge merle Great Dane and Lab mix......well over 100lbs. He had been brought into the shelter when he was 6 months old, and was still there 3 years later. He was showing signs of kennel stress by jumping almost to the top of his kennel all day everyday. He would spill his water, get that mixed up in his feces and jump in it, splashing it everywhere. The day I took over Frankie insisted that we bring him home. I was a little hesitant because at the time several of my pets were handicapped and I wasnt sure they would be okay with him and his endless energy. Frankie insisted so we tried it, and within a week Bear was a perfect angel.....except for chasing my cats. Frankie spent several weeks with him and we found him a home so he never had to go back to the shelter. To watch my 10 year old daughter train and handle a dog that weighed twice as much as she did, was truly a wonderful thing. She has a gift with animals.....and she is currently using it again to help another dog exhibiting out of control behavior. She was hired at the same shelter (new building) three months ago. Shortly after she started a 6 month old dog named Cosmo came in. He has endless energy and bounces around his kennel all day, similar to Bear. Yesterday she decided to start taking him out a few extra times a day and spending time with him and training him. She has gotten through to Cosmo and he is responding with lightening speed to her training.......she was so excited about it that she called me to tell me and sent me 3 videos of him. I suggested to her to start sharing posts about Cosmo daily, showing videos of her working with him, the first video being him before she has spent much time with him and the last being his last day with her when he gets his forever home. The posts would encourage people to spend time with the troubled animals in the shelter environment, and to look past the initial behavior and also give people tips on training. She is a busy person, she has two little boys at home. Hopefully two or three days a week she can sit down and share her experiences with the dogs that she helps, it would be a wonderful lesson to share with the world........I love you baby girl, couldnt be any more proud! Just think of all of the Jumpy Bears you could be helping by sharing your stories! You are an angel in an Almost Home Animal Shelter t shirt to these animals.......keep up the incredible work!
Posted on: Sat, 20 Sep 2014 06:14:39 +0000
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