Hello volunteers!
Save the date! We’ll be hosting an important workshop for all volunteers, whether you work directly with the animals or not. It will provide a solid understanding of our philosophy and criteria for determining outcomes of the animals we take in. The workshop is called “Decisions on Animal Outcomes at Marin Humane” and will take place on Zoom, Monday, October 19th from 4:00-5:30pm. Offering various perspectives involved with our intake process, the workshop includes presentations from our cat & dog behavior teams, our shelter veterinarian, animal care and other staff. They will address what factors play into our capacity to care and how to answer general questions regarding the topic of euthanasia at Marin Humane. There will be time at the end of the session for Q&A. Please let me know if you’d like to attend and I’ll send the Zoom link in October.
Shelter update: We currently have 293 animals in our collective care. 118 are at our Novato campus, including 23 dogs, 1 puppy, 45 cats, 22 kittens, 9 rabbits, 8 guinea pigs, 3 reptiles, 3 birds, and 4 fowl. 14 animals are in our Oakland office; 15 are at Kitty Corner and the Woodlands stores; and 146 are in foster homes.
Adoption update: We hope everyone is having a fabulous Wednesday! Enjoy the smiles and cuddles from last week’s adoptions and join us in saying congrats to all of the adopters!! #adoptdontshop🥰 For further smiles, here’s this week’s Adoption Report.
Hopalong happenings! We realized something wonderful over here at Hopalong this summer… we’re getting old! Over the years, we’ve seen families pick up puppies and kittens with their young sons and daughters; now, some of the seeds of compassion planted years ago have blossomed! Many foster kittens and puppies received quality playtime and socializing and came back to us with the earned distinction of being “kid friendly.” Who knew that fostering would go both ways after all of these years? Instead of Mom and Dad dropping off their fosters for vaccine appointments, lately we’ve been seeing their grown, now driving adult kids helping out by bringing their family’s foster animals by for appointments. Some of them are even starting college and are considering studies related to animal care and biology! As we like to give kudos to their amazing parents, maybe we can claim their Hopalong experience is a tiny part of encouraging a love for animals. Some of the younger generation have also spent part of their busy summers before college, volunteering at Hopalong too. Ryann (pictured) couldn’t help but take some floofy kittens home to foster for a few weeks before heading out to Europe for her college studies. She’s even excited to see the famed cats of Greece on her travels. We really could say a lot more about a bunch of our new gen foster kids that we’ve seen grow up over the years and have helped us out at Hopalong this summer — perhaps in future Happenings. We hope to have visits and updates when they come back in town. For now, we’ll send well wishes to a few of the young ones that are going to make wonderful future foster homes for some lucky animals in the coming years. Good luck to college bound Ryann, Eddie, Clover and intern extraordinaire Xandria (who’s still volunteering while studying), just to name a few. We also have Annie, Kai and Ben actively involved with their fosters and some fundraising. It’s been a privilege to watch you all grow up, alongside the baby kittens and puppies!
Tails of Marin: 
In this week’s Tails of Marin, we address the topic of dog parks. One of Marin Humane’s behaviorists described dog parks for some dogs this way: “Imagine you’re an introvert, and someone has forced you to attend a big, loud party. Annoying people keep coming up to you, getting in your face, talking excitedly or trying to get you to play games you have no interest in, and on top of that, you have no escape. That’s what a dog park feels like for some dogs.” Read more to see if a dog park might be the right fit for your dog: “Not every dog loves the dog park.”
Foster Open House! Ever wondered what it’s really like to foster? Here’s your chance to find out – no commitment required, just curiosity welcome! Join us for a free open house this Saturday, October 3rd at 11am at our Novato campus, where you can peek behind the scenes and get all your fostering questions answered over snacks and good company. Come meet:
Our foster coordinators, who’ll walk you through the different ways to get involved (spoiler: there’s a fostering fit for almost every lifestyle!)
Real foster families, sharing their honest, heartwarming (and sometimes hilarious) stories from the field
Our new Behavior Foster Liaison, who’ll share how our Behavior & Training team has your back every step of the way with dog fosters
The shelter itself! Take a guided tour and see exactly what goes on behind the scenes
Fostering saves lives – especially for our dogs who are waiting for a little extra love and a soft place to land. Whether you’ve got room for one weekend or more, we want to help you find the fostering path that works for you. It’s free, it’s fun, and the animals will thank you! Just RSVP so we know to save you a seat (and maybe a pup snuggle). Click here to RSVP!
Pet First Aid! This Disaster Preparedness Month, take a simple but important step to be ready for anything: sign up for our upcoming Pet First Aid & CPR workshop! Join us on Saturday, November 21, 9am – 12:30pm, to learn basic lifesaving techniques and preparedness for your pets. American Safety & Health Institute-certified instructor Peter Pay will teach basic pet first aid, CPR training, rescue breathing, restraint and muzzling, choking management, poison response, and much more. “Resus-a-dog” and “Resus-a-cat” mannequins will be available for hands-on training and you’ll get a first aid workbook and completion certificate, too! Save your spot here.
Have a terrific week!
Candace
