High Five to Gordon Robinson! A huge shout out and High Five to our awesome volunteer Gordon for going above and beyond to help the Animal Services Division with training our four new officers! Training and scheduling activities for four trainees is a daunting task, to say the least. For the past 5 weeks, Gordon has met weekly with some combination of our new officers, showing them how to leash up dogs in kennels, properly treat dogs, walk dogs, work with them off leash, recall, and how to handle and do cursory behavior assessments. His patience, skill, and willingness to help train has been phenomenal.
THANK you Gordon for all that you do, and for helping make our new officers more skilled dog handlers.
~ Evie Holt, Animal Services Project Coordinator
High Five to Marilyn Freund! Marilyn covered a double shift on a Saturday at Kitty Corner so I could attend the memorial service of our wonderful KC volunteer, Julie Walker. Marilyn held the fort down and managed our customers like a pro. When I arrived at KC, Marilyn had two adoptions ready to go. One of the adopters drove all the way from Concord. She said Marilyn was so sweet and charming and appreciated Marilyn’s suggestion to have lunch while she was waiting for my return. Marilyn is one of our awesome KC volunteers. She gives so much to Kitty Corner and the main shelter. We are very fortunate to have her as part of our KC and MH family!
~ Marisa Russo, Kitty Corner Adoptions
High Five to Sara Gabriel! Development would like to give a big High Five to Sara Gabriel – Sara is always willing to be helpful but this past week, she went above and beyond. On Wednesday, Sara spent the morning in the Development department, helping with an important mailing. Then she worked her shift in Animal Outfitters. THEN, she hopped in her car and drove down to the Mill Valley Community Center (she lives in Novato) where she helped set up for a donor event. During the evening, she assisted with replenishing food and cleaning up. Sara is a pleasure to work with and I don’t know what we would do without the support of volunteers like her. Thank you Sara!
~ Connie Downing, Development
High Five to Janine Dowsett, Ellie Stein, Kelly Polisson & Cat Caldwell! Today we received a donation of a bag FULL of pennies – uncounted pennies! As soon as our Wednesday p.m. volunteers found out that Development would have to COUNT these pennies, they jumped into action and offered up their supreme counting skills. YOU LADIES ROCK! Thank you for your willingness to always help when needed…even as penny counters ;). Total counted: $13.76!! You’re wonderful!
~ Ruthie and Mary, Adoptions
High Five to Helen Rigg! I want to acknowledge how much we appreciate behavior & overnight fosters! We have a handful and each is amazing in their own right! I would like to spot light Helen Rigg. Helen is a volunteer in B&T and is an overnight and behavior foster. Helen and her husband live in a place where they cannot take home larger dogs, but little ones (and little ones with behavior challenges) are not a problem!
Nurse Betty, Taco, Bubba, Primo, and Poochini are the most recent lucky ones who have spent time at home with Helen & her husband. Helen has such a calm and forgiving energy that dogs seem to take no time to trust her. She is flexible with my ever changing requests, all with a friendly “no worries” response. Thank you Helen, you have made many a little scared dog feel safe again!
~ Catherine Tryon, Adoptions
High Five to Grace Marshall! On this beautiful Saturday Grace wasn’t planning on it, but volunteered to stay all day. It was a little slow at the adoption desk, so it was easy to recruit her to join me in washing the Pet Partnership Program van. She jumped right in and hosed and scrubbed and cut the time right in half. All the while she put up with my ‘bad aim’ with the hose & always with a smile. Thank you Grace!
~ Catherine Tryon, Adoptions
High Five to ORT Volunteers! Hosting an Odor Recognition Test for approximately 55 dog/handler teams is no walk in the park. It involves a full day of many moving pieces to keep the flow of participants smooth and the dogs and people calm. This year we hosted the best ORT to date, based on feedback from the judges, Certifying Official and entrants. And the success rests solidly on the backs of a group of fabulous volunteers!
Friday afternoon was preparation time and Rex Johnson kicked it off with an amazingly speedy Pavilion clearing, while Katherine Runyeon, Orlanda Lopez, Candace Alexander and Rex made short work of folding 100 boxes needed for the test. What was estimated to be a two hour shift, at least, was reduced to a mere 45 minutes.
The next day, Saturday, was the event. Gordon Robinson as Parking Supervisor gathered his team together at 7:00 am. Sue Steele, Carolyn Kneiblher, Susan Hoff, Jo Haraf, Burt Greenspan, Donna Kalal, Bill Katz, Lisa Peterson and Pamela Duke seamlessly manned the parking lot, staging locations and proofing boxes, getting each team through every 2:30 minutes!
And, thank goodness the inimitable duo of Ken and Joanne Reutell returned to handle the registration desk, with Dora Howard as the afternoon registrar. Everything was so organized and we actually got some great ideas on how to improve the process!
Meanwhile, out in the Pavilion where the tests were taking place, Joy Dal Santo, Katie Ai, Cindy Flinn, Audrey O’Connor, Jan Johnson and Ali Vorhies helped as Judges Stewards, Timers and Box Setters, making sure the judge’s duties were efficiently and effectively carried out.
And thanks to Denise Adams, who pitched in with clean up! We hope to have this stellar crew help with the next ORT!
~ Kathleen Call, B&T
