If you’ve been reading this column for awhile, you know that I love dogs. I love everything about dogs: their soft ears, their fur, their eyes, their funny ways, even their smell—unless Rover has been rolling in what he calls perfume and I call sewage.
So when I had to go out to Wolf Pond Sanctuary two weeks ago to interview the manager for a story I was doing, I wasn’t sure I could live through my visit.
I knew about Wolf Pond, Magee’s privately owned refuge for dogs, and I have long appreciated its founder, Jeri Bennett. And even though my sweet Betsy the Shih-tzu-wannabe is a Wolf Pond alumna, Jeri brought her to me several years ago. I didn’t have to go out and see the dogs who weren’t being adopted, and, frankly, I didn’t think that I could stand to go. But I “girded up my loins,” as the Bible says, and forced myself to make the trip.
I was immediately met by Jake, the resident dog-in-charge, who seemed to be some happy mix of blood hound and traveling man. He wasn’t tied up or in a kennel, and yet he wasn’t trying to run away. He just trotted up to welcome me when I got out of the car. Well, I thought, he seems to like it here. Maybe I can do this.
The next thing I saw was the clean covered kennel section that I soon learned housed the dogs who are healthy, who have been spayed or neutered and who are ready to be adopted.
They were noisy, but they were friendly, stretching noses and paws up on the wire fencing to check me out. Their barks weren’t threatening, they were just introducing themselves to me, hoping I was a prospective adopter with a forever home to offer.
I tried not to look at them and fall in love because my husband had given me strict instructions: “Two dogs are enough. Do not bring home another dog! We can’t fit another one on our bed!”
I was met by Karla Harvey, a former student of mine, who now manages Wolf Pond and whom I would interview. I learned a lot from her that helped me handle the feelings I was having.
She understood those feelings. “Even though I love dogs,” she said, “I didn’t think I could do this work. But when I came out here to interview for the job, I just had this great sense of peace. I knew I was where I needed to be.”
Then she said what I really needed to hear: “This is not a sad place to visit,” she said. “These dogs are not pitiful! They have better care here than most of them had where they came from. Every dog has a bed, a house, a safe kennel and gets loved on! These dogs are as happy as they can be in their situation!”
And whether the dog has been lost or abandoned or starved or abused, the staff puts every effort into rehabilitating every one that comes to them so that they will be able to go on to good homes where they will still have the same happy situation they found at Wolf Pond.
No dog is put up for adoption until it has been checked, vaccinated, wormed and spayed or neutered.
An over-population of dogs is a problem in this county. It causes owners to be overwhelmed with too many dogs to provide for, so they let them roam or take them off and abandon them. Stray dogs have destroyed property and even attacked people, but the county seems to have no restrictions on breeding or confining dogs and no way to care for confiscated animals.
It costs $120 to adopt a dog from Wolf Pond. That helps reimburse—a little—the cost of food, medicine, spaying ($200+ per dog) and salaries for that dog’s care. If you aren’t willing or able to spend that much, you probably don’t need a dog. Adopting a dog is a lot like adopting a child. It’s for life and it’s for better or worse. But dogs are a lot more loyal and you don’t have to buy them cars when they’re teenagers.
Don’t go to Wolf Pond hoping to adopt a perfect dog. There aren’t any perfect dogs as there aren’t any perfect children. Dogs, like kids, sometimes make messes, sometimes don’t listen, and sometimes do dumb stuff.
Karla says that potential adopters often ask what breed a dog is. “We don’t usually know that,” she said. So don’t go to Wolf Pond determined that you must have a particular breed. Owners seldom give up purebred dogs. You’re going to find mixed breeds. But aren’t we all mongrels ourselves? Who are we to demand “purebred” dogs when none of us can claim to be “purebred”?
Adopt a dog from Wolf Pond if you can. If you can’t, you can still help by buying a ticket for the Wolf Pond fund raiser, St. Paddy Paws, to be held at the Simpson County Country Club on March 18 at 7 p.m. Get a ticket at PriorityOne Bank’s downtown Magee office or Wolf Pond’s Facebook page. See you there!
“If you don't own a dog, at least one, there is not necessarily anything wrong with you, but there may be something wrong with your life.”
― Roger Caras
