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As most of you know Paws Here Awhile Pet Resort is a foster home for many adoption homeless dogs and cats. We adopt over 100 dogs and cats out each year. We take a day and go to the shelter, pick out maybe 12 homeless pets out of around 80 and spend at least 2 hours preforming our extensive temperament testing with these pets that are selected. Out of these 12 we usually find about 6 to 8 that pass our testing to our satisfaction. Once we make our final decision on these dogs and cats, we load them up, bring them back to the resort and this is where the work begins. Every pet is flea bathed, nails cut, ears checked and cleaned. Dogs are Heartworm tested, cats are Felv/FIV tested, then get micro-chipped. Frontline and shots, worming is done before they are introduced to their designated themed vacation room. These dogs and cats really believe they died and went to heaven!! Within the next few days the homeless pets are spayed and neutered, receive their Rabies Vac. at our local veterinarian. We crate train all the dogs so they are educated and know what to expect in arriving to their new home. All our cats are socialized with dogs. This is one of the things we really feel is important so when you adopt a cat from us they are dog social, the work is done!! These pets are now ready for you to come and visit to find your forever friend. They have gone through a long process to get ready for you to visit so, please do not disappoint them. They are waiting with wagging tails and purring motors!! Our professional pet loving staff will help you pick out the pet that matches best with your lifestyle. We are dedicated to our homeless pets and take special care to be sure they are finding the best home suited for each individual pet. The success stories we receive from our adopted parents make this time consuming, emotional task worth every second we spend getting these homeless pets ready for adoption. If you are ready to add a loving pet to your family, please come to visit, our pets are waiting for you. We are open Saturday and Sunday from 11:00am to 6:00 pm. Other times please call for an appointment, bring the family, your other dogs to meet our pets. www.pawshereawhile.com and click onto our adoption page or call us at 724-573-4665. |
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316 Noll Road
Georgetown, Pennsylvania 15043
724-573-4665
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| Dog Price: $140 +tax (includes: vaccinations, spay/neuter, micro-chip, temperament testing, full grooming, heart worm tested, dewormed, and crate trained
Cat Price: $97.00 (includes: vaccinations, spay/neuter, micro-chip, temperament test, full grooming, leukemia tested, dewormed and litter trained |
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The Benefits of Adopting a Homeless Pet
There are many benefits adopting a homeless pet. The number one reason is the satisfaction that you are giving a dog or cat a chance to show you how much love they have to give. There are many animals put to sleep because they aren't fortunate enough to get a home like they should have. Also, if you are adopting a pet who isn't a pure breed they are less likely to have genetic diseases.
Also a lot of the time an older dog might be already house trained and/or crate trained. We, at the Pet Resort, crate train all of our dogs. Sometimes dogs come into our resort already housebroken, which makes them easier to place. It's hard for an elderly person to house train a dog so getting a dog already trained might be only way for them to have one.
Adopting a homeless pet who will love you forever, for giving them a second chance. Some of these dogs come from places that people weren't very nice to them and still, they stay sweet and loving.
Think again when you are in a pet store looking at pure breed puppies, and think of all the nice dogs who are waiting for someone like you to adopt them.
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Behind the Scenes
This is a behind the scene article on how and what we do before the pets are ready to be adopted. We make it look so effortless when you are standing in our front office or in our play yard meeting one of our adoption pet. Well this article is going to let you in on a couple of our secrets to our more than effortless ways.
We spend hours sometimes at shelters looking for pets that are placeable to our standards. Now by placeable, we mean, they have to pass a multiple of tests. Must be good with other animals (cats & dogs), they can't be food aggressive, and they have to be good with kids. We also test to see if they are playful, well manner and what past training they have had if any. We will not take a dog for adoption if it cannot pass the test to be social with other dogs or cats. All our dogs are tested with what we call our tester kitty. Usually this is a kitten that is not afraid of dogs. Since we put this poor unsuspected kitten thorough our dog testing we always bring it with us as one of our adoptable pets, since we feel bad it had to be our subject of testing. Don't worry, we do not put these kittens in danger. We are very experienced and careful!!!
Our dogs are also tested for how bonded they can become. We see how much connection they have to people by having them off leash and testing how much interest they have in interacting with us. This is an extremely important test. This will tell you how easy this dog will be to train and if they are more interested in bonding with us or just out to run and do their own thing. We take this test very seriously, as it makes our final decision, if we are going to take this pet for placement. If a dog is not interested in us, or showing no signs of interest in what we are doing or wanting, these dogs, in our eyes, are not pets we will adopt. These dogs can be a potential problem and we avoid this at all cost.
We also test for food aggression. We have a fake hand that we use ( we like our fingers!). When placing canned food in front of the dog we will see how eager they are, take the food away with our fake hand to check for aggression. We will do this with other dogs present and 2 food dishes side by side with 2 dogs or in the same dish. This test is not taken lightly. We really push buttons so we can be sure before your child or other dog tries to take food from the new family member.
The cats we test sell themselves. If they know how to "TURN IT ON" we will consider them. This part is soooooooo hard as there are so many to choose from and so many that are extremely loving. Some of these cats are in small cages for sometimes up to 6 or 8 months. These cats do not deserve to live like that but, believe it or not they are not at all resentful or angry. They will purr and grab for attention in a desperate need to get out of there and find someone that will love and care for them. This is unconditional love!! We cannot take all the cats that are asking so lovingly to go with us. Some are sick to the point of possible no return or the recovery period is just not feasible for us. We unfortunately have to make really hard decisions and take the cats and kittens that we know have an edge to sell themselves in any environment. Cats can be hard to take to adoption events because unless they are out going and comfortable in strange places, they can be really hard to place. So as you see, most of our cats and kittens have wonderful personalities.
Once we have our crew of homeless pets that are chosen, we do mean a crew since we average taking 4 to 8 dogs, and 6 to 10 cats, we head back to the resort where the real work begins to get everyone ready for adoption!
We charge a minimal fee for all that...not bad, huh!
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MISSY PASSES OVER THE RAINBOW BRIDGE
Esther Hackwelder's beloved dog Missy passed away in March 2010. We would like to extend our sincere sympathy for her loss. Missy was lucky to be adopted at such an advanced age and lived her last years happily with Esther. This is a perfect example of seniors adopting seniors. We hope that Esther considers adopting another senior...
SENIORS ADOPTING SENIORS
Are you a senior citizen living alone? Maybe over 80? (I am). If possible, consider adopting an older dog for company. (I did). There are so many dogs being surrendered to shelters for no reason other than they’re old. Usually, the owner dies or is no longer able to care for these senior dogs, yet they have a number of good years ahead.
My “little lady” is twelve years old and great company. She is so glad to see me when I come home, even if I have only been gone ten minutes to check my mail box in the lobby.
On days when I can’t take her out, she goes “potty” in the bathroom on a piddle pad covered with newspaper. You can buy these pads in pet stores. They are lightly quilted on one side and plastic on the other. You can also use incontinence bed pads or baby pads, depending on the size of your dog. The pads can be cut to size.
Many older people make the mistake of adopting a puppy or young dog. Chances are the dog may outlive you – then what happens to the dog? Older dogs are past the chewing stage, are often housetrained and sleep a lot, and they don’t need constant attention.
Give it a try and see how it will brighten up your life. It takes a little extra time, but at our age, we have more time than money, anyway. Right?
written by Esther Hackwelder
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| Missy is Esther's beloved senior dog |
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No matter how cute or handsome I look, no one comes to bring me home. No, I am not a kitten but, I will promise to love you with all my heart, and it is VERY BIG!!!!
Please give me a chance to prove I can make your life complete. My name is "Cash" and my e-mail is pawshereawhile@hotmail.com
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Money
– is the name of the game. Money decides if your home is warm or cold, if you have food on your table, if you can get medical help. It also can decide if your beloved pet can get relief from pain, live or die.
The calls we receive at AC&W are heartbreaking…
- The elderly person on Social Security who lives alone and depends on a pet for company, but can’t afford the medicine to keep it alive or well.
- The child or children crying because the kitten or puppy they rescued has to be put to sleep because it needs medical care they can’t afford.
- The many animals suffering from arthritis (like people) or in agony because of a blocked urinary tract or bowel obstruction, abscessed tooth or ear infection, etc., etc.
Some people feel you shouldn’t have a pet if you can’t afford a Vet, but that’s like saying people down on their luck can’t expect to eat cake! Much blame is put on the Vets, but we have to remember that they also have living expenses, office rent or mortgages, insurance, expensive equipment and a staff to pay.
AC&W is doing the best we can. We operate on the return from our investments, donations and membership dues. We are having fundraisers in the future, but that means relying on dedicated people who are willing to work for nothing. No one in AC&W gets paid. That has always been our policy. Even Ed Blotzer, our founder and Humane Agent (now deceased), never received compensation.
What do we do when our pet gets sick or needs emergency treatment? Other than a credit card or someone who will lend us money, there is no help out there.
Human needs come before animal needs, but from the calls we receive from frantic pet owners, there’s a desperate need for both.
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