Community values and Healdsburg Animal Shelter

Community consists, not just the human residents of an area, but the pets and wildlife that reside in our homes and yards, or traverse our neighborhoods. With delight I read of Rodney and Charlotte Strong’s generous bequeathal of $2.4 million to the Healdsburg Animal Shelter.

Like many residents, I have a long association with the shelter. My son, Damien, worked as a volunteer for HAS during 1993-1994, as I homeschooled him. Instead of being a dog walker or spending time socializing the animals, Damien’s schedule allowed for him to be a kennel cleaner (a dirty job, but someone has to do it). There he met our beloved Snoopy. He kept trying to get me to come to the shelter to meet Snoopy (aka Snoop Doggy Dog, at the time).

Daily he would plead, “Mom, there’s this dog….”

I would cut him off by saying I couldn’t meet the dog because I would then want the dog. However, Damien prevailed and Snoopy came home with us.

Damien went off to college, moved out, got married, but Snoopy stayed home with us, of course, where he belonged. He wasn’t the brightest dog in the room—he was a beagle/border collie mix, and his scent-hound nose got him into a lot of trouble. But love—oh how Snoopy wrote the book on love—with his chocolate-brown eyes that melted the hardest heart, Snoopy ruled our family. He had his own recliner, his own outside loveseat, treats (especially carrots), and when we lost him a couple of years ago, it was nearly more than we could bear. We still miss him daily.

A few months back, small dog got run over on the corner of March and Tulip, and while my husband put the tiny body into a bag, I called the shelter. Ryan came to pick up the small pooch and I got to meet him for the first time. While meeting him under sad circumstances, I was heartened by his kindness and empathy.

My latest jaunt to the animal shelter was to take in a stray cat that had nearly gotten hit on March and darted into our garage. I’ve been watching on the website, and I believe he’s been adopted—a happy ending to a potentially deadly beginning.

Having a “no-kill” shelter in our community enriches us and represents our values of caring for the animals that are part of our lives. Having a new state-of-the-art shelter will allow the staff to extend their reach even further. I offer a posthumous thank you to the Strong’s for their generous gift that will allow HAS to do even more for the pets in our community. I would also like to thank the staff and volunteers who selflessly work with our furry community members every day.

I urge everyone to contribute to the shelter to help further their new plans.