Post #15 Sometimes It's Just Meant To Be

          Sometimes when you go to find your perfect pet, the pet picks you and you know it was just meant to be. This past weekend we got in a little chihuahua as a stray. When animals come into us as strays we hold them for 3-4 days so their owners can come claim them, after that they go up for adoption if they are adoptable pets. They moved us this chihuahua and within 5 minutes so many people were wanting to look at him. Sometimes when we have more than one dog in a cage they can get into fights. Well, the other dogs in the kennel decided to pick on this little guy and started a fight with him. This couple looking through the glass at this poor little chihuahua, starting banging on the glass trying to get them to stop then yelled for help. After we got in there and saved the little guy we took him to the back to have a vet make sure he was okay. He ended up being fine just a little covered in slobber and scared to death. We all comforted him and the next day the couple who saved him came in and said they really wanted to take him home. Since the vet said he was okay we let them adopt him. It was meant to be and you could tell the chihuahua was happy as ever when they held him in their arms. He is one of the most adorable and sweetest little dogs I have ever came across. Even though the beginning of the story sounds sad, it ended up turning into a fairy tale with a very happy ending. I am so glad he is okay and found his forever family. This couple who adopted him are truly amazing people who have changed the life of a wonderful dog. I love happy endings.

The loving couple who saved this cute little guy. His new name is Carlos and I'm sure they will make the perfect family!

Post #14 13 News- Cats on Cats on Cats

        Every week we pick out two cats and two dogs to show on the morning news. It is a great way to get some of the animals noticed and they love going on field trips too. Because of college, I can't be on T.V. anymore until summer, but I love being on the news and talking in front of people. More than talking, I love showing the community my favorite animals that need forever homes. We have been working with 13 News for years and I love the staff there. We all have a blast and they all love getting to meet new animals every week. I have had some pretty fun and entertaining moments while doing this segment and I can't wait till the summer when I can start going again. Because I work at the shelter and love animals, but I am also majoring in Public Relations and hope to be on T.V. or publicly speaking someday I thought it would be great to show you one of my old videos and how we present the animals each time.
     This video is from about a year ago and like I said we take two cats and dogs but this video just shows one of our cat segments. I hope you enjoy it and start watching 13 News every Tuesday morning around 5-7 am to see us and some new great animals every week that are available for adoption.
Cats from Helping Hands

Post #13 I'm Really Going to Miss Him

       One of the most difficult things about working at a shelter is falling in love with all the animals and having to say good-bye to them all the time. No matter how hard we try to not get attached to some of the animals it happens anyways. It is so hard to be around such great, loving animals and not get emotionally attached to them. I can't even begin to say how many animals I have fell in love with in the past two years while working here but it seems like no matter how much I loved one animal, the second they get adopted I find another one I love just as much. Anytime an animal comes into the shelter and touches my heart I try and spend all of my spare time with them and take as many pictures as possible. Most of us have a notebook dedicated to the animals that we have been touched by and I must say my notebook is getting pretty big.
      Ferguson is my most resent love. He is truly an amazing cat and I'm going to miss him so much. The first time I met him I was writing information down about him so I decided to go spend some time alone with him to see what his personality was like. He instintly hugged me and started purring so naturally my heart melted. Little did I know, Ferguson was an ex vampire and so he decided to bite me in the neck while he was hugging me, still purring. It didn't hurt and honestly I started laughing and thought it was funny. My cat at home bites a lot so he pulled me in and I got attached. From then on I spend some time with him every day and he only bite me one other time, on the ear, which also was pretty funny and didn't hurt at all. Everyone joked about how funny and how much of a brat he was but I think that's why I loved him so much. I tried to get my parents to let me take him home but we already have four animals and they didn't think we needed to add anymore right now. I can gladly say that Ferguson got adopted a few days ago to a great family. I didn't get to see him leave, which saddens me, but I'm so happy to hear he has a new loving family.
       The hardest part about my job is saying good-bye but it makes it easier when the good-bye is joyful and touching. Ferguson is the newest addition to my notebook and I am so greatfull I got to spend the time with him that I did. I'm very sad he left but I have to look at the bright side and know that he's in a good home now and now I can have a new favorite to spoil.

I love you Ferguson and I'm so glad you found your forever home. I hope you love and entertain your new family just as much as you have to me the past month. 

Post #12 Puppies, Puppies, Puppies

     

          There is nothing more touching and cute than two college roomates coming into the shelter and both adopting new puppies. Puppies can be a lot of work but it's a great experience for young people and even older couples to raise a puppy and learn to train it. A lot of my friends in college who have dogs or puppies have a hard time training them or having time to spend with him because of work and school all the time. I encourage young people who are looking at adding a new member to their family to really think about it and plan it out. It makes training very difficult if you don't have the time and patience to do it correctly. If you train your dog properly and have time to do so, having a dog can be amazing company and a great way to learn some responsibility.
          My advise for students or young adults wanting to get a pet would be to either get a cat because they are a lot easier to take care of and less destructive or plan it out and make sure you truly have the time to train your new dog. Even though you may want a dog really bad right now, if you know you don't have a lot of time on your hands, wait, please. More and more animals are brought back because they were to much to handle and people don't realize how much time it takes to train a new pet. It's like taking care of a child. If you tell yourself there is no way your ready for a kid yet, then you should really think about weither you are ready for a pet too.
          The young men that came in and got these puppies go to school full time but they both know what their getting themselves into and they planned out how they are going to take care of and train the both of them. Like them, if you have a roomate maybe planning out times where u can both take turns watching and taking care of your new animal is also a great way to have a dog and be able to take care of them properly. Arrange your schedules so their the opposite or make sure you have time to run home and check on them or let them out if you are going to be gone all day. Puppies can be amazing gifts and great company, but if not taken seriously they can be a nightmare. think about your decisions and plan ahead, and if you have the time for it please come out and see all the wonderful puppies we have at the shelter. They can't wait to go home to their loving forever homes.

Post #11 I Love Pitbulls

       This past week I was promoted to do all of the bully breed adoptions. I am extremely excited and happy to have this position now. Bully breeds are considered any breed that can be aggressive, the most popular is pitbulls. I love pits and I think they make amazing pets, especially for families. They are very loving, friendly, loyal, and super adorable. Pits have a bad reputation, but that's what makes me love my job even more because I let people know how they really are and get to watch them change their minds right before my eyes. Because they are considered bully breeds the state requires us to make the process more complicated to insure we home them to great families that won't use them for anything bad. Potential adopters must fill out a four page profile and be approved before they can even visit with the dog. Once they have been approved and pick out a dog, the dog gets sent to be spayed or neutered and micro-chipped before they can go home. They do cost more than our typical adoptions but they are fully worth the price.
 

This is Aria, a pit we adopted out a few weeks ago. The entire staff was in love with her sweet, calm, and loving personality. Pitbulls make perfect pets :)

   
          Daisy is the first pitbull I have adopted out since I became in charge of them. She is such a lover and a very active and playful little girl. A couple came into the shelter and were very interested in Daisy so they went through the long process to see her and fell in love with her within two minutes. They stayed in the shelter for a good hour or longer playing with Daisy outside and it was very cute to watch them all play together. After she went and got spayed they took her home and were so happy to have her. I love seeing pitbulls leave because we have a harder time getting them adopted. I don't know the statistics but it seems like we get pitbulls more than any other breed in the shelter and they are usually the hardest to get adopted. I not only excited to work with all the pitbulls from now one because I love them, but also because I can't wait to do everything I possibly can to get more and more pitbulls out of the shelter and adopted into amazing families.
         Daisy is just one of many great pits we have at the shelter. If you are looking for a pit or want to see a wonderful, misunderstood dog, come into the shelter today and ask about how you can visit with one of these pitbulls and hopefully take one home.

Post #10 The Boss

         One of the great things we do at Helping Hands is we work with the local woman's prison and have a training camp set up with them called Blue Ribbon. About every eight weeks or so we bring dogs to them and they teach them a whole bunch of tricks until they return to the shelter to be adopted out. This program has many amazing benefits such as the women prisoners getting to interact with the dogs and the dogs are returned to us with training that adopters love. At the camp they learn to sit, stay, lay down, leave it, to walk on a leash and sometimes more if they are quick learners.
        For years we have had a lot of great feedback on this program and we will continue to do it for a long time. Boss is a two year old German Shepard who went through Blue Ribbon. When he came back he knew a ton of tricks and he is a very well behaved young man. He was with us for about two weeks then got adopted of course. All of the staff and volunteers made sure he was spoiled rotton while he was with us though. I love Boss and the family who adopted him is truly blessed because they brought home an amazing dog that is going to bring them joy and love forever.
        A lot of people want a dog really bad but don't have the time to train them like they would like to so this program is excellent. We have families that come in specifically for our Blue Ribbon dogs, like Boss. If you are looking for a new loving family member but you're worried about training, come check out our Blue Ribbon dogs!! If you would like additional training or have a dog at home already who may need some classes, we also have a training class of our own that has been getting amazing results. If you are interested visit our website or call and ask for information.
Phone: (7850 233-7325
Website: hhhstopeka.org

This is Boss a few days before he got adopted. Isn't he incredibly handsome? I will always miss him and I am so happy he found his forever home! 

Post #9 Kids & Kittens

                 Two little kittens named Bruce and Lola went home this weekend and it was an absolute delight to work with the loving family who took them home. They came into the shelter to find a kitten for their two kids who were both around 8 years old. We looked at our options and found a litter of kittens with just two left. The orange one, Bruce, really caught their eye but we decided to take both kittens into the room for them to visit because they felt bad leaving one in the cage by herself. After about fifteen minutes of visiting and discussing what to do it was a unanimous decision to take them both. The little boy really wanted Bruce but turns out the girl kitten, Lola loves to hit around balls and he happens to be a soccer player so they instantly clicked and were a perfect match. To make it even more perfect the little girl fell in love with Bruce. So now these two amazing kids have their own new loving kittens to cuddle and play with every day. Before they left they even named both of the kittens. The little boy decided to name his kitten Puss in Boots because he said she was really cute and always loved that name. The little girl named her little orange kitten Garfield because well he looked like him and it was a perfect name. I love making families happy by helping them find the perfect pet but when I see two little kids find their dream pets it just makes my day! 

Meet Garfield & Puss in Boots in the arms of their new forever friends. So glad to make 4 lives happier all at once. 

Post #8 Finding the Perfect Match

                Whenever a family comes in to find a new pet we do our best to find the right match for what their looking for. Some families come in and have no idea what they want, they just want an animal who will love them forever which is pretty easy to find. Others will come in with a list of traits in their heads of what would be the perfect animal for their household. I usually suggest coming in knowing what you want in your new pet ahead of time because it helps us narrow down options and help you find the perfect match.
                 A family came into the shelter yesterday and told me they wanted a dog to be a companion for their cat at home. He has always been around dogs and their dog just recently passed away. They picked out about seven dogs they wanted to look at in hopes of finding a new playmate for their fuzzy family member at home. After I took off some of their options due to not getting along with cats we narrowed it down to about three different lab mixes. As we were walking to a room to visit with these animals this young lady saw a puppy in our display case that looks absolutely adorable. She said she really wanted to look at him but didn't think he was available. Well I made her day by letting her know that he was indeed up for adoption. So we all decided to scratch out the whole list we had and see the puppy instead because he was very laid back, would work great with cats, and his cuteness was hard to resist.
               They visited with this puppy, who had no name yet, for about five minutes and they knew he was the one. He was exactly what they were looking for and you could tell that it was a match made in heaven. I love it when families make a huge list of animals they want to look at an instantly fall in love with the first one they meet. I always say go with you gut and start from the ones you liked the most and it works almost every time. I'm so glad they found the perfect new pet and I know that he will becomes best friends with the cat right away. Before leaving they decided his new name would be Toby!! I think it fits him perfectly! So glad Toby will forever be happy and the family he went home with!!

This is the adorable Toby and his new mommy!! He is going to love his new family and his new forever home. 

Post #7 Oliver in His Forever Home.

 Oliver loving his new family & comfy bed :)

           This is Oliver and he got adopted about a month ago. A couple I went to high school with were looking for the perfect lap cat to add into their family. Originally they just wanted to look at this little guy but he was brought into the shelter with another cat named Cocoa. I told the couple that if would be best to take them both home because they would probably miss each other a lot and it might affect their behaviors. Being the loving people that they are, they decided to look at both of the cats. After visiting with them in the room, they fell in love with both and took both of them home. Once they got home Oliver hid for a few days and Cocoa was the more outgoing one who wanted to cuddle and sleep with them after day one. It's funny how the cat they originally looked at was the one who ended up taking longer to warm up to them. After about a week of adjusting Oliver broke out of his shell and showed his true colors. The adopters messaged me and had to let me know that they were both doing amazing and they loved to cuddle and sleep with them every night. I love that warm feeling I get when I hear that families are doing great with their adopted pets. They also let me know that Oliver follows them around constantly and loves them more than ever!! A few days ago the adopters posted this picture online for me to see how Oliver was doing. Doesn't he look so adorable and happy? I love seeing photos like this! I am glad Oliver and Cocoa found their forever homes! If you want to save an animals life, just come in and check out the animals we have up for adoption and we would be more than happy to help you find the perfect new addition to your family too!!!