I don’t know about you, but I miss getting together with people. I miss older relatives that have been under stricter restrictions. I’ve missed dinners out with friends. I’ve missed in-person staff meetings at work. I miss getting together with my colleagues from across the province to talk about our mutual challenges and their solutions. I’m tired of Zoom. It’s convenient, but it’s just not the same.
Saturday’s storm knocked out power to the OHS — toppling trees on our property, causing some damage and making our outdoor dog run unusable. We are still in the dark and have had to cancel most of our programs for the week. Adoptions continue, but at a slower pace.
You may have heard that Quebec recently introduced some progressive changes to its Animal Welfare and Safety Act. If the legislation passes, some of the biggest and most long-standing animal welfare concerns will finally be addressed in that province.
Prong collars? Gone. Tail docking, ear cropping and declawing of cats? Gone. Gas chambers for euthanasia? Gone.
There’s a persistent rumour going around the country that the many thousands of people who acquired pets during the pandemic — mostly dogs — are surrendering their pets to shelters in droves because those people are now going back to work. We receive regular calls from the media wanting us to talk about the story, but the story isn’t true; not in Ottawa, and not in any part of the country that I am aware of.
Ever heard of National Little Pampered Dog Day? How about International Pooper Scooper Week? There are a lot of awareness days, weeks and months in animal welfare. They range from the mildly amusing to the very serious, like National Pet Fire Safety Day and Immunization Awareness Month. At the Ottawa Humane Society, we often leverage these events to get our animal welfare messages out to our community.
Growing up, my only pet was a goldfish named Stanley.
It wasn’t until I married that I had my first dog, Brandy, an amazing golden Lab mix.
Brandy passed when she was 14 and I was devastated. I cried every day. At first, I swore I’d never get another dog, that my loss of Brandy was something to never be repeated...
There has been a very welcome sight outside our shelter the past week: our mobile spay/neuter vehicle. In preparation for rolling our Mobile Spay/Neuter Services out into the community, we have been engaging in a series of dry runs — sterilizing OHS animals for adoption, rather than owned pets. We want to make sure that everything runs smoothly and safely for both animals and staff.
This week is National Dog Bite Prevention Week. As a humane education coordinator at the OHS, whether teaching kids or adults, one of my most important lessons is how to prevent dog bites.
The big secret? Communication.
Dogs constantly communicate with us. They nuzzle for a scratch, whine for food, or even steal some socks to start a game of chase.
The Ottawa Humane Society strives to ensure that everything we do is informed by six cultural values: safety, respect, service, communication, excellence, and diversity. We promote them, hire for them, and measure performance against them.
Making decisions is more challenging in a crisis, and we — and the whole world — have been in crisis for two years. Our values, especially safety and service, have helped us through.
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