West Columbia Gorge Humane Society: Grant Report
How did this grant help your organization and the pets in your care?
Thank you for the gift of Thundershirts in different sizes and genders for our shelter dogs to help them with anxiety while they are guests in our shelter and during a recent summer thunderstorm.
West Columbia Gorge Humane Society is a no-kill rescue shelter that also takes in dogs from the Washougal and Camas, WA, animal-control agency. We have several very long-term dogs who are waiting for adoption. We recently created a dog enrichment program to help all of our dogs better cope with shelter life and make them more adoptable.
We have an amazing dog-shelter manager and volunteer crew who participate in our active enrichment program to help the dogs who are waiting for their adoptive homes, yet our dogs are still living under stress in a shelter environment. Thanks to the Petfinder Foundation grant, Thundershirts are now part of our Shelter Dog Enrichment program to help our dogs feel more secure and calm while they are guests in our shelter when a situation arises where they need extra comforting. Plus we frequently have small dogs staying with us who are often especially fearful and scared living in a shelter, so we really appreciate having the smaller Thundershirts. Thank you, Petfinder Foundation and Thundershirt, for this gift!
How many pets did this grant help?
Three dogs so far
Please provide a story of one or more specific pets this grant helped.
We have a 4-year-old pittie boy named Inspector who has been living at the shelter for over a year waiting for a home, and he is very anxious and excitable living in a shelter environment. He recently had a tibial plateau-leveling osteotomy (TPLO) surgery to repair an ACL tear in his leg, so we were very thankful to receive a Thundershirt to help him remain calm while his leg was healing. He now is in a wonderful foster home to get a break from shelter life.
We have a little guy named Bud who stayed in our shelter until a foster home could be found for him; he was very fearful and nervous in his kennel, so he got to wear a tiny Thundershirt to help him feel more safe and secure until he went into foster care.
We recently had a brief summer lightening- and thunderstorm in our area which caused Arlo, a Yorkie mix, to be very scared. Our shelter manager put a mini-Thundershirt on him and he did seem to calm down a bit. As we approach winter in the Northwest, we will have more opportunities to use our Thundershirts during storms.
