Humane Society of Parkersburg: REDI Training Grant Report

How did this grant help your organization and the pets in your care?

This grant provided training that made staff more sensitive and aware of the need to put aside any personal feelings or differences related to the ethnicity of individuals who are wanting to adopt animals from our shelter.

Our shelter is located in Wood County, WV, and, while we adopt to individuals from across the region, our county is more than 96% white and this training has helped to ensure that we are open to and aware of the needs of all individuals.

How many pets did this grant help?

40

Please provide a story of one or more specific pets this grant helped.

We had a shelter dog named Chestnut. Unfortunately, he and eight additional dogs were surrendered from extremely poor living conditions. The home was dirty and the dogs had fleas, skin issues, and other medical problems. These dogs were living with two puppies that had died and were just sitting on the floor in a cardboard box.

Based on the conditions, our humane officers explained to the individual how poor the quality of life was for the dogs. She had given up on seeking assistance with the dogs and surrendered them to the shelter.

Chestnut was one of the dogs in better condition and we had a mother and her multiracial son who were interested in Chestnut. Chestnut had been very withdrawn and not showing well during his early days at the shelter, but when Ashley and Jissai came in, it was love at first sight. Chestnut was so happy when he found his new friend and Jissai immediately knew that this was the dog for him.

We have included the photo of the adoption as well as a more recent photo that was shared. Jissai was not happy with the name Chestnut, so the name was changed to Chuck and several months later this boy and his dog are both extremely happy to have found each other.