Animal shelter workers go by many names; kennel worker, animal care technician or adoption counselor. People like Kim Royea like to call themselves friends of animals. Her job is physically demanding and emotionally draining. She works full-time at the New Hampshire Humane Society in Laconia, N.H.
Royea is a natural animal lover. At home she has two cats, adopted from the same Humane Society she works at. Before getting a job with the Humane Society, she owned two beagles. Her career began in August 2006 and since then she has acquired two more bouncy beagles. “One of the hardest parts about my job is knowing that I can’t take them all home,” she said.
Royea’s job is not a glamorous one. Her first priority is to take care of the basic needs of the animals. She works in the dog department, and when she gets in at 8 A.M., it can be loud. The shelter usually has anywhere from eight to forty dogs at a time and when left alone overnight, the dogs are excited to see the workers in the morning. Three people work in the dog department in a typical day, and it is hard for each of them to hear each other over the barking and howling.
Royea’s typical day consists of five main duties: feeding, cleaning, taking dogs outside, stuffing toys with treats and finding the right animal for potential adopters. She begins each day by serving up breakfast for the dogs. Each dog gets the appropriate amount of the same dry food for their size, but some won’t eat it unless there is wet food too. Some dogs are so picky that Royea has to mix the dry food with warm water and wet food. In any case, Royea must remember which dogs get what for food, and when there are thirty or forty dogs, this becomes difficult.
After the dogs are done eating, Royea’s next task is to bring all the dogs outside. There are nine outdoor kennels surrounding the shelter, which normally hold “dog play groups,” or groups of dogs that get along with each other that can be put in one outdoor kennel together. These groups can range anywhere from two dogs to five or six.
Bringing as many of the dogs as she can outside is a tough task for Royea. Typically, there are two workers doing this at a time, but when there are playgroups of three or more dogs, at least one of the workers has to walk two dogs at a time. This is a seemingly simple task when the dogs are small, but the shelter tends to take in bigger and stronger breeds.
“Sometimes the dogs walk us,” said Royea. She is 5’2 and petite, so when the shelter receives a dog like Max, a 110 lbs bloodhound, things can get difficult.
Obedience and training are hard in a shelter environment. Shelter dogs do not act in the shelter like they are going to act in a home. In the shelter they are wild, loud, excited animals that will do anything for the workers’ attention; even if it means behaving badly.
“I get nipped all the time and when it’s a big German shepherd, that can be kind of scary,” she said.
Part of the shelter worker’s job is to learn the dogs’ behavior. They must be able to differentiate between excited, playful nipping and angry, fearful attacks. The shelter takes in all the strays from a surrounding 16 towns so Royea sometimes has to deal with some pretty nasty dogs. “We’ve gotten in dogs that we can’t even get close enough to to take for a walk.”
The New Hampshire Humane Society is a no-kill shelter, which means they do not euthanize animals for staying extended lengths of time; they keep the animal until they can find them a home. However, euthanasia may be used when a dog is found un-adoptable. This usually happens if the dog has bitten someone, because if the shelter adopts out a dog and that dog bites someone, the shelter could be found liable for any future bites.
After the dogs are outside, Royea’s next task is to clean their indoor kennels. Cleaning is not an easy task and Royea must think about disease control the whole time. She sprays the walls, doors and floor with a disinfecting chemical she calls “trifectant,” scrubbing down each kennel, making sure the dried feces comes off the floor, which sometimes takes a little extra elbow grease, and then rinsing all of it down with warm water. In order to make sure the kennel is dry for when the dogs come back inside, she uses a large squee-gee to pull the water to the drains in the floors. She is assigned to 27 kennels and this usually takes her about two hours to do; sometimes more if the dogs are really messy.
After cleaning, Royea brings the dogs back for a short nap before their dinner at 2 P.M. After her cleaning duties are over she can be called up to the front at any time to show dogs to potential adopters.
This can be one of the hardest and most emotional parts of Royea’s job. “Some people come in expecting things from us that just aren’t possible.” Royea had customers come in and expect to bring the dog home that same day. Adopting a dog from the shelter is a long process because the workers are trying to make sure they find the best home.
Shelter workers can be especially picky in choosing a home for a dog. A dog can get up to 10 applications at a time. Shelter workers choose the home for the dog by looking over the multiple applications, meeting with the top potential adopters and interacting the dog with any dogs the adopter has at home to ensure a happy and safe home for the dog.
A day in the life of an animal shelter worker is a physically demanding job and has emotional pros and cons. Kim Royea enjoys her job and does her best to find loving, permanent homes for the dogs she dedicates so much time to.
For information on volunteering or applying for a position at the New Hampshire Humane Society check out their website at http://nhhumane.org or call the shelter at (603) 524-3252.