Lynchburg Humane Society Blog

Duke’s Better Life By Nina Caldwell Age 10 Duke was a dog In pitiful condition Tried to smile Nobody even looked One mistake Cute dogs on both sides Beat up, rough breed Tender sweet heart Nobody noticed Until one day One rainy day They came Two people That loved him as their own One even cried He knew they love HIM Now the cute dogs Were passed by That pitiful, beat up Duke was finally loved To Duke, this is him, This is how I first saw him. *Duke was adopted on Sunday, May 23rd. Duke suffered multiple wounds from being attacked by another dog. Animal control brought him in after having been to the vet for treatment. He is a wonderful, friendly and handsome boy.

This is a reprint of a News and Advance Column by Makena Yarbrough Many people think that humane societies and SPCAs are connected with or governed by larger national groups. People often think that we are connected with the other humane organizations in the area, but the truth is that we aren’t. State and national humane societies and SPCAs each have boards of directors and their own individualized policies, programs and procedures. If you donate money to a national organization like ASPCA or HSUS, those funds stay with that organization. Unless we qualify for a grant that organization is offering, none of that money is funneled down to the humane organizations in our area. Please Give Locally. With all the many types of organizations, how is the public supposed to know what it all means and how the humane organization works in their area? What is No Kill? There are many types of No Kill organizations and it is important to know the differences. The most recent movement in this fie...

Today at naptime my four year old son chose to read 101 Dalmations . His favorite book for the last two weeks. Of course he has 101 questions on each page, and this is not the short version of the book. We read a couple of chapters at a time. Today's reading involved the puppies in the castle. If you are not familiar with the story, out of 99 puppies only 15 had collars. My son just can't understand why all of the puppies didn't have collars. I sat there on the bed trying to come up with an explanation that would make sense...but my reasons don't work for Joseph. He is not tolareting ingnorance and/or laziness as an excuse. I had to sit back and chuckle. I've worked for 10 years in animal welfare and I am normally the one who doesn't want to hear the excuses. Here I am trying to give those excuses to MY four year old...who knows better. I hope that he is a picture of animal welfare for the future, because it looks good! Please tag and microchip your pet if you h...

When Lynchburg Humane Society decided to go No Kill by 2015 we were excited about all the possible changes and the lives being saved. The humane industry has been changing little by little over the years with San Francisco spear-heading the No Kill movement some 20 years ago. Then came Ithaca, NY when it became the safest place for a pet while maintaining their open admission pound status. Now the movement has gone from Jacksonville, to New York City, Seattle to Richmond, and Charlottesville. Lynchburg is now following in their footprints to create a community where all adoptable and saveable pets are placed in homes. Since starting down this path last fall we have made lots of changes that have resulted in a significant reduction of the euthanasia rate and an increase in the number of lives saved. So what has changed? We started a more active volunteer program, we created a foster home program, we have had more animals adopted through special pricing, eve...

The News & Advance features a column called "Central Virginia's Pets" I've decided to include some of these in our blog from time to time. The following is a piece written by Ann Holland who serves on the LHS Board of Directors. Designer Dogs My husband and I said “goodbye” to our 14 year-old dog, Spokes, last October. Our beloved girl was gorgeous: ice-blue eyes, long, soft fur in a kaleidoscope of colors, pricked ears and a flowing tail. Spokes was likely from Australian shepherd stock, but beyond that, her heritage was a mystery. Whatever she was, it was the perfect combination. “The perfect combination” is also the idea behind the recent “designer dog” craze. A designer, or hybrid, dog is a first-generation cross between two breeds of purebred dogs. Goldendoodles (golden retriever + poodle), schneagles (schnauzer + beagle) and bullmations (bulldog + Dalmatian) are examples of designer dogs. While the names are fun, crossbreeding is serious business and ...