The dogs at Lucky Dog Rescue Ranch, Inc. are indeed just that – lucky. Julie is the director, kennel attendant, intake coordinator, rescue coordinator, vet tech, fundraiser, and pretty much every other position necessary for rescuing 300 dogs each year.

The most powerful way we can impact the shelter crisis in this country is to fund spay/neuter. It’s as simple as that. And yet, for too many shelters, finding that funding is not simple. Chasing grant money takes time and is often not possible for municipal shelters who often need the funding the most.

Craven-Pamlico Animal Services practices managed intake in the way I believe it was originally intended. CPAS is a large shelter, close to the coast of North Carolina, that serves multiple municipalities and handles over four thousand animals a year.

It was like walking through a river of dogs. Every now and again, Heather would scold a dog. Her ability to have ‘eyes in the back of her head’ was truly remarkable. It was even more remarkable that she knew all their names (and that the dogs knew their own names also and seemed to understand what she said to them). Heather called it a perpetual dog park, but it was much better than most of the dog parks I've been to.

On our March tour, when we realized we had a free afternoon and were going right through Nashville, Georgia, we just had to stop to check in on Kayla, the ACO/director/everything else at the City of Nashville GA Animal Shelter. We were last here in 2023 when Kayla had been on the job just a few months.

Every shelter tour is a little bit different. I am always inspired by the people we meet and while we can’t pull dogs, I do carry many of them home in my heart. I’m still thinking about the Rottie mix at Tift County Shelter who leaned into his kennel fence begging for my touch, and the super-smart border collie mix we met at Lucky Dog Rescue Ranch, who is my dream dog (although my current pack does not have any openings).