Yesterday I took my kids to see our local shelter‘s new “Humane House”.
It’s an interactive learning space that lets you do everything from view real x-rays of animals that have been at the shelter, scan the microchip on a stuffed dog, and try to identify scents at the Sniff Zone.
You can play dress-up (vet, animal control officer, etc.), and learn all kinds of tips.
For example, (posted above a cute, real mailbox, incidentally): The mailcarrier rattles your mailbox delivering mail, your dog barks, the carrier leaves. Your dog thinks his barking made the “stranger” go away so the behavior is reinforced. If the carrier is up for meeting your dog, you can break this daily behavior.)
They even had a 50’s era refurbished fridge that had all kinds of tips inside (like what kinds of foods different companion animals like or can make them sick).
Interesting!
Our shelter (called the Center for Compassion) never ceases to amaze me. There is no chainlink in sight, and the place has no smell. It has lots of light and even a “dog park” (indoors, with fake grass that can be hosed down and retractable roof).
It’s really beautiful. We go about once/quarter just to look around. My daughter even wants to have her next birthday party there. Pretty amazing place…
(More on the Peninsula Humane Society & SPCA’s Humane House here.)
Life in the Fur Lane 