Bigger and Better - June Sanctuary Update - Our Companions Animal Rescue

Hi Everyone!

I’m very excited to bring you all some big news for this month. As you may know, Twilight House, Minnie’s Mews, and Suzanne’s Place were all completed in the last phase of construction in late 2022. As always, we made some careful plans to expand our operations in a way that would not overwhelm our capacity. That meant moving into Minnie’s Mews in early 2023 and then starting up our small animal program in Suzanne’s Place in mid-2024. During this time, we moved in to Twilight House and got our Healing Center up and running with our partner, Dr. Michael Sanders, but did not expand our dog operations. Until now!

Henree House is ready to house our sanctuary dogs once again!

Starting today, we’ll be moving a full population of dogs into all five dog cottages. This exciting move will not only allow us to help more pups in need, it will allow us to grow some of our programs and experiment with some new procedures. A larger pool of dogs means that we can work even more on dog-dog socialization projects and can expand the on-site class work that we’ve been building. The biggest new thing about this expansion will be our plans to use Henree House as a little bit of a literal and figurative “in-between” space between the Volunteer Cottages and the Behavior Cottages. In the Volunteer Cottages, volunteers are the main fuel for our engine and the dogs there spend most of their time, including tuck in, with volunteers. In the Behavior Cottages, the dogs are mostly handled by staff because of some special handling needs or unpredictable behaviors. But over the years, we’ve had lots of dogs, like Bootz or Hank, that were largely social with lots of people, but had one or two handling issues, especially at tuck in. Now that Henree House is open, it will have a significant volunteer presence, but will also be staffed like a Behavior Cottage, with staff covering tuck in. This will allow dogs like Neo to start working with volunteers, dogs like Hank to rejoin the ranks of volunteer handled dogs, and dogs like Coal to increase his volunteer exposure while keeping them under staff oversight during those most sensitive tuck in hours. It’s all very exciting!

These halls are ready for pups to run down them!

Dog volunteer Terry donated this fun clock for the living room wall!

Wrigley testing out the couch before the new residents move in

Of course, another building and more dogs means more dog staff. Many of you have seen the recent ads around for us to recruit, but only for new variable schedule staff. That’s because, in true Our Companions fashion, all of our expansion staffing was accomplished by promoting existing staff and hiring on a volunteer. Kira, Alie, Hannah, Marissa, and Leilani all will be or have already expanded their roles with us, and volunteer Melissa has been added to the team. We also have cat staff veteran Miles migrating to the dog side. It’s wonderful to be able to grow through offering opportunities to our experienced and dedicated team, and start recruiting the next wave of future team pillars.

So, we have new space, new dogs, new staff. What’s missing? Oh yeah…you!! With all this growth, we need more volunteers!! If you’ve ever thought about signing up to join the dog volunteers or know someone who would make a great addition to our team of volunteer dog handlers, now’s the time. Just click here to get started. We look forward to getting to know you!

Scout memorial

Scout was the picture of everything that the Our Companions Sanctuary has to offer. He was found as a stray in Farmington with some damage to his face, likely due to some kind of fight. He was also an unneutered mail with excess energy and poor manners. This guy was going to need lots of work if he was going to be successfully adopted. But everyone could see the heart of gold he had underneath, and since the Animal Control lacked the resources to address his many needs, we stepped in to take on Scout’s challenges. Unfortunately, over his years with us, his medical needs only continued to grow, and as soon as we would address one issue, another would arise. This spring, those issues compounded to a point that there was too much invasive care needed with too little promise of improvement to keep going. We were forced to say goodbye to this joyful soul who had brought so much light to so many. He will be remembered for his silliness, his mischief, and his instant love for all humans who came his way.

Gidget Memorial

And, in a heartbreaking turn of events for the dog team, we also had to say goodbye to sanctuary celebrity and longest resident Gidget this month. Gidget landed here back when there were just three cottages and a handful of staff. She had been found as a puppy tied to the door of a vet’s office with a broken leg. We took her in to give her a chance to recover and heal, but within her first years here, it became clear that her reactivity to strangers would make her unsafe to adopt out to a home. Instead, she became a kind of mascot for the sanctuary, showing what we could accomplish with love, dedication, and a relentless pursuit of the best training practices. She had an army of friends and became known as one of the smartest dogs at the sanctuary, even mastering tricks like riding a skateboard and getting a tissue when she heard “Achoo!” Unfortunately, the years were not kind to her body. Her initial childhood injuries had lasting impacts that were exacerbated by later mishaps, and she developed a number of genetic and age related illnesses. While the staff and our veterinary partners gave a herculean effort to keep her healthy and happy, even getting regular acupuncture and massage, eventually it wasn’t enough to hold back the progression of her many conditions. She was seen off with all her closest companions by her side.

Those who were lucky enough to know Gidget know that she loved toys & treats!

Our pretty girl on her final trip to see Dr. Amy, her holistic vet

Vinny’s View

Wow! There’s so much going on here! As I watch the parade of caring and dedicated staff and volunteers cycle in and out of mine and Jon’s office, while making sure to loudly ask if they have my next meal, I’m overwhelmed by how many projects, goals, plans, and initiatives are in motion all the time. The key to the success of all these efforts is you! As mentioned above, we have a big need right now for more dog team volunteers. But that’s not all! Our small animal team is in big need of more volunteers to help keep up the work of caring for our littlest friends. In addition, our team of yard care volunteers has had some recent losses and could really use some extra hands to help keep this place looking beautiful. So spread the word! Do you know a young person who needs to get outside more or a retiree who loves to spend time on a lawnmower? Let them know they’re needed here! Or how about that friend you have who loves all of nature’s critters, no matter how small or different. Let them know our little critters need someone who knows their way around cage cleaning. Even our cat team, the undefeated champions of volunteer enthusiasm year after year, could use some extra hands. The link is below for you to share far and wide. We greatly appreciate it!

Click here for the best volunteer experience ever!

See you soon!

And of Course…Adoptions!!

As always, adoptions have slowed a little as we head into the height of summer, but there’s still been some great moves to celebrate! The dog team welcomed adorable puppy-girl, Mocha, to start the operation expansion. In cats, Tebow, Bandit, and Muffin all had quick turnovers to their forever homes, making room to welcome Nina and welcome back Patches. And with the small animal team, Flamingo, the hamster, and guinea pigs Coffee and Pudding went home. Joining the fun this month were guinea pigs Parsley and Pimento, chinchilla Gizmo, and bunnies Skip and Callum. And in a mass mouse migration, Galadriel, Brie, Cheddar, Feta, Havarti and Ricotta all went home together!