'Twas The Week After Maddie's.....A Tale of Homeless Pets and Unlikely Interior Designers.

And all through the shelter, new animals were coming in. Most of them were coming from other shelters that were too crowded. Like Brandy, who came in from the coast.

Where am I? What's happening? 

Or Templeton, who just jaunted over from the other side of town.

Me and my enormous legs cannot figure out what's happening. 

Or Tuesday, who was needing a bit of extra vet care for a dental issue.

As I'm sure you can understand, this is a distressing turn of events.

Some of them came from their owners, like these little muffins (and yes, we spayed their momma for free).

We're puppies. We poop everywhere. We're not too concerned. 

Or Gucci, whose heartbroken family found themselves in a situation where they couldn't keep him.

This is my second shelter. I know the drill. I am upset. But adorable.

Unfortunately if there's one thing there's no shortage of, it's animals needing a home. It's getting better (did we tell you about 240 last week?) but we still have a ways to go.

As these guys wash up on our shores they tend to be frightened and completely confused. While we work on fixing that (and by fixing them we mean get them adopted into new, loving homes) we try to make them as comfortable as they can be.

Which is where we meet Scott, an Animal Care Technician here at HSSV.

I'm not Scott. 

Okay, that's not actually Scott. That's Scott's Basset Hound. We didn't ask Scott for his permission to use a photo of him, so his dog is filling in for him instead. In fact we didn't ask Scott for permission to do this blog, either. But never mind about that.

Anyway, Scott is a tall, somewhat gruff redheaded man who enjoys sports. He's been working here for seven years. In addition to being an awesome animal handler, endlessly patient with the shy pets and pretty funny, Scott is famous for one other thing.

His amazing interior design skills. 

Ermaghawd - the sweet..

In getting the rooms ready for new dogs, everyone gets a blanket, a bed, a few toys. A bowl. As most of our bedding comes from donations, it can be kind of a motley selection.

Scott takes the time to color coordinate all of the bedding for every room. The toys, too. Each room is carefully coordinated, every blanket neatly folded. Blankets are twisted into 'C' shapes to give the little ones something to snuggle into. Multiple  matching toys are stashed artfully around the room. Each empty bowl neatly overturned like a mint on a hotel bed, awaiting it's new occupant.

Suki posing in a Scott room. 

At various times there's been sport themed rooms, college themed rooms, even specifically animal-themed rooms (who knew we had that many stuffed bunnies?) but all of them meticulously laid out.

All of our ACT's are amazing - they're the unseen army that keeps our animals cleaned, happy and fed. They comfort the scared, clean the messy, feed the hungry and do it all with endless good cheer, affection and patience.

But as Maddie's Pet Adoption Days cleaned out our kennels the mystery of the designer rooms - and Scott's unlikely roll as stager and decorator - needed to be cleared up. As empty kennels were made ready for the new arrivals, volunteers and visitors repeatedly commented on the care evident in the vacant rooms.

As our new kids settled in, everyone started to get more comfortable. Curly discovered that people aren't as scary as she thought they were. Particularly people who jog with you, like Behavior Associate Greg.

I chase you, tall human! Flee! Flee!

And Sweets discovered that our dog park is actually pretty awesome.

I think I just licked my own eyeball and I don't care!

And we don't know WHAT Clyde discovered but whatever it is it made him very, very, very happy.

Oh, Clyde. 

You know what would make you happy? Adopting an awesome dog from us. So stop in an meet all the new arrivals. And see Scott's wicked design action at work.

A big thanks to all of our amazing Animal Care staff. And sorry, Scott. Probably should have warned you this was coming.

I'm still not Scott.