Category: Blog Posts

Instituting the Fear Free program helped move the shelter toward an enviable average length of stay of just five days for both dogs and cats and earned one of MPA’s 2021 Out of the Box Awards, plus a $1,500 cash award.

Growing up in Fremont, Michigan, Alicia Offringa was always surrounded by dogs, cats and the occasional lizard. As the owner of Camp Bow Wow Hudsonville, she’s still surrounded, but just by dogs.

“My goal was to work in a zoo,” Alicia said. “While I was studying for a biology degree at Grand Valley State and working for the Humane Society of West Michigan, a family friend offered me the opportunity to be the manager of the new Camp Bow Wow Hudsonville. I started work there on the very day it opened 16 years ago.”

Some organizations live up to their guiding philosophy. Some fall short. Count Little Traverse Bay Humane Society among the ones that make their words work.

The Harbor Springs shelter was established in 1951 from what they term “humble beginnings” and now boasts a number of affiliated for-profit services, such as veterinarian services, boarding, grooming, day care and training that feed their bottom line.

At Adopt-A-Pet in Fenton, enrichment and learning are such key activities for the dogs and cats there, training sessions are as regular an activity in their lives as eating and sleeping. Every dog is given a training session every day. Adopt-A-Pet’s spacious eight-acre grounds include wading pools, four fenced play yards and an agility course. This summer, Maddock is planning an outdoor “Zen Den” with different smells and textures to provide even more enrichment.

Tool & die shop owner George Fox was an animal lover who had a dream to someday build a shelter where homeless pets would be cared for and safe. In 1955, he and a group of like-minded friends bought seven-and-a-half acres of land in Shelby Township and began to raise money to fulfill that dream.

In Gogebic County in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, H.O.P.E. stands for Help Orphaned Pets Everywhere. That’s been the mission of the H.O.P.E. Animal Shelter since its inception in 1992.

No Kill was the philosophy of the original H.O.P.E. founders, who wrote it into the organization’s charter. The shelter has maintained a save rate of between 95 and 99% since then, making it one of the first No Kill shelters in Michigan. In 2011, the Michigan Pet Fund Alliance recognized the people of Gogebic County as one of 10 Michigan No Kill communities saving homeless cats and dogs through life-affirming programs.

Little did Scott MacKenzie know that attending a going-away party for the retiring executive director of the Charlevoix Area Humane Society (CAHS) would dramatically change his life. MacKenzie was serving on the search committee to hire a new executive director for CAHS and also looking for someone to chair the marketing committee.

During Reva Laituri’s tenure, UPAWS has gone from a save rate of just 37% to saving 97% of the animals in UPAWS’ care. In 2019, a new $3.6 million state-of-the-art shelter was completed under her leadership, thanks in part to a $1.6 million bequest from UPAWS supporters Philip and Ruth Spade, for whom the new shelter is named.