Stanley – The Winning Wiener

The PRECIOUS chocolate dachshund known as “Chaco” at the shelter has been adopted. He is SO wonderful!

He was brought to the animal shelter on Monday, January 25 as a stray in Brazos County. That Saturday, January 30, his handsome face captured my heart and our lives will never again be the same!

I have been considering getting a dachshund for quite some time. The breed is the perfect size, known for living long happy lives, and are completely adorable. My roommate had one I fell in LOVE with, but she only stayed temporarily. Many friends with whom I grew up had dachshunds. I have been researching my options for adopting.

Two years ago, I had to put my Snowball, the most well behaved and friendliest mutt in the world, down after 13 long happy years. We got her when she was two. You could consider it a rescue; she had belonged to a family that had to go into the witness protection program. (Kind of a randomly cool way to get a dog!) As all dog lovers know, though, there is a place in a human’s heart that can only be filled with the love of a dog.

As a college student, my number one priority in adopting a dog is money. I had to be smart with my choice. Getting a dachshund from a breeder would have cost hundreds, and the microchipping/neutering/shots would have come straight out of my pocket. This just wasn’t going to work. On Saturday, January 30, I had a sudden epiphany; let’s go check out the pound! I’m sure that they don’t have a dachshund because of the high demand of the breed, but I want a dog who:

1. is relatively small for apartment life 2. greets me with a wagging tail, not a mean growl, but at the same time not giving overwhelming licks and 3. is nice to other dogs

And who did I find? STANLEY! A dachshund! I could tell he isn’t full blood from his face; his ears and snout are not typical dachshund. But his body sure is dachshund! His chocolate brown coat won me over.

I came back first thing Monday morning and finalized the adoption. I picked him up Tuesday and I think I can safely say we are both VERY happy.

The vet said the only dogs that come in chocolate brown are labs and pit bull. Stanley is definitely not pit bull, he’s lab! He LOVES for me to throw a toy, and he just brings it back to me. That’s a retriever; he loves it and can do it for hours!

He’s caught on well to the housebreaking. He’s a great snuggler… I’m so happy and blessed to have him in my life.

- Audrey B

Allen Honda Adoptions

The Brazos Animal Shelter is thankful for our mobile adoption team. They have helped us at adoption events all over the Brazos Valley. We were at Santa’s Wonderland in the winter and we continuously have PetSmart adoptions every Saturday.

January 16th we took four dogs and one cat to Allen Honda. We had adoptions on all of the pets but one dog, who got adopted just two days after the event. We are very thankful for our volunteers and the support from Allen Honda.

Kongs, Bones & Orbees… OH MY!

Tips & Tricks: Krystle Gervais, Community Enhancement Coordinator

I am very fortunate to have a dog trainer for a sister and a great trainer here in College Station as well. Through these two wonderful women I have learned a lot of cool tricks of how to entertain my pets while my husband and I are away. Like I said, my sister is a dog trainer in Austin and always has the coolest toys and ideas for my energetic dogs. One that she started us out on was the kong. She gave us some ideas of what to put in the kong and even hollow bones. Shannon, our trainer here in Aggieland also gave us some awesome ideas on what to put in our kongs and bones. I thought I would share with you some of their secrets to keeping your dog busy, while you are away.

A lot of people think that dogs are instantly happy in their environment and that they will never chew or destroy anything. The truth is, they are like children, they need something to keep them busy. Would you leave a small child in a room with nothing to do? Then why would you do that to your dog? Give them a bone, rawhide, puzzle toy or something. This tip is just one of the many things you can do for your dog while you are out.

The Kong /Orbee/ Bone Project

You must first start off with a bone, kong, orbee or some sort of toy meant for stuffing.

Kong Website –    Orbee/Planet Dog Website

There are many different things that you can stuff your kongs, orbees or bones with. Some of which are: Peanut Butter, Cheese, dry dog food, dry treats, or even wet dog food.

Another option is to soak food…

1. Get some dry food and place it into a bowl

2. Add water to the food. I add hot water so that it soaks into the food quicker.

3. This is what the food looks like once the food has absorbed the water. It’s plumped.

4. Next, you will mash the food making it easier to stuff

5. The finished “smashing” product. I use a spoon to scoop the food into the kongs/bones.

6. To make it more interesting, you can add – dry treats, easy cheese, or even peanut butter to the mix. I used a bit of cheese on the top of one and bones on top of the other.

And that’s it! You can choose whether or not you want to freeze the treats (this makes it more challenging and will give them something to work at for a longer period of time) or you can give them out as is.

The finished product.

A budding entrepreneur with a heart…

With some  initiative and a little lemonaid, and a lot of care and compassion for the homeless pets in our area, Anna raise over $31 for the Brazos Animal Shelter. Amazing! Thank you!

Kitty Comforts

Though young, these girls wanted to give something for the kitties to play with and to keep them comfy. So Shelby, Jamy, Myla, and Brianna who go to Kelley’s Christian Home Daycare brought toys and blankets for the kitties. Thanks girls! It is so encouraging to see such compassion in children so young!