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HAPPY TAILS Community Engagement’s Animal-Assisted Programs Volunteer Newsletter

SUMMER 2020 Sharing the love of cats, dogs, and a rabbit with the community.

We hope you’re safe and well and adjusting to the

world’s new normal.

For the Community Engagement team, the months dur-

ing Shelter-in-Place have been, well, very busy! Only es-

sential staff is at the shelter on a daily basis. The majori-

ty of the time, we’re working from home and are only

going into the office, individually, to prepare deliveries

of pet food and supplies, and create summer camp kits.

A good friend told me, “We are not working from home

right now. We are in a crisis and trying to work from

home.” There have been many details to navigate in this

new digital and virtual world, but we are a great team

and we are working it out!

Our Pet Safety Net

and Pet Care Assis-

tance programs

continue to re-

spond to calls from

pet guardians for

help with veterinary

care, food, and sup-

plies. We have also

partnered with 12 human food banks to provide pet

food for their clients. So far, we’ve distributed over

9,000 pounds of food! A special thank you to Hill’s Pet

Nutrition for donating food and to Pet Food Express who

chose us as one of their food bank partners in the Fill the

Food Bank fundraising campaign. Currently, only staff

are making the deliveries, but we hope to bring volun-

teers back to help since it’s something that can be done

with physical distancing.

Our virtual summer camp, Humane at Home, is off to a

great start! A little over 100 of the originally-registered

300 campers have joined us. We reduced the registra-

tion fee by 50% and offered priority registration for next

year’s summer camp. A number of families chose to do-

nate all or some of the excess registration fee for which

we are very grateful. Thank you to all of the volunteers

who have joined us at camp so far. It’s not the same as

being on campus but we are still connecting with Marin

youth.

As you know, all our animal ambassador visits have been

suspended since mid-March except for a few virtual vis-

its we provided to schools in April and May. Animal-

assisted visits will resume when it’s safe for volunteers

to visit those venues. As the county begins to open up

there will be new guidelines for you to follow but frank-

ly, I see it being quite a while before we can resume our

visits. Sadly, this is a time when people are really in need

of the connection with your amazing animals, but your

safety – and that of our community are our priorities.

And now I’d like to give a shout out to the amazing Com-

munity Engagement staff!

When students were no longer able to come to the No-

vato campus, Julia seamlessly brought our education

From the Director’s Chair…

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programs to the virtual world. In April and May she pro-

vided lessons on our website. Then twice a week she

livestreamed on our Facebook page by reading wonder-

ful children’s books with great humane messages and

introduced everyone to her menagerie of pets. And out

of the wreckage COVID created, she created a virtual

summer camp that will bring a fun and interac-

tive program to campers for eight weeks of summer!

Annie has worked tirelessly to handle the increasing

number of requests from people in need as well as coor-

dinate food deliveries to 12 Marin County food banks.

She always knows how to put people at ease and let

them know we’re here to help. She also works closely

with other service programs in the county to be sure we

are reaching as many people as possible.

Shilo is our behind-the-scenes gal. None of our programs

would be possible without her! She is a huge support for

all the Community Engagement programs. She pro-

cessed all the summer camp refunds, donation transfers,

etc. which was not an easy task. She created a standard

operating procedure for safely delivering pet food and

supplies to the community. She coordinates deliveries

with Annie, schedules and participates in summer camp,

and handles numerous other details. When a grant ap-

plication is due, Shilo’s magic with numbers provides us

with the data we need to be successful.

I am so thankful and proud of our team and am looking

forward to being together again with all our fabulous

volunteers.

Warmly,

Darlene

From the Director’s Chair (continued)…

Lights, Camera, Action! Click on a photo to check out the video.

Kathie followed up her directorial debut with vide-

os for the Sheriff’s Department Communications

Center where our dog ambassadors visit with the

operators between 9-1-1 calls.

Comm Center staff enjoyed the videos so much, they created one of their own

to share with us which also included a special tribute to Charlotte Meier.

SAVE THE DATE

Virtual Visits with your Ani-mal Ambassador

Join us so we can share ide-as and successes from na-

tional groups.

Included will be some train-ing and new cues for your

dogs. Charlotte Meier on a Zoom call with

Lucas Valley Elementary students.

Visits with our Animal Am-

bassadors took to the

(computer) screen! Kathie

Meier created a video

showcasing our volunteers.

Thank you to all of you

who contributed photos. We sent the final prod-

uct to many of the venues we visit, as well as

posted it on our social media pages.

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Each summer, hundreds of families look forward to Hu-

mane Summer Camp. Registration is close to full within

one hour of its opening in February. Everything was set

and ready to go this year when the Shelter-In-Place or-

der was given in March.

When we re-

ceived the

guidelines for

summer camps

from the CDC,

it was clear we

wouldn’t be

able to offer

camp as we

have in the

past. The rigor-

ous protocols required an amount of physical space and

staffing that we just don’t have. We also weren't sure

when volunteers would be allowed back on campus and

with so many animals in foster homes, the shelter popu-

lation was very low. Animal interactions are the most

popular part of camp. Without it, plus the fact that we

couldn’t meet the necessary safety protocols, we decid-

ed to move Humane Summer Camp online.

We knew we'd

have to make

our virtual

camp as engag-

ing as possible

to entice kids

who had al-

ready been par-

ticipating in

remote learning for school since mid-March. I created a

virtual camp classroom PDF and our team worked dili-

gently to put together an amazing schedule. Each week,

a new group of 15 campers come together in grades 1-2,

3-4, 5-6, or 7-8. Campers participate in a one-hour Zoom

call each morning for humane education lessons, activi-

ties, and animal meetings. Campers get to meet all the

same guests they normally would via Zoom instead of in-

person. Each afternoon, they access the virtual camp

classroom PDF for additional on and off-screen activities.

We delivered camp kits to their houses so they can still

create the crafts they love from camp. We know camp-

ers miss seeing animals in person, but we're glad to be

able to offer some kind of camp experience. The camp-

ers are still having fun, meeting animals, and learning

the humane ethic and that's always been our goal.

Camp kits got delivered to campers

The virtual camp classroom provided campers with additional

lessons and activities.

One camper showed off her decorated treat

bag.

It’s a Whole New (Virtual) World By Julia Cole

Campers enjoyed a virtual visit with Brennie & Niles Brackett

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Meet: Kathleen & Donny

Pet Parent & Volunteer: Kathleen Miller

Animal Ambassador: Donny

Year joined Marin Humane Animal Ambassador

Program: 2017

Assignments: a skilled nursing dementia patient at Villa

Marin, a Hospice patient who has Downs Syndrome and

early dementia, and Corte Madera Library reading with

children

Donny’s Most Marked Characteristic: a large cat with

a tiny MEOW

Donny’s Favorite Part of Animal Ambassador Assign-

ments: Donny loves people of ALL ages...he is very flexi-

ble and lovable. He especially loves being “admired” as I

push him in his pet stroller!

Favorite Form of Exercise: My son’s Russian Blue is his

“workout buddy.” He also gets a lot of exercise running

up and down the stairs at home.

When and where is Donny

happiest? Donny is happiest

when both his “parents” are

petting him...especially at

night as he lies in the middle

of the bed!

What is Donny’s motto?

“LOVE LOVE LOVE HAPPY

HAPPY HAPPY.” I say this to

him as I give him nice, big

strokes. His favorite song is “Have I Told You Lately That

I Love you” by Rod Stewart.

Kathleen’s thoughts on the Animal Ambassador Pro-

gram: The program satisfies my desire to “give back.” I do this in honor of my mother’s memory. Years ago, when she was briefly in a nursing home, the person tak-ing care of her Boston Terrier was not bringing her to see my mother...it broke my mother’s heart. Donny brings “comfort and joy” to everyone he visits...we are so blessed to have him in the Miller family.

Team Profile

“Professional dog trainers don’t claim to have a perfect

recall. However, what experienced handlers and dog

trainers do have is exceptional situational awareness and

a strong understanding of the strengths and limits of the

dog’s level of training. At any given time and under the

conditions in which they find themselves, they do a men-

tal assessment, ‘Given this situation, can I recall my dogs

such that they respond quickly and directly?’ If the an-

swer is no, then the leash goes on. Good dog handling is

a marriage of training and management.” - Dawn Kovell,

Marin Humane’s Director of Behavior and Training.

Substitute recall with any behavior and ask yourself, “at

this time, under these circumstances, can my dog do

X?” Many variables can affect your dog’s ability to per-

form the task at hand; environmental distractions, com-

peting reinforcers, and many more, but let’s start with

these.

Environmental distractions are things that are all around

us all the time. Some things are easy for your dog to ig-

nore, some things ask to be checked out but can then be

dismissed. But some things require your dog’s FULL AT-

TENTION. For each dog these things will be different.

Your job is to know what falls into each category. Can

your dog do what you’re asking while X is happening just

a few feet away? If not, what can you do to help your

dog be successful?

A reinforcer is anything your dog enjoys. We use rein-

forcers to get and maintain the behaviors we want, like a

well-timed treat for a perfectly-performed trick. But just

like distractions, reinforcers are everywhere, competing

for your dog’s attention. A wonderful smell coming from

that bush over there, or a friend just begging to be greet-

ed might make loose-leash walking too difficult in that

moment. You can ask your dog for an easy behavior, like

touch or watch, then reward when your dog reorients to

you and is able to dismiss the other thing. If loose-leash

walking is something you and your dog struggle with reg-

ularly, a front clip harness might just do the trick.

You’ve done the training, so you can be sure your dog

understands how to perform the behavior you’re asking

for but you always need to be prepared for whatever

else is happening around you. Be prepared to manage

your dog through the event. Situational awareness al-

lows you to find that perfect balance between manage-

ment and training so your dog can be successful under

any condition.

Teamwork Refresher

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Charlotte Meier April 30, 2010 - June 18, 2020

Kathie Meier helped

Charlotte start her

volunteer career at

just eight-months-

old. Charlotte’s smile

and her white paws

endeared her to eve-

ryone she met. With

visits to schools, li-

braries, MarinHealth

Medical Center, Mar-

in Cancer Center, the

Sheriff’s Department Communications Center (9-1-1 dis-

patch), community events, Humane Summer Camp, and

Jumping for Joy, Kathie estimates that Charlotte went on

well over 2,000 visits in her 10 years.

One only needed to see Kathie lure Charlotte away from

a visit with treats …EVERY…SINGLE…TIME… to fully ap-

preciate just how much Charlotte loved her visits. One of

Charlotte’s most endearing tricks was to push a Staples

“That was easy” button with her nose. She made all of

her therapy work look just that – easy. Thank you to

Kathie for sharing Charlotte with all of us. She will be

missed!

Annie Harmon

was one of those

dogs we see in

class and know

they are a natu-

ral. Always seek-

ing out anyone to

say hello and

holding back her

wiggles so she

can greet politely.

Carol, her guardi-

an and volunteer, remembered her with some wonder-

ful words:

“Some of our fondest memories are of Annie at Marin

Humane. Getting petted as “dog du jour” at camp. Giv-

ing kisses at Compassion Corner and listening to little

ones read to her. Annie touched many lives, she was

such a happy camper. We shared many smiles and miles

together.”

Thank you for sharing her in our program!

Community Engagement Team:

Darlene Blackman, Director (dblackman@marinhumane.org)

Annie Humphrey, Manager (ahumphrey@marinhumane.org)

Shilo Landis, Assistant (slandis@marinhumane.org)

Julia Cole, Humane Education Coordinator (jcole@marinhumane.org)

Newsletter Volunteer Coordinator: Bridget Helt (bridgethelt@gmail.com)

We welcome your feedback, suggestions, photos, and articles (reprinted with permission).

Annie Harmon May 2, 2007 - May 26, 2020

In Memoriam