Special dogs receive extra attention at AWS (Printed Feb. 1, 2008)
By Stowell P. Watters
Staff Writer
The West Kennebunk Animal Welfare Society (AWS) has successfully placed 100 dogs rescued from J’aime Kennels in Buxton with adoptive families. The dogs were seized from the Buxton puppy-mill and the AWS is now offering a series of obedience classes geared specifically toward the animals. According to Certified Professional Dog Trainer (CPDT) Kim VanSickle, these dogs need extra attention as they learn to cope with loving stimulus, attention and interaction with other dogs.
“This is the best part of the process of adopting these dogs – to see them socializing again and getting healthy,” VanSickle said amidst a crowd of leashed dogs and their owners at the first of a series of training seminars geared specifically toward the dogs and their new owners, Jan. 23.
The AWS classes, which are an hour long, will span a six-week period in which VanSickle and trainers Dorothy Smail and Amy Allenwood will work with the dogs and their owners on socialization, in-home training techniques and special concerns. While AWS does follow-up calls for all of their adopted animals, Program Coordinator Carol Ann MacKinnon said these classes are an extended version of this practice, with reason.
“These are special circumstance animals. Puppy mill dogs do have a tendency to come with a host of possible problems like congenital defects that may only surface years later,” MacKinnon said. “We want to make sure everyone is well informed.”
In a tennis-court sized room VanSickle began the first meeting by breaking the 22 pets with their owners into three groups, this practice, she said, is to cut down any anxiety large crowds might produce.
“Crowds and people in general can make these animals anxious or nervous,” she said.
In separate rooms the groups each convened with a trainer. In the first exercise owners passed their leashes and traded dogs in VanSickle’s hope to familiarize the animals with other people. Participants laughed as Sanford resident Lona Ham’s American bulldog Diesel pulled around fellow dog-owner Polly Sferes of Kennebunk.
“She has separation anxiety,” said Ham as Diesel lunged toward her with Sferes trailing behind on a taught leash.
Rich Collette of Lyman held up his mini Australian Shepard, Tessa, a feat, he said, he never thought he would be able to do.
“Tessa is doing great. She plays well with our other dog and look, I can hold her and she doesn’t tremble,” Collette said.
Following this exercise, owners entered into a question and answer session with the trainers and filled out progress reports regarding their animals. MacKinnon said the response to these training sessions embodies owner’s attentiveness to the issues facing these dogs.
“The response, ever since the seizure, has been great. There has been a huge interest in these animals, people have been checking the Web site where we post the dog’s pictures daily,” MacKinnon said.
Of the 100 animals placed, MacKinnon said there have been only a “smattering” of returns, these, she speculated, are dogs that couldn’t fit in their new surroundings either because of failure to interact with other pets or their owners or extenuating medical situations.
The AWS has only 20 animals left in their allotted to-be-adopted pool of animals seized by the Maine Animal Welfare Department, which took custody of hundreds of dogs seized in Buxton Aug. 21, 2007 by police and animal welfare agents in a raid of J’aime Kennel .
Judge Christine Fraser at the Biddeford District Court ruled the pups should remain in state custody while the owners, John and Heidi Frasca were served with 17 court summons including 14 for running an unlicensed kennel, two for animal cruelty and one for failure to provide medical treatment to animals.
Welfare agents found automatic water feeding apparatuses neglected to take into account the small size of many of the dogs. The canines were treated for giardia and sacropatic mange, two diseases that can be passed between humans and dogs. The 249 animals seized were moved to a Portland holding facility owned by the Animal Refuge League of Greater Portland where they have been treated by veterinarians and are watched 24 hours a day.
“By the formal definition, a puppy mill is a large-scale breeding operation that produces a large number of puppies for profit, with sales over the Internet, to local customers and to pet stores. Dogs are typically confined to small cages or kennels, often grouped in breeding pairs or large groups with little human contact of meaningful socialization,” according to a press release issued by the AWS.
The application process behind adopting a puppy mill dog involves a 24-hour waiting period while the AWS performs a background check on the future pup owner. There is an additional, state-mandated application with a disclaimer about the puppymill. This disclaimer tells prospective owners the circumstances in which the animals came to the AWS as well as highlights information about possible medical and emotional problems the animals might have. Adopters must supply the AWS with a proof of vaccination for all current pets as well as evidence of spay/neuter surgery. If the adopter is a renter then a copy of the lease and a signed letter from the landlord are both required to make sure the pet is allowed in the home, said Steven Jacobsen, AWS executive director, in a previous phone interview.
Since these animals have gone through a period of neglect they are generally slower to make friends and accept the embrace of a new owner, MacKinnon said. According to her, some dogs require more affection-treatment than others to reintroduce them into a loving environment. Affection treatment can be anything from exercise like the leash switching to simply speaking to the animal constantly, she said. The future owners are allowed a lengthy one-on-one session with the dog of their choice prior to adoption, and the sessions are what MacKinnon called part and parcel of the entire adoption process.
To contact Stowell P. Watters, call 282-4337 ext. 219 or email news@kennebunkpost.com.
Staff Writer
The West Kennebunk Animal Welfare Society (AWS) has successfully placed 100 dogs rescued from J’aime Kennels in Buxton with adoptive families. The dogs were seized from the Buxton puppy-mill and the AWS is now offering a series of obedience classes geared specifically toward the animals. According to Certified Professional Dog Trainer (CPDT) Kim VanSickle, these dogs need extra attention as they learn to cope with loving stimulus, attention and interaction with other dogs.
“This is the best part of the process of adopting these dogs – to see them socializing again and getting healthy,” VanSickle said amidst a crowd of leashed dogs and their owners at the first of a series of training seminars geared specifically toward the dogs and their new owners, Jan. 23.
The AWS classes, which are an hour long, will span a six-week period in which VanSickle and trainers Dorothy Smail and Amy Allenwood will work with the dogs and their owners on socialization, in-home training techniques and special concerns. While AWS does follow-up calls for all of their adopted animals, Program Coordinator Carol Ann MacKinnon said these classes are an extended version of this practice, with reason.
“These are special circumstance animals. Puppy mill dogs do have a tendency to come with a host of possible problems like congenital defects that may only surface years later,” MacKinnon said. “We want to make sure everyone is well informed.”
In a tennis-court sized room VanSickle began the first meeting by breaking the 22 pets with their owners into three groups, this practice, she said, is to cut down any anxiety large crowds might produce.
“Crowds and people in general can make these animals anxious or nervous,” she said.
In separate rooms the groups each convened with a trainer. In the first exercise owners passed their leashes and traded dogs in VanSickle’s hope to familiarize the animals with other people. Participants laughed as Sanford resident Lona Ham’s American bulldog Diesel pulled around fellow dog-owner Polly Sferes of Kennebunk.
“She has separation anxiety,” said Ham as Diesel lunged toward her with Sferes trailing behind on a taught leash.
Rich Collette of Lyman held up his mini Australian Shepard, Tessa, a feat, he said, he never thought he would be able to do.
“Tessa is doing great. She plays well with our other dog and look, I can hold her and she doesn’t tremble,” Collette said.
Following this exercise, owners entered into a question and answer session with the trainers and filled out progress reports regarding their animals. MacKinnon said the response to these training sessions embodies owner’s attentiveness to the issues facing these dogs.
“The response, ever since the seizure, has been great. There has been a huge interest in these animals, people have been checking the Web site where we post the dog’s pictures daily,” MacKinnon said.
Of the 100 animals placed, MacKinnon said there have been only a “smattering” of returns, these, she speculated, are dogs that couldn’t fit in their new surroundings either because of failure to interact with other pets or their owners or extenuating medical situations.
The AWS has only 20 animals left in their allotted to-be-adopted pool of animals seized by the Maine Animal Welfare Department, which took custody of hundreds of dogs seized in Buxton Aug. 21, 2007 by police and animal welfare agents in a raid of J’aime Kennel .
Judge Christine Fraser at the Biddeford District Court ruled the pups should remain in state custody while the owners, John and Heidi Frasca were served with 17 court summons including 14 for running an unlicensed kennel, two for animal cruelty and one for failure to provide medical treatment to animals.
Welfare agents found automatic water feeding apparatuses neglected to take into account the small size of many of the dogs. The canines were treated for giardia and sacropatic mange, two diseases that can be passed between humans and dogs. The 249 animals seized were moved to a Portland holding facility owned by the Animal Refuge League of Greater Portland where they have been treated by veterinarians and are watched 24 hours a day.
“By the formal definition, a puppy mill is a large-scale breeding operation that produces a large number of puppies for profit, with sales over the Internet, to local customers and to pet stores. Dogs are typically confined to small cages or kennels, often grouped in breeding pairs or large groups with little human contact of meaningful socialization,” according to a press release issued by the AWS.
The application process behind adopting a puppy mill dog involves a 24-hour waiting period while the AWS performs a background check on the future pup owner. There is an additional, state-mandated application with a disclaimer about the puppymill. This disclaimer tells prospective owners the circumstances in which the animals came to the AWS as well as highlights information about possible medical and emotional problems the animals might have. Adopters must supply the AWS with a proof of vaccination for all current pets as well as evidence of spay/neuter surgery. If the adopter is a renter then a copy of the lease and a signed letter from the landlord are both required to make sure the pet is allowed in the home, said Steven Jacobsen, AWS executive director, in a previous phone interview.
Since these animals have gone through a period of neglect they are generally slower to make friends and accept the embrace of a new owner, MacKinnon said. According to her, some dogs require more affection-treatment than others to reintroduce them into a loving environment. Affection treatment can be anything from exercise like the leash switching to simply speaking to the animal constantly, she said. The future owners are allowed a lengthy one-on-one session with the dog of their choice prior to adoption, and the sessions are what MacKinnon called part and parcel of the entire adoption process.
To contact Stowell P. Watters, call 282-4337 ext. 219 or email news@kennebunkpost.com.
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