There’s a reason for the saying, “a dog is man’s best friend.” For centuries, these lovable animals have been domesticated into the ideal companions. They can provide friendship, service, security and emotional therapy for their owners. And one of the best places in this region to find a great dog is the Allen County SPCA (ACSPCA).
“For 60 years we’ve been committed to finding homes for adoptable cats and dogs in our community,” says Director Jessica Henry, “We exist to help open admission shelters, like animal control, with their overcrowding. We pull adoptable cats and dogs from those facilities, which alleviates their overcrowding and gives us a dynamic adoption floor where we can focus on saving lives.”
Adopting a Pet
A specific adoption process is followed at the ACSPCA.
“Once an animal is in our program, it stays in our program until adopted,” Henry explains. “We’ve been working hard to deliver the message of adoption to our community and are very grateful, on behalf of all our animals, that the message has been well received.”
The ACSPCA staff is dedicated to finding homes for these animals because they see the enormous value of these potential pets.
“Our philosophy is that animals bring such inherent joy to the people who are lucky enough to have them,” Henry says. “I always say when you adopt an animal, you save two lives. You save the life of the animal you take home, and you make space for us to bring in another animal.”
The Right Match
“We help people find the right pet for their situation, and we want to discourage the return of adopted animals,” says Henry. “We have adoption counselors who will work to ascertain the best fit for your home.”
The ACSPCA uses SAFER™, the Safety Assessment for Evaluating Rehoming, a nationally-recognized behavioral assessment tool.
“We have a behaviorist on staff, Emilee Smith, who performs the SAFER™ assessments,” explains Henry. “That assessment give us an idea of what behaviors we might be able to expect from our animals.”
Once a match is determined, the newly adopted animal is ready to begin his or her life with a new family.
More Than a Pet
For some people, there is a real need for a therapy dog. These are animals that provide critical therapy for people. Seeing eye dogs or therapy dogs for people who need assistance walking are two great examples of this, as are the dogs that are brought to hospitals or nursing homes to visit residents and patients.
“An animal’s love is indiscriminate and they require very little in return,” explains Henry.
For more information, contact the ACSPCA at (260) 744-0454 or visit acspca.org.
