Pound for pound these pets stack up

By Ben Hillyer (Contact) | The Natchez Democrat

Published Friday, August 22, 2008

There is nothing better than a shelter dog.

How do I know?

For most of my childhood, my family grew up with miniature Schnauzers.

My mother loved them. Just the sight of that classic miniature Schnauzer profile with its salt and pepper coat, pointed ears and bushy beard always elicited a drawn out “Awwwww” from my mother.

In my childhood, we had two Schnauzers — Nicholas and Heidi. Both were pure bred, American Kennel Club dogs. They had their papers.

My mother treated them like they were her second children. They were pampered and spoiled and treated like the German royalty their ancestors probably served in the 1800s.

Both Nicholas and Heidi were playful dogs. They loved to retrieve balls and were willing to play at any moment.

But for a kid growing up in a small Alabama town, Nicholas and Heidi were, in my mind, pretentious.

Don’t get me wrong, I loved our dogs. They just weren’t good-ole Southern dogs.

Fortunately for my brother and me, another dog entered our lives.

After Nicholas died, our family decided to get another dog — this time at the pound.

Walking through the shelter my brother and I spied a little mutt of a dog — half Irish Setter and half Watchamacallit.

It had a beautiful reddish brown coat with dark blue-black splotches on the side. It didn’t take long for us to come up with the name PJ — short for peanut butter and jelly.

PJ was a faithful companion who would follow my brother and me wherever we went. Whether we were riding bikes with friends or on some expedition through the woods in our backyard, PJ was always by our side.

Unlike our family Schnauzers, PJ was more like the dog in “Old Yeller” or the dog following Opie Taylor walking down a country road on the “Andy Griffith Show.”

PJ was my dog — not my dad’s or my mom’s. He was my very own, and even though he didn’t have papers he was the best dog I ever had.

I think about PJ every time I visit the Natchez-Adams Humane Society shelter to do a story on adopting pets.

There hasn’t been a time when the shelter hasn’t been filled to capacity with pets of all shapes and sizes.

But there isn’t room for all of the animals that end up at the shelter’s doorstep. The heartbreaking reality is that in the last year more than 1,000 dogs and cats have been euthanized in Natchez,

Whether it is because the shelter is out of the way or is open at inopportune times, the shelter is rarely filled with people looking to adopt a pet.

I have waited hours during some photo assignments just to snap a photo of someone coming in to see the pets at the shelter.

The shelter probably suffers a little from the old out-of-sight-out-of-mind problem.

This Saturday all of that will change. Instead of waiting for people to come to the shelter, the shelter will come to the people.

Starting at 10 a.m. the Natchez-Adams County Humane Society will host its first-ever open adoption event.

Partnering with Stine Hardware, the group will bring puppies and kittens and set up a mini shelter inside the store. People can come by to see the animals and, the Humane Society hopes, begin to fill out the adoption paperwork in order to take one home.

Also, Stine is making it easy for you to donate items to the shelter. Just come by the store Saturday, make your purchase of pet supplies there, drop it in the box and the Humane Society will take care of the rest.

Of course you can always bring a monetary donation to the Humane Society, as well.

Come by Stine to see the Natchez-Adams Humane Society’s newest adoptees. Who knows? You might find a friend for life.

Ben Hillyer is the web editor of The Natchez Democrat. He can be reached at 601-445-3540 or ben.hillyer@natchezdemocrat.com.