As we mentioned in yesterday’s post, this week we attended a canine nutrition summit at the headquarters for Mars Petcare, located just outside Nashville, Tennessee. The day we arrived, though, we headed off for a visit to the Nashville Humane Association with our fellow bloggers for a look at this special facility.
The shelter places about 2,500 animals every year in their forever homes; during their stay at the shelter, the pets have an excellent home where animals can stay as long as it takes for them to be adopted. Seven air handling systems throughout the building prevent odors and the building itself is bright and cheerful, a happy place to look for your next family member.
Nashville Humane Association also told us about their many community programs. Because the cost of their food (a substantial cost for shelters) is underwritten by locally-based Pedigree, the shelter is able to reallocate that money, usually into spay and neuter programs to help reduce the homeless pet population in the region. Their Rover program helps educate the public to the importance of spay and neuter and offers low-cost surgeries.
They also have several other special programs including Teddy’s Wagon, a mobile adoption service; Bark, Stop, Drop and Roll, a program for law enforcement about dealing with dogs in the course of their work; and Safe Haven, which offers refuge for pets at the shelter in cases of domestic violence. (Many don’t leave their homes in cases of domestic violence because of fear for their pet’s safety so this is a very important service.)
We really enjoyed our visit to the Nashville Humane Association, a shelter facility that proves that looking for your next pet at a shelter can be every bit as joyous and pleasant an experience for the entire family as buying a pet at a store…and you’re saving a life in the process!
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