A Pet Haven Feline Becomes a Star at Can Do Canines! 04/27/2022 By Kerry S From Shelter No Name to a Rescue Rock Star, We are so proud of Bronze! Bronze found himself at a city municipal shelter on a cold day in February. He was brought to Bloomington Animal Control after being found by a good samaritan who suspected he was hit by a vehicle. While he was super friendly and clearly had a family at some point, no one came to claim him and no one knew what would happen to this, one of many cats, at an overcrowded underfunded municipal shelter. Fortunately for Bronze, Pet Haven has built strong partnerships with shelters throughout the cities and across the state. These partnerships save hundreds of lives every year! Our intake coordinator saw Bronze and knew he was special. We quickly found a foster, brought him into our care and provided the medical attention he needed. Once he was feeling better it didn’t take long to see Bronze had some special gifts. At Pet Haven, we value our partnerships in Rescue but also in Animal Services. Can Do Canines is one such organization. They exemplify the mission we support of strengthing the pet/human bond. This is a story about our partnership and the help one Pet Haven Alumni has given to Can Do Canines. This is a story about Bronze Can do Canines is fortunate to have very talented and dedicated two-legged staffers in the training and client services area. They work hard every day to ensure that Can Do Canines clients are receiving dogs that are professionally trained with a skill set that is tailored to what each client needs creating a stronger bond between dog and client. But they must also give a shout-out to the best volunteers on the planet, who devote huge portions of their lives to training and caring for these amazing dogs that provide a much-needed service to the community. However, did you know that Can Do Canines also rely on four-legged staffers to help train the dogs? Yes, their facility cats are integral to the dogs’ success. Many of their clients have cats in their homes and it’s important that the dogs learn to be respectful and friendly to those feline family members. All of the dogs are trained in various ways with the cats. Marvin, the tabby, and Sonoma, the calico, pictured below with dog-in-training, Wendy, have been a great team for many years. Marvin thinks he’s a dog and enjoys interacting with his dog pals. Sonoma, while dog friendly, lets them know if they don’t treat her with the respect that she deserves. As Sonoma is approaching 15 years young this year, she started to let Can Do Canines know that she was thinking about retiring. In addition to her dog training duties, Sonoma enjoyed hanging out in the office with a long-time volunteer. The staff was delighted when Sonoma moved home with her. She is now living the life of a doted-on pet and her only job is to entertain her family. Marvin was missing his pal and he also needed some help with training the dogs. So Can Do Canines reached out to our Executive Director at Pet Haven Inc of MN for help in finding thier new staffer. They gave us quite a detailed list of needed attributes (dog-friendly, cat-friendly, human-friendly, confident, adventurous). While they didn’t ask for “easy on the eyes”, we delivered on that, too! After all, we ARE match-makers! Introducing Bronze! A Pet Haven Alumni now Can Do Canine Feline Staffer! From the staff at Can Do Canines, “We are grateful to Pet Haven for partnering with us to find the perfect feline staffer. After a “getting to know each other” transitional period, Marvin and Bronze are now great buddies and sharing training duties.” Can Do Canines training manager, Shenna, says“We have facility cats to ensure that all our dogs have cat exposure prior to placement. Our cats teach the dogs how to behave appropriately through a mixture of tolerance and setting boundaries. Marvin is an exceptional judge of character; he will always let us know which dogs are cat safe even when they are over-excited. He also loves to test their training by rubbing them or stealing their food. Bronze reinforces that cats are the boss and that some are better admired from afar.” Perhaps the best evidence of the important role the cats play is this photo of Zeta with her new feline sister, Shirley. Zeta moved in with her client about five weeks ago and she reports that Zeta and Shirley have become fast friends and love to play together. This gives her peace of mind to know that all her family members can coexist beautifully. We are so thankful for the role our supporters play in ensuring that these life-changing families are created and assistance dogs receive stellar training from a Pet Haven Alumni! To Learn More about Pet Haven and how we support our rescued pets and the people who need us most click HERE. The generosity of the Can Do Canine Community enables these amazing dogs to be provided to their clients at no charge. To learn more about the services Can Do Canines provides for people in need of help click HERE!
