Shelter Shorts September 2013 SHELTER SHORTS is a monthly newsletter intended to keep Rivers and Bluffs Animal Shelter

volunteers and supporters connected. With everyones hectic schedules, we know it is often difficult, if not impossible to attend monthly meetings or to work at all of our fundraisers. Everyone is invited to submit articles for the newsletter. To do so, please call Bev at 608-326-2914 or email her at wyalusing2012@gmail.com. Monthly meetings are held on the 3rd Thursday of every month at the Prairie du Chien City Hall. Meetings begin at 6:00 p.m. Please use the back door. Everyone is welcome and encouraged to attend. The next meeting will be held on Thursday, September 19th. Dog Obedience Classes The next session will start in mid-September. Kwik Trip Gas Cards sales from July 20th, 2013 through August 12th totaled $4,175.00 for a profit of $417.50. This is double what we sold for the month prior to this. Again, thanks to those of you who continue to support RABAS with little or no effort, other than buying something you need gas and food. Your support is greatly appreciated. Please remember, that this is an easy way for those who want to help our very worthwhile cause. Purchasing gas using the Kwik Trip cards is very convenient you can swipe the card right at the pump, thus saving time by not going into the store and possibly saving money by not being tempted to buy the KT donuts that are sitting near the cash register. If you want to help us reach our goal of an animal shelter by purchasing the Kwik Trip cards, please reply to this email or contact Jill, Donna or myself before filling your tank. A reply to this email or a phone call will result in delivery of your cards on the same day or the next (Jill 326-4870, Donna 608-379-2112 or myself 326-2914 or 306-1260). Again, thanks to everyone who supports Rivers and Bluffs Animal Shelter through the purchase of these cards. If you have purchased them in the past, but no longer do so, would you please reconsider doing so again? The 6th Annual Prairie Pool Puppy Paddle is now history. Thanks to everyone who came out for this event to help or to those who brought your dogs or who promoted it in anyway. The morning started out breezy, overcast and cool. But by late morning, the weather was perfect for the dog swim. About 55 dogs and their owners had a great time at the pool. All of the dogs were well behaved. Labs and retrievers certainly ruled the pool, outnumbering all of the other breeds. A suggestion that I would like to make for next year is to ask permission to use the baby pool for small dogs, puppies or those who are a bit timid at going in the water. Or possibly have an hour for only small dogs and puppies. The small dogs and puppies would be welcome to stay for the rest of the day, but at least this way they could have some time where they could enjoy the water without be overwhelmed by the larger breeds. I think we should also have a rain date for the following Sunday. We have been lucky for 6 years in a row one of these years we will get rained out. I would also like to consider the interest and possibility of having it a second day. We would already be set up just have to show up. Anyway - food for thought and discussion. Tomahs Animal Shelter does theirs on a Sunday from 12-3. We made $624 clear on this event. Thanks to Peoples State Bank for sponsoring us to pay for the advertising, Walmart for the gift card, and Kramers Realty and Auction Service for the use of the portable microphone. Thanks again to everyone who helped.

Jack-o-lanterns & McGregor Arts and Craft Fair in October I believe by now the jack-o-lanterns that Phil and Deb are making and decorating for the McGregor Arts and Craft fairs the first two weekends in October are close to being done or may be done. Thanks, Phil and Deb for the donation of supplies for this project as well as for the time and labor you have involved in these. We greatly appreciate this and I cannot wait to see how well they sell in McGregor. Thanks again, Deb and Phil for all you do for RABAS and sharing your talent with us. If you can help man the stand at McGregor, the first two weekends in October, please let me know. The dates are October 5 & 6 and October 12 & 13. Villa Louis Carriage Classic Wine and Cheese Event I met with Sue Rider and have emailed Mike and Shelly Rider. All is in place for the VLCC Wine and Cheese Welcome. Volunteers are: Deb Luebker, Deb Cross, Brenda Wilson, Jill, Randi K and myself. I think we should meet at 3:30 so we are ready to go by 4:30. This year we will be at the picnic shelter at Lawler Park across from the Dousman House. Jill and Bev will pick up the wine and cheese trays. Sue will have everything else that we need. Phoneraiser Thanks to everyone who saves their inkjet cartridges and old cell phones for RABAS. Thanks also to Donna Heilmann who takes care of shipping these items to Phoneraiser on a regular basis. Pampering for Pets Ashley from Mist-ified, LLC has offered us another opportunity to raise funds for RABAS. For two weeks in September (September 12-23) Ashley will donate 40 per cent of all her services to Rivers & Bluffs Animal Shelter. Services will include spray tanning, manicures, pedicures, nails, waxing and makeup. Donation does not include product merchandize or product purchases. If you are planning on any of the above services in the near future, please consider Pampering for Pets in September. For everyone who takes part in this promotion, they will also receive a voucher good for $10 redeemable for any service in October. Advertising will start within the next week or so. A generous volunteer will pay for radio ads, Ashley will pay for 1 week of Courier Press ads and RABAS will also pay for 1 week of ads in the Courier Press. Earlier this week Ashley emailed me and said she had 12 appointments booked for this promotion without any advertising. Ashley will also have KT Gas Cards on hand during the promotion. Guest-Server Night at Pizza Hut is scheduled for Tuesday, September 17th. I believe the hours are from 5-8 p.m. Guest Servers will be Randi K., Merilee P, Jami Quick (if she is available and myself. This is usually a successful fund raiser for RABAS. And it is also one of the easiest ones all we have to do is show up, serve pizzas and bus tables and we make close to $1000 in a few hours. We will miss our favorite bread stick maker, Mollee Whyte, who will be away at college. Please support your favorite animal shelter by promoting this event and eating at Pizza Hut on Tuesday, September 17 th and tipping heavily. Pizza Hut will match our tips up to $500. Jill has also started the advertising for this fund raiser. Dr. Donna Higgins 2014 Wildlife Calendars Donna has offered RABAS a possible way to raise funds without much effort. Her beautiful 2014 Wildlife Calendars will soon be printed. Donna suggested that we set up a table in front of her office on Saturday mornings this fall from 9 a.m. noon. She said the sidewalk from the Farmers Market past her office is usually teeming with people. For those of you who offered to sell the calendars in front of Donnas office, I will get back to you once I hear from Donna that the calendars have been printed and received. We will get $5 for each calendar we sell.

If there are any more volunteers who would like to help out on a Saturday for the next month or two from 9-12, please let me know. If you have a friendly dog, please bring it along. Dogs are a great way to get people to stop and look and hopefully buy. If all else fails, trip the potential customer with your dogs leash to get them to stop. Mexican Buffet at Huckleberrys Restaurant is set for Wednesday, October 30th. Because this is the night before Halloween, Bird suggested that we do a pet parade of dogs in Halloween costumes. I think this is a great idea. I do realize that many of us who volunteer at the Buffet will be the same ones who would bring their dogs, but I think we could arrange it so that each of us takes our dogs home after the parade on an alternating schedule or send them home with a family member. We decided at the August meeting to do a silent auction. We will do a 50/50 raffle. Merilee, who pretty much got most of the excellent auction items for Pasta for Pets, would really like to build this event up each year. So we could make the Pet Parade the attraction in addition to the excellent food or he Mexican Buffet. Can anyone come up with a catchy name for the Mexican Buffet? We will talk more about this at the September meeting. The pet parade would take place on the dance floor. We had talked about a Swiss Steak dinner but Swiss Steak is quite expensive to use as a fund raiser. We will need people to help with this, bake a dessert and hopefully bring your friendly, housebroken dog in costume. Randi and Donna will meet with Lonnie Achenbach to discuss a replacement for the Eastman 4th of July Animal Giveaway. More on this after their meeting with Lonnie. Adoptions, Losses, People Looking for a New Pet, Pets in Need of a Forever Home The beautiful yellow lab in need of a home from Southwest Vet was adopted by Kim Giese. Kim and Gus were at the dog swim, but I had to leave before they arrived, so I did not get to meet them. I hope to someday soon. Also the Great Dane in need of a home from SW Vet also found a home. John and Judy found another dog and it was such a nice dog that they were going to keep it. But they found the owners and dog and owners were reunited. Randi K was traveling south on Hwy. 18 a few days ago and saw a beautiful Spring Spaniel on the highway. She knew that the people who live across from the golf course had a sign out advertising Springer Spaniels, so she grabbed it and returned the Springer and returned it to its home. Keep up the good work. I have been overwhelmed with phone calls and emails this week from people with cats and kittens in need of homes. This is a very serious problem for this community as well as state and nation wide I am sure. I still feel education and spay and neuter clinics are the answer. If you can help provide a home or foster home for any of these cats and kittens please let me know. I also feel that we need to come up with a fund raiser specifically to raise money for people such as those who have contacted me this week. A number of them said they would foster the cats/kittens until a home can be found, but they cannot afford to pay for vaccinations and spaying and neutering. I think this would help these people who feel they do not have a way out and at the same time be good PR for this organization. I do realize that we will not be able to help everyone, but even if we could reduce the number of feral cats and kittens it would help. Many of these cats and kittens are being cared for (fed) but they are not spayed or neutered, so the populations continue to explode. Your thoughts, anyone? Therapy Dog Teams Kathy Paske and Digger and Paula Gutzmer and Maggie continue their regular visits to Prairie Maison. Paula and Magger make weekly (if not more often) visits to PdC Memorial Hospital. Everyone at the hospital as well as Prairie Maison are

so excited and happy to see the dogs. I think the staff enjoys the visits as much as the residents and patients. Nicki and I visited a number of patients at the PdC Memorial Hospital this past Thursday night. I regretfully and honestly can say that by the time I got home from work, I really did not want to go to the hospital on such a hot night. But, I was so glad that I did. Nicki was a hit with every patient, family member and staff that we met. Until you have seen the smiles on the faces of the people we visit, you will never understand how important these visits are to the residents of hospitals, nursing homes, and schools. Correne from the Courier Press met Paula and Maggie and my dogs and me at the hospital this past Thursday to get pictures and do a story on the dogs and hospital visits. I go when I can when requested, but Paula and Maggie are much more dependable than I can be at this time in my life. I do hope to get back at Wyalusing Academy again this fall when my outdoor work slows down a bit (when I get my 250350 daffodil bulbs planted anyone want to help?) Land Acquisition Still nothing for sure to report as far as land acquisition. But, Steve Welter has offered us two acres of land on Campion Street just past where Garden City South was located years ago. The land is adjacent to the new 22 nd Street and access would be off 22nd Street. I think I am safe to say that most of the RABAS board members feel this is a perfect place for our shelter. There are concerns by some RABAS board and property committee members that 2 acres is not enough land and that it may be too close to a new subdivision. There are a number of steps that have to be completed before this land can be used. The City Council has to approve the surveyed map. This was tabled at the last City Council Meeting. If City Council approves the map, then the matter goes to the City Attorney. Currently, the land is zoned agricultural. The City Attorney will decide on how land for an animal shelter should be zoned. If the City Attorney decides land for an animal shelter should be zoned agricultural, we could build tomorrow (if we had a few hundred thousand dollars more). If the City Attorney decides it should be zoned commercial, then we would have to request the Planning Committee to change it from agricultural to commercial. If the Planning Committee denies our request, we will not be able to build. If the Planning Committee approves the change in zoning, we would then have to receive permission from City Council to build an animal shelter. We also were working with Aaron Kramer on a 99 year lease on 2.2 acres of land on Meadow Lane north of Cabelas, of Highway 35. We would pay approximately $600 per year for 99 years. We were told not to worry about holding this piece of land so we did not file the paperwork and put a down payment on it of $1 to hold it to keep our options open. That piece of land may no longer be available to us because of the possibility of a new industry coming to PdC and our piece of property would be given to the new industry. If this land or any land from the city were to become available on a lease, RABAS would need to pay a certain percentage, based on the cost of the building for police and fire protection. This PILOT Program (Payment in Lieu of Taxes) is a new program that the city of PdC is initiating for nonprofits because there are so many nonprofit buildings that receive free police and fire protection. The new hospital will be the first to pay the PILOT followed by any new nonprofit buildings, including RABAS. Many of us feel this is not right as we are nonprofit and we should not have to pay for these services. If we were to get the land on Campion from Steve Welter, we would not have to pay the PILOT fees. Hopefully, there will be more to follow on this issue in the near future and we will have some good news.

Pounds Off People and Pooches (POPP) Weekly Dog Walks had resumed as we had a couple of weeks with very favorable temperatures. Forecast for this coming week is not as hot and less humidity, so hopefully we can walk on Tuesday. The dog walk starts at 6 p.m. We meet just east of the Villa Louis and north of the Sculpture Park. There is a parking area there for cars. Please bring water for your dogs as well as bags to pick up after your dogs. Dogs must be leashed and flexi-leads are discouraged. Chasing Daylight Animal Shelter, Tomah, Wisconsin In mid-August, Bob and Diane Witt, Randy Paske and I drove to Tomah to visit Chasing Daylight Animal Shelter. All of us agreed completely with Tori and her dad about how amazing the shelter is as well as Gina Mason, one of the people who run the shelter. We spent more than two hours with Gina. She gave us a tour of the facility as well as told us their philosophy and lots of tips for when we can build. CDAS is located on 6 acres of land just outside Tomah. At this time they are using about 3 acres. The remaining 3 acres is unmowed but has mowed walking paths through it for walking their dogs. The yard surrounding the attractive building (vinyl siding with lots of windows and looked more like a house than an animal shelter) had 3 50x100 fenced yards where the dogs spent much of their day, playing with dogs who are compatible. Dogs are also paired up in the indoor/outdoor runs. They know which dogs get along with other dogs and the kennels are colorcoded. A red keyfob on a kennel means those dogs will get along with other dogs with red keyfobs on the kennel. There was one good sized cat room, and a room for mom cats and newborn kittens. They are in the process of building a new cat room. Most of the cats roam freely in the cat room. The entire facility was bright, airy and quiet, with no smell. It was a very pleasant place to visit. CDAS is a no kill facility which means they do not euthanize for room. Once they are full, they do not take any more animals they refer them to LaCrosse or other shelters in the area. CDAS has been open since 2011 and in that time they have euthanized 1 cat and 1 dog because the cat was too hurt to survive and the dog was deemed unadoptable. I can honestly say that I did not feel sorry for any of the animals in this shelter. They were all well cared for and in as much of a homelike surrounding as possible. I have never been able to visit an animal shelter because I did not want to see unwanted animals that I felt sorry for but could do nothing about. The only other shelter I have ever visited was Coulee Region. I will be back to visit Chasing Daylight because it was such a pleasant and rewarding experience. Please note: I am sorry to say that until I can learn from Brian Cipra how to use the new format for Shelter Shorts, you will have to put up with the old, boring newsletter. Hopefully, by next month, both Brian and I will have time so he can show me. For those of you who know me, you know that I do not do well with cell phones, cameras, DVD players or computers. Wish me luck! Furry Godmother Do you need someone to take care of your furry little friend while you are on vacation or just out of town for the day? Fret not. Your Furry Godmother is only a phone call away. Reasonable rates and very dependable. Call Brenda Wilson Furry Godmother at 608-317-7001. www.riversandbluffsanimalshelter.org is Rivers and Bluffs Animal Shelters website. Thanks to Randy P. for keeping this website up to date. Volunteer hours will be collected by Randy P. at monthly meetings or you can email your hours to Randy at repaske@gmail.com. Treasurers Report

Current Balance as of August 15th, 2013 $127,591.72, which includes a total of $122,262.34 in 4 CDs at Peoples State Bank. Membership Renewals Jennifer Clements Patron Kristin Helgerson-Kriegl Single Donations Peoples State Bank Prairie Pool Puppy Paddle Sponsor Walmart Julie Whyte volunteer efforts Lisa Nason in memory of Derek Lendosky Klatts monthly donation All membership payments and donations are current through August 15th.
Reminder: Annual memberships should be renewed 1 year from the month in which you joined.

Thanks to everyone who volunteered this month. Thanks to everyone who supported us through donations, and memberships. There are many jobs that continue to get done without recognition. . River and Bluffs Animal Shelter Membership Form Student - $5.00 ____ Sponsor - $50.00 _____ Individual - $15.00 ____ Patron - $100.00 _____ Family - $25.00 ____ Benefactor - $500.00 I would like to make a monthly pledge of : ________ per month for a total of $_______ per year. Name:___________________________________ Address:_________________________________ City/State/Zip_____________________________ Email:____________________________________ Phone Number:______________________ Please mail membership form to: River and Bluffs Animal Shelter PO Box 421, Prairie du Chien, WI 53821