Western Outdoor Times - Times Spent Outdoors: Priceless!

I'm a true believer that every situation we encounter in our daily lives can (and should) be a learning experience - from meeting people on the street to driving to work in the morning to dealing with co-workers and/or customers to communicating with our families (and everything in between).

Everything we do we can learn from. If something didn't go right in a situation, instead of looking to place blame, ask yourself, what could I have said or done differently?

There are so many things to be learned in our everyday lives and being in animal welfare, we tend to forget what is happening on the "other side." When people have to surrender their animals, it's easy to blame, look down upon, and accuse people of being uncaring when we could never to that to our animals.

We often have no idea what the circumstances are but darn it, it sure is easy to make those assumptions and judge people, isn't it? Instead, why don't we stop asking about what the situation is behind every surrender or abandonment, stop assuming every dog in our care has been abused, refuse to turn every situation into a sob story and end the judgment of the people who seek us out for our services and focus on the animals themselves.

Just think of all the time we will save on negative thoughts when we pour our time and energy into the animals and making their lives better and us, as caretakers, well, less bitter?

It took me a really long time to come to the realization that people are going to do what they are going to do and we, as caring animal-welfare individuals, will always be here to pick up the pieces for the animals because that's what we do.

Let's place our focus on the positive and put the negative aside because there will always be that part of it, sadly, and it's human nature to get all wrapped up in the drama and emotional side of things. How great would it be to get beyond that and just focus on the positive and find all these wonderful animals their forever homes, leave the drama as some distant memory not to be dwelled upon? Thanks for listening.

The Dynamic Duo: Volunteer Spotlight

Our dynamic mother son duo, Janet and Wesley Hamlin have been volunteering with Lost Our Home since March 2014. They can always be counted on to be at the shelter deep cleaning the cat rooms early on Sunday mornings.

Wesley also volunteers with special needs students at his school and Janet was a volunteer at Wesley's school when he was younger and also when he was a Cub Scout. They both have fond memories of their favorite cats' getting adopted and often wonder what their lives are like now and love to receive updates on the LOH Facebook page.

They both love playing with their own cats and dogs; they have two dogs and four cats. One dog they adopted from Maricopa County Animal Care and Control and they came up with their own breeds: "Miniature Bearded Moroccan Terrier" and the other they adopted from Animal Control in Winslow that is a "Standard Bearded Moroccan Terrier."

They also have four cats: Flint (whom Wesley bottle fed and raised), Apollo, Jinx (a foster failure), and Hope (another foster failure).

What keeps them coming back to volunteer at LOH is the mission, not only do we help our own animals but also to help the community with our food bank and other programs like Temporary Care. (All of our programs are offered with the compassion and care.) They also feel appreciated as volunteers and appreciate all that LOH does for the animals in their care. Their biggest challenge is wishing all the pets had loving homes, waiting for their favorites to find homes and missing them once they do!

Janet and Wesley's advice for new volunteers: Everyone needs to know that the cleaning and care they provide does make a difference and that the animals do remember you when you volunteer on a regular basis. The Hamlins love when volunteers work together and take pride in keeping the shelter clean. They have met so many amazing people at LOH!

Some Things We Need

Looking for some fun in November? We need a few volunteer dog handlers to come on out to the Herberger Theater on Saturday, Nov. 7 for the Festival of the Arts. There will be performances, live music, a food court, children's activities, and, of course, our adorable shelter pups! If you are able to help out, please contact me at tracey@lostourhome.org. Thanks!

We are in search of Kong Toys for the shelter! We are looking for ways to prevent the dogs from getting bored while in their kennels all day and Kong Toys are a great way to help prevent that boredom.

Stuffed Kongs (frozen stuffed Kongs are even better) provide stimulation and give the dogs something to do while they are hanging out in their kennels waiting for volunteers to take them out on their walks.

We need a variety of sizes from extra large for our larger-sized dogs to extra small for our little tiny dogs. Anything you can provide would be much appreciated.

Also, we need batteries for different uses around the shelter. We are in need of both AA and AAA batteries.

Tell A Friend

Tell a friend! It's so easy to earn funds for our cats and dogs. One way is to designate Lost Our Home Pet Foundation as your charity of choice through the Fry's Community Rewards program. Fry's will donate every time you shop and use your Fry's rewards card.

Sign Up Your Champ

Sign up for your Champion Dog or Cat. It's easy! Just do the following:

•Pick your favorite dog or cat.

•Let Tracey know so she can add you to the list.

•Make a cute flyer for their kennel or room or post them at your workplace or wherever you can (make sure to ask businesses if it's okay).

•If it's a dog you can take him/her off site (follow the "take a dog off-site" guidelines.

•Post your Champion all over your Facebook/Twitter/Instagram or whatever social media channels you use!

•Create business cards for your Champion.

The goal is to get our adoptable animals marketed and out into the world to be noticed by potential adopters. I've chosen Scamp as my Champion and I'm going to get that cute little guy adopted. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask.

Food Bank Delivery

We need assistance with transport to the following locations:

• Indian School and 28th Street, Phoenix

• Chandler Blvd. and Arizona Ave., Chandler

• Southern and Dobson, Mesa

Janet & Wesley Hamlin

• Skyline and Quail Run, San Tan Valley

If you can assist with transport to any of the above locations, please send an email to help@lostourhome.org

Save The Date

It's closer than you think! December will be here before we know it. Don't miss out on our biggest (and fanciest!) fundraiser of the year. Please save the date for our 5th Annual Holiday Champagne Brunch and Auction held this year on Sunday, Dec. 6 at the Arizona Biltmore Resort.

Please Join The LOH Volunteers

If you are interested in volunteering, please contact Anne Marie Geary at amgeary@icloud.com by Nov. 11.