When Thomas left the shelter for his Doggy Day Out, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect.

The first person he met that morning was my adopted adult son, Matt. Matt has intellectual disabilities and has always struggled a little with getting close to dogs. Many dogs make him nervous, and he is often unsure how to interact with them.

But Thomas seemed to know something we didn’t.

From the moment they met, Thomas was drawn to Matt. No matter where Matt stood, Thomas would quietly make his way over to him. He nudged him gently with his nose, leaned against him, and seemed determined to offer affection. There was something incredibly sweet about watching this shelter dog choose the person who needed him most.

When it was time to leave, Thomas faced another challenge. My vehicle sits fairly high off the ground, and he didn’t seem to know how to jump into a car. I lifted his front paws onto the floorboard, and then he carefully worked out the rest for himself, slowly climbing inside.

At first, Thomas settled on the floor behind the front seat. But when Matt sat down in the back seat, Thomas made another choice.

He climbed up onto the seat beside him.

The two sat together as we drove away from the shelter. Thomas wore a dog seat belt for safety and quickly settled into the ride. He stretched out quietly next to Matt, watching the world go by through the windows. Every now and then he would glance toward Matt as if checking to make sure his new friend was still there.

Thomas found his forever home thanks to a Facebook post about his Doggy Day Out!   Maybe you want to take a shelter dog out for an hour or two? Contact us at info@fotasaiken.org.

Our destination was Hitchcock Woods.

The moment Thomas stepped out of the vehicle, his nose went to work. There were so many new scents to explore. Every path held a new adventure. Every breeze carried information he was eager to investigate.

Along the trail, Thomas met hikers and politely greeted them. He spotted a horse and was fascinated by the giant creature. He tried pulling toward it for a closer look, but I reminded him to stay with me. A little later, a squirrel darted across our path. Thomas immediately wanted to give chase, but when I told him, “No, leave it,” he listened and stayed by my side.

For a shelter dog experiencing so many new things, Thomas handled everything remarkably well.
What stood out most wasn’t his curiosity or even his good behavior.

It was his heart.

Again and again throughout the day, Thomas showed us that he longs for connection. Whether it was resting quietly beside Matt in the car, checking in with me on the trail, or greeting strangers with gentle interest, Thomas seemed happiest when he was simply sharing life with people.

Some dogs spend their Doggy Day Out racing from adventure to adventure.

Thomas spent his showing us who he is.

A loyal companion. A gentle soul. A dog who chooses people.

Watching him with Matt was my favorite part of the day. A shelter dog and a young man who are both sometimes misunderstood found comfort in each other’s company without needing words.

Their Lives Are In Our Hands.

by Lisa Gaudet, Animal Adoption Assistant

So why not a classic black pet?

Unfortunately, black dogs and cats are often overlooked in shelters. It’s not personal—they just don’t catch people’s attention as quickly as lighter-colored pets. Yet anyone who has ever owned a black pet knows just how special they are.

Black dog owners love showing off their pets with colorful collars, bright bandanas, and fun accessories that make their gorgeous coats stand out even more. And let’s be honest—many owners appreciate that black fur doesn’t show up on dark clothing nearly as much! There are plenty of perks to sharing your home with a black dog.

Right now, the Aiken County Animal Shelter has several beautiful black dogs waiting for families of their own.

Take Molly, for example. This sweet girl was recently surrendered when her family was expanding and felt they no longer had time to care for her. At six years old, losing her home was heartbreaking. Thankfully, with the love and attention of FOTAS volunteers, Molly is once again enjoying life, playing, and giving kisses. One of the many benefits of adopting a mature dog is that the hard work is often already done. Molly is house trained, knows commands, and doesn’t jump on furniture. She is ready to move right into her next home.

Then there is Draco, the shiniest little black puppy you’ll ever meet. This handsome pup is playful, affectionate, and loves other dogs. He recently spent a weekend with Adoption Counselor Lisa, who worked on crate training and introduced him to cats, car rides, new environments, and plenty of positive experiences. Draco is a wonderful puppy who is more than ready to become part of a family.

And who could forget Bowser? This classic black beauty enjoys long walks, playing with other dogs, and listening while children read to him. He is house trained, knows commands, and clearly had someone teach him a few things before he arrived at the shelter as a stray. Bowser has so much love to give and is simply waiting for someone to notice him.

Any owner of a black pet will tell you there is something special about their classic beauty. Like the little black dress, black pets never go out of style. They are timeless, loyal, and make a wonderful addition to any home.

Their Lives Are In Our Hands.

by Kathy Cagle, FOTAS Programs Coordinator

The poor dog needed patience, food, and kindness to earn her trust.

What was so shocking was her condition.

She had a carabiner embedded through her neck. Not pinching her skin — actually through her
skin. You could feel the pain just looking at her, yet she was wagging her tail.

This little thirty-pound girl was so grateful that people wanted to help her.

Our veterinarian explained that it was an embedded carabiner, similar to the embedded collars
we sadly see far too often.

I cannot imagine the pain of having something around your neck so tight and for so long that
your body actually grows around it — let alone a metal carabiner.

Although this sweet girl cannot tell us her story, we imagine she may have been tied outside for a
very long time and repeatedly pulled against the tie-out until it became embedded in her neck.

During surgery, we saw just how deeply this contraption had grown into her skin. It was
heartbreaking.

And yet…

After surgery, her tail wagged again.

She was soft, happy, and loving. There was no fear. No aggression. Just happiness.

Once again, we were reminded of something we see every day at the shelter — dogs have an
incredible resilience. They are so quick to forgive and move forward, even after a past filled with
neglect.

We named this little six-year-old girl Alice.

She is healing beautifully and will be available for adoption soon. She will likely need a little
training as she appears to have spent a long time living tied outside. She absolutely loves food, is
highly food motivated, and she is so grateful for her new dog bed.

Thank you to the two women who stopped and took the time to help catch her. If they hadn’t,
who knows if Alice would have ever received the help she so desperately needed.

Please do not ignore animal abuse or neglect. It could be happening next door. If you see an
animal in distress, call Animal Control and report it.

Be their voice.
Their lives are in our hands.

by Kathy Cagle, FOTAS Programs Coordinator

But the best part is yet to come. On Monday mornings, Hallie Glennie and Bob Gordon take up their position in the main outdoor play yard while staff and volunteers leash up dogs and line up outside the gate. Hallie signals the release of the first dog into the yard, and after a moment, once she is certain the first dog is relaxed, she signals the release of the second dog. If those two dogs are getting along, she signals the release of the third dog . . . and then the fourth, the fifth, and so on. Over the next five hours, dogs come and go out of the yard having spent their time chasing, wrestling, drooling, and jumping on and over and around their pals. SO MUCH FUN!

Hallie and Bob (as well as county staff Jennifer Braden, Lisa Guadet, and Cynthia Gray), who have been trained by an organization called Dogs Playing for Life, watch carefully and assess the social behavior of every dog that comes into the yard. Rough and Rowdy dogs, for example, usually dominate the largest yard, while the Gentle & Dainty dogs commune quietly in a smaller yard. Hallie and Bob look for signs of defensiveness, fear, or aggression and move the dogs in and out of the yard as necessary. If the energy gets too high in one yard, Bob might siphon a few dogs off to play in a smaller yard. If a dog looks overwhelmed by all the action, it might get moved into the pen with the Gentle/Dainties.

The goal of every play session (every morning, Monday-Saturday) is to get as many dogs as possible out of its kennel and into the yard socializing with other dogs (the team once got 57 dogs out in a single morning!). Why? Because dogs are social animals by nature, but for safety reasons, shelters are required to maintain one dog per kennel. 

So, take a social animal who ends up confined to a kennel in a noisy public shelter with dogs and people who are strangers, and couple that with being abandoned by their previous owners, you get—understandably—an anxious dog. Anxious, withdrawn dogs are not adoptable dogs.

Play groups have been proven to reduce the mental and physical stress of the dogs. Play groups allow staff to make more accurate assessments of a dog’s behavior to help an adopter find the right dog for their family and lifestyle. Play groups also maximize staff and volunteer resources; they are the fastest way to attend to the largest number of dogs in the shortest amount of time.

By 1p.m., Hallie and Bob’s play session is over. For a few blessed hours, a peaceful calm falls over the shelter. The dogs go back to their kennels tired, happy, and relaxed. 

That’s a beautiful thing, because a relaxed dog is an adoptable dog. Hallelujah!

Their lives are in our hands.

By Joanna D. Samson, FOTAS Vice President

Then there’s Echo. Now, Echo—he had a home and loved his humans. Then one day, his humans dropped him off here at the shelter and just walked away. No ‘atta boys, no goodbyes, no nothing. Echo’s a great little guy—so much fun, housetrained, the works—8 years-old, maybe not so great with other male dogs. But hey! Nobody’s perfect. 

My other pal, Ozzy? He also had a home, too, and his humans left him here because he had a few medical problems—which FOTAS and the shelter fixed right up! He’s 2 years-old, healthy, and he’s a great big snuggle bug. The volunteers love him. 

Point being, the how’s and why’s of how all us dogs got here are different, but our stories are all the same: our humans let us down. Big time. But you know what? The humans here, at the shelter? They’re top-notch, the best—especially the volunteers! I never even met a volunteer before I came to this place—and take it from me, you need to get one. They come every morning and walk us, sit with us in the yard and talk to us so sweetly. They bring us treats and throw balls. They take us to morning playgroups. 

Who knew humans were capable of such love and world-class belly rubs? Go figure!

But here’s the thing: there aren’t enough of them—volunteers, I mean (although you can never have enough belly-rubs, either!). It takes time in the morning to walk all us dogs, so if we’re lucky, we get maybe 15 minutes of me-time. That might not seem like a lot to you, but to us dogs? It’s everything. 

Plus, there’s no one to walk us in the afternoon. Do you know how hard it is, if you’re a gal me like me who would never mess in her kennel, to only get one chance a day? It’s a misery. 

So, please! All you humans reading this, I’m begging you: JOIN FOTAS. BE A VOLUNTEER! You’ll have a great time with all the other volunteers, and we dogs will show you a good time, too. Like Buster, who’s now a superstar thanks to the volunteers. He’s good in playgroup, walks on a leash, and sits on command. He’s a happy guy. And when you stop by the shelter, look me up—DayLilly.  They say I’m magnificent! Not sure what that means, but it sure sounds good!

So please, spread the word: we’re all ready to be adopted and be someone’s new BFF. And be a volunteer! We need you.

Our lives are in your hands.

Joanna D. Samson, FOTAS Vice-President

But the best part is yet to come. On Monday mornings, Hallie Glennie and Bob Gordon take up their position in the main outdoor play yard while staff and volunteers leash up dogs and line up outside the gate. Hallie signals the release of the first dog into the yard, and after a moment, once she is certain the first dog is relaxed, she signals the release of the second dog. If those two dogs are getting along, she signals the release of the third dog . . . and then the fourth, the fifth, and so on. Over the next five hours, dogs come and go out of the yard having spent their time chasing, wrestling, drooling, and jumping on and over and around their pals. SO MUCH FUN!

Hallie and Bob (as well as county staff Jennifer Braden, Lisa Guadet, and Cynthia Gray), who have been trained by an organization called Dogs Playing for Life, watch carefully and assess the social behavior of every dog that comes into the yard. Rough and Rowdy dogs, for example, usually dominate the largest yard, while the Gentle & Dainty dogs commune quietly in a smaller yard. Hallie and Bob look for signs of defensiveness, fear, or aggression and move the dogs in and out of the yard as necessary. If the energy gets too high in one yard, Bob might siphon a few dogs off to play in a smaller yard. If a dog looks overwhelmed by all the action, it might get moved into the pen with the Gentle/Dainties.

The goal of every play session (every morning, Monday-Saturday) is to get as many dogs as possible out of its kennel and into the yard socializing with other dogs (the team once got 57 dogs out in a single morning!). Why? Because dogs are social animals by nature, but for safety reasons, shelters are required to maintain one dog per kennel.

So, take a social animal who ends up confined to a kennel in a noisy public shelter with dogs and people who are strangers, and couple that with being abandoned by their previous owners, you get—understandably—an anxious dog. Anxious, withdrawn dogs are not adoptable dogs.

Play groups have been proven to reduce the mental and physical stress of the dogs. Play groups allow staff to make more accurate assessments of a dog’s behavior to help an adopter find the right dog for their family and lifestyle. Play groups also maximize staff and volunteer resources; they are the fastest way to attend to the largest number of dogs in the shortest amount of time.

By 1p.m., Hallie and Bob’s play session is over. For a few blessed hours, a peaceful calm falls over the shelter. The dogs go back to their kennels tired, happy, and relaxed.

That’s a beautiful thing, because a relaxed dog is an adoptable dog. Hallelujah!

Their lives are in our hands.

By Joanna D. Samson, FOTAS Vice President

We have been so incredibly lucky to have had some AMAZING school children hold donation drives for the Aiken County Animal Shelter. We have also had many groups coming to visit the shelter!

Recently we had one of our busiest weeks yet!

On Monday we visited the Warrenville Cares Club at Warrenville Elementary.

Talk about smarties! These kids were so fun and so engaged! They will be visiting the shelter this week to read to the dogs!

On Tuesday we had Horse Creek Academy’s Montessori class come to the shelter to meet the pets and learn about pet responsibility. Talk about cute kids!

Wednesday our volunteers were invited to bring dogs to the University of South Carolina Aiken. The dogs had the best time and were so relaxed and happy when they returned! Check out adoptable Wyatt, he had so much fun!

Friday we had over twenty individuals from the Savannah River Site’s Outreach Leadership for Young Professionals group (LEAP). They were ready to get right to work! It was one of those unseasonably hot mornings and they walked all our dogs, they were amazing! When they left every dog was tired and feeling great!

On Saturday we had the Gloverville Elementary School Beta Club come and read to our shelter dogs. We are always impressed by this group when they visit each year. The students are kind, well behaved and so excited to meet the dogs! They even brought donations!

We are so grateful for our community that shows up through donations, time and love!

Thank you to all!

Their lives are in our hands.

We even opened our home to bunnies and tortoises!  A virtual menagerie of God’s creatures. When we moved two years ago to South Carolina, sadly we left that business behind.  We now live in a community and not enough room to romp and play in the backyard.

When the hurricane came upon us I learned that there was no electricity at the Aiken County Animal Shelter and some of the resident cat’s there needed a safe haven for a few days.

It didn’t take me long to volunteer our warm home for these sweet angels. We had an unoccupied guest room and they could gaze out the large Palladian window for hours and play with toys, scratching posts and towers to climb.

When it was time to return them, I had my chin on my buttons and so sad to see them go and asked if I could help in any other way other than volunteering at the shelter itself…too much of a tug on the heartstrings.  Lucky for me they needed kitten fosters and BINGO….PAY DIRT!

I was grateful that my husband was on board as well. To date we have probably cycled through almost a dozen kittens or combination of mother and kittens for fostering.

Everyone wonders how we can do that and not get attached and want to keep them. The answer is simple.  Our job is to bring them along with food, love and safety.  Add socialization and lots of human contact so they are the perfect pet for their new family when ready.   We can’t afford to get too attached and become a foster fail because that’s not the job description.

We are so fulfilled knowing that we did a great job and as soon as they are presented in the lobby of the shelter they are snapped up instantly. Fostering does come with its sadness and disappointments. We have had two very, very young kittens that just didn’t make it no matter the efforts from us and FOTAS.

Recently Hilary contacted me about two pre-mature kittens with no mother.  The odds were stacked against their survival but the only hope was that if Monica (the mother cat we were currently fostering) would accept them as her own.  She did and we were so pleased to see that she would care for them. 

However, one was just too weak to get the sustenance needed to grow so sadly the little one passed. Miracle of miracles the other one fought his way to his new mama and started growing.  We weighed him on a daily basis and little by little he put on weight.  I named him Rocky Balboa!  My Italian Stallion was a fighter!

It’s such a joy to walk into their room and see them playing and hopping around!  If you were ever thinking about fostering kittens, it is a warm and fuzzy experience and one that you will never regret while making lots of meow memories!

Their Lives Are In Our Hands
By Carole Bennett, Kitten Foster

The staff is ready. Our volunteers have worked all morning to make sure all the dogs are walked and clean. It’s game day.

But this past Saturday was different.
We didn’t have a single adoption.

It’s been a long time since that has happened — and it’s heartbreaking.

In just the first two weeks of April, the shelter took in 256 dogs and cats. That’s a lot of pets needing homes. When no one comes on our busiest day, it hurts.

We have amazing animals waiting — house-trained dogs, loving cats, playful puppies. They’re ready. They just need someone to choose them.

We need our community.

Please share our posts, volunteer, donate to support our lifesaving programs — and most importantly, if you can, adopt.

Their lives are in our hands.
By Kathy Cagle, FOTAS Programs Coordinator

This year we will celebrate our Woofstock Family Fun Day on Saturday, April 25 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. We are excited to bring the event back to the Aiken County Animal Shelter.

The format this year will be all about family-friendly and pet-friendly fun.

Eudora Wildlife Park will be joining us with amazing animals to meet — how cool is that?

We’ll also have our popular dog contests, including:

• Best Costume
• Best Ball or Frisbee Catcher
• So Ugly I’m Cute
• Dog/Owner Look-Alike
• Best Kisser
• Best Trick

Local celebrity judges will help decide the winners.

We are thrilled that local TV personality John Hart from Channel 6 will serve as our Master of Ceremonies.

Food trucks will be on site, including Flanigan’s Ice Cream — yum!

And that’s not all. Palmetto Dog Club will be giving agility and obedience demonstrations. There will also be face painting and balloons for kids (and adults!), along with vendors from local businesses. DJ Kenny Ray will keep the music going and the energy high throughout the event.

If you have adopted a dog from the Aiken County Animal Shelter, please join us for our Adopted Dog Parade — one of the highlights of the day!

And if you are looking for a new family pet, we will have adoptable dogs and cats ready to meet you.

This event benefits the Aiken County Animal Shelter by supporting the many life-saving programs that help animals in our community.

Please come be part of this fun day — we cannot wait to see everyone!

All dogs must be on a leash and comfortable around other dogs and children, as this will be a high-energy day full of fun.

A special thank you to our event leaders Amy Peterson, Linda LeBlanc and Leslie Henderson, and a big thank you to our many generous sponsors.