MANSFIELD — Missy Houghton loves dogs.
The Richland County Dog Warden just wishes she didn’t have so many to love right now.
And she hopes some promotions planned in August help more of the stray canines find new, permanent homes through the shelter’s “Get Them Home” program.
“We have 78 dogs right now,” Houghton told Richland County commissioners Thursday morning, which is about twice the “comfortable number” at the county dog shelter at 810 N. Home Road.
She said 40 to 50 dogs at the shelter more easily allows staff and volunteers to more easily clean the animals and the cages, do behavioral testing and take them on walks in the grassy, fenced-in areas outside the walls.
“For the past four or five months, we have been between 68 and 80,” Houghton said.
Commissioners approved all of the proposals put forward by Houghton, the former director of the Richland County Humane Society who became the county dog warden in March 2021.
During August:
— dog adoption fees will be reduced to $150, a cost that includes spay-neuter fees, first round of vaccines, deworming, microchip and an annual dog license. The normal fee is $199.
— dog adoption fees will be reduced to $125 for senior citizens and military veterans.
— dog impound fees will be cut in half. Normally, if the dog warden picks up a dog running loose, the owner must pay $30 for the first day and $15 for each day after to reclaim them. Those costs will be reduced to $15 and $5 during August.
“One of the biggest reasons we hear why owners don’t come to claim their dog is it’s too expensive,” Houghton said.
— an “After Hours” event is planned each Tuesday during the month, extending beyond the shelter’s normal 4:30 p.m. closing time. The first one will be from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m. and the remainder from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. Staff and/or volunteers will be at the shelter to help residents select a dog for adoption.
The local dog shelter is a “no kill” facility, meaning no healthy animals are euthanized.
“We don’t want to backtrack now,” Houghton said.
Commissioners on Thursday also approved her request to spend up to $49,900 to convert smaller kennels into larger kennels through a company called Shor-Line.
Houghton said the shelter, when it was built, was designed to share space with the local Humane Society, which has its own facility. That construction included many smaller kennels in one wing of the building meant to house cats.
“We can only put dogs up to 15 pounds in those kennels, and most of our dogs are larger than that,” she said. “The smaller dogs are (often adopted) in two or three days. The larger ones stay longer.”
The company will install new kennels, creating 10 larger kennels in that wing, in addition to the four now there.
“There is no money in the (shelter’s) budget for this, but we have all been there and seen the need,” said Commissioner Tony Vero. Funds for the effort will come from the county’s capital improvement fund.
Houghton said it will likely take four to six weeks to have the new, larger kennels installed.
For more information on dogs available at the shelter, visit the agency’s Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/R.C.D.W.OfficeandShelter
