Maple
Maple was from a litter of 6 maturing pups that were seized by the OSPCA Investigations department with 3 other dogs due to poor living Barrie she was tightly curled up in a back corner of her kennel, her little eyes big with fear of everything unknown. She wasn’t eager to leave the safety of her kennel and it took a lot of persuading to get her body understand how much of the world she clearly had not experienced in her short life so far. She would shy away if large trucks rumbled by, walking on a leash seemed very unfamiliar although she typically didn’t pull. She needed to hesitantly sniff everything she didn’t understand, which seemed to be A LOT of stuff! I think the saddest discovery of all that day though, was that she had no idea how to pla y. I would throw a ball, she wouldn’t move. I would try to encourage her to run around and play with me, it seemed to spook her. If you moved too fast or made an unexpected noise she would just freeze and stare at you ready to run. I spent time with her every time I was at the shelter, during the two or so months she was there, just sitting in her kennel with her. I would talk to her and pet her and bond with her. She eventually became comfortable with me enough to walk out of her kennel without hesitation when I came to get her. She
Photography & Article by Jessica Copeland
As a photographer and an animal lover, volunteering just made sense to me. The influence a good photo has on the likelihood of an animal being adopted is nothing but positive. You strive to capture their characteristics, and hope someone will love their character enough to take them home.
play! Fetch wasn’t always her thing, but she did seem to like tag. It was a great experience to watch her later in a home of her own, she is still thriving and playing her days away.
over 1,000 animals be adopted and over 400 be returned to their owners, and I would like to share a few of their stories with you.
I’ve been a volunteer at the Barrie OSPCA since February of 2012. In that time I’ve literally seen
Jack
Jack came to the Barrie OSPCA after being transferred in from a Humane Society when they ran out of space for him. In his kennel he was a black, barking, stressed out young dog, that just couldn’t get rid of the piles of extra energy he had. Sadly, I watched so many people passed him by because of his poor kennel qualities. I fell in love with his lopsided ears though. Every photo I ever took of him, his left ear was always standing up and his right ear was always flopped down. After about a month of no real interest, he was transferred to another OSPCA to hopefully receive a fresh audience of potential adopters. I hoped he would get a nice farm to run around on out there. However, when I walked into the Barrie OSPCA another month later to see Jack sitting in a kennel again I realized he had found no love at the other OSPCA either. Unfortunately, Jack’s months of shelter life eventually outweighed his young Shepherd energy and he just became unadoptable. He was the black, barking dog and few could get over it enough to want to get to know him better, to want to take him out of his kennel and spend some time with him and learn to love his lopsided ears like I did.
I almost adopted Buck. He broke my heart when I met him and his skinny, boney body. He was surrendered by his owners due to his food allergies, but he had such deep, beautiful eyes that just sucked you in, I didn’t understand how you could walk away from a dog like him. However, when I tried to walk him, it quickly became apparent how little training he had and how unruly he could be. He was frustrating, yet a heart stealer all at the same time. The more time I spent with Buck the more I loved him. I would take him to the dog park and enjoy the day with him, he could be so easy going, and watching him snooze in my back seat made it hard to take him back every time. I spent so much time with him, that my boyfriend eventually met him too and couldn’t help but love the big goofy lug, we still reminisce about him from time to time. My most fond memory of Buck will always be the time I watched him run through the park so fast, I don’t think he knew how to stop. He was having so much fun playing and chasing another dog that he jumped clean over a Lab that was standing in the way. He was a country dog meant for a country boy that I hope he found when he drove off in a mud splattered Jeep with his new best friend.
Buck
Mason
(BSL) in Ontario. He was a very sweet dog and got along well with people and other dogs. He was a good example of what his breed could truly be when bred and raised properly, and therefore the Barrie OSPCA looked a BSL free location. After a long 7 months at the Barrie OSPCA a rescue adopted and is enjoying life as a free dog in a province without BSL!
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PASSION8 MAGAZINE | SEPTEMBER 2013