Tucked away in an industrial area of Saginaw, Destinee Dozier is getting ready for the pet adoption event Clear the Shelters.
"Is that paw print good enough?" Dozier asked, as she drew decorations on one of the shelter's windows. "We do this every time we have a really big event, which Clear the Shelters is."
The event is huge for them, because it draws attention to adopting their animals.
But for every other day of the year, their small shelter faces challenges.
"I've updated all of our maps," Dozier said with a laugh. "Because they were wrong. They'd take you to City Hall. Now you'll come directly here."
She said they also struggle to find consistent volunteers, and not having enough people come through their doors to adopt forced them to get creative.
"We partner with New Life IFS. They are a rescue, and they basically pull animals from our shelter, and they’ll train them up to be service animals and they’ll place them not just in Texas, but throughout the nation," Dozier said.
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"Will you sit? Hey, good girl," New Life IFS animal trainer, Rena, said to one of the dogs, Ginger, while working with her in the shelter's yard.
Ginger is one of the dogs chosen by New Life IFS. She ended up at the shelter after her owner surrendered her.
"I love coming and seeing all the new puppies every day!" said Kayla Wells, of New Life. "I think I'm the one that's always, come in, and I'm like, 'I wanna take everybody home!'"
The New Life team scans the Saginaw shelter looking for animals that have the potential to help people.
"The number one thing we look for is temperament," Wells said.
Are the animals good with kids? Are they calm, compliant, and trainable?
Once identified as having that potential, they start working on obedience skills.
"We find the ones that have the greatest potential to become assistance animals, which can be a service animal, emotional support or a therapy animal," Wells said.
Cats are also included in New Life's program.
"So cats make great emotional support animals as well and therapy animals, and you definitely don't want to forget about them, because some of them are really loving and sweet," Wells said.
It's a promising partnership that just started this year.
"This is kind of our premiere right now, so we're excited!" Dozier said.
And it's just one of the ways this small shelter is helping more if its animals find forever homes.
"Just don't forget about Saginaw," Dozier said. "We're here! We have animals! Please love us!"
