Welcome to our sixth quarterly newsletter! Here, you'll find a summary of everything that's gone on at HSoP in the last few months. From fundraisers, to events, to stories about some of our most special animals, you'll get a behind-the-scenes look at a few of the most important happenings at our shelter.

July 2022

Tri-State Outfitters Benefit Sale

We are constantly in awe of the support we receive from the people and businesses within our community. Our friends at Tri-State Outfitters have always been generous supporters of HSoP, and back in July they showed us just how deep that support runs! Tri-State hosted a benefit sale for HSoP this summer, where they pledged to donate $5 for every pair of shoes sold in their store on June 11th and June 12th. Our community members showed up in full force to support our mission! In July, we were given a check worth $810, all thanks to Tri-State Outfitters and the community members who chose to purchase shoes during the event. We truly appreciate this substantial donation! Thank you to our friends at Tri-State Outfitters and thank you to everyone who purchased a new pair of shoes in support of our shelter!

Elvira's Happy Homecoming

Back in April, we had a special girl come into our care. Elvira was a beautiful black lab mix who was about two years old. Upon her arrival, it became clear to us that Elvira had her own set of struggles to overcome. Elvira suffered from two main obstacles: separation anxiety and stranger danger. This meant that she loved HSoP staff and became upset when she would have to stay in her kennel, but at the same time was reluctant to make new friends with our visitors and volunteers. When thinking about the best-suited adopter for Elvira, we knew she would need somebody who is home often and has an active lifestyle to meet her needs. She needed to receive a good amount of exercise during the day and preferred someone who would be willing to get this exercise in with her.

Elvira waited for adoption for several months before the right family came around. After getting to meet Elvira through a walking-introduction, her family found that she was exactly what they were looking for. She worked through her stranger danger with them rather quickly and seemed to really enjoy the company of her newest friends. Elvira was adopted on July 18th, 2022, and it seems to be a perfect fit! After waiting so patiently during her time at HSoP, Elvira finally got the happy ending she deserves.

Take a look at her gorgeous smile down below!

July Pet Identification Special

Each quarter, we offer a discount on our pet identification services. We believe that pet identification is crucial to keeping pets with their owners, and we want all Latah County pet owners to have access to these services. Our most recent pet identification special was in July. During this month, engraved pet name tags were just $4, and lifelong microchip identification costed just $15. We really enjoy seeing our community members take advantage of this special deal. In July, we helped nine pet owners secure identification for their pets. This included 4 engraved name tags and 5 lifelong microchips. This is what we love to see! If your pet is not up to date on its identification, we would be happy to help you with this. Our next month for discounted pet identification will be October. Please give us a call at (208) 883-1166 to schedule an appointment and give yourself peace of mind!

August 2022

Clear the Shelters Adoption Event

This year's Clear the Shelters adoption event was a huge success! From August 22nd through 27th, we offered half-priced and fully waived adoption fees in an effort to find homes for all of our adoptable pets. The purpose of Clear the Shelters is to do just that - clear out the shelter and make room for other homeless pets who may be in need of care. To incentivize adoptions, our generous sponsors covered the cost of 11 cat adoptions and 7 dog adoptions to be free or half-priced. We're happy to report that 14 cats and 3 dogs found loving forever homes during Clear the Shelters! This made a huge difference in opening the door for more pets in need, and we are so thankful for our sponsors and community members who made this success possible.

One of our favorite parts of Clear the Shelters are all the happy adoption photos that come along with it! Take a look at some of our furry friends who met their match during Clear the Shelters:

 Moscow Summer Kids Camp Visit

Back in August, we visited the campers at Moscow Summer Kids Camp to talk about pet safety and how to safely meet new pets. Campers listened really well during the presentation and had a lot of real-world examples to share with their peers! By the end, each camper knew the best steps to take when meeting a new pet. After the presentation, campers learned to make braided T-shirt chew toys for the dogs in our care! The campers learned the steps quickly, and by the end of our visit they had made 24 toys to keep our dogs occupied! We were so happy to visit with campers and spend some time talking about our furry friends. Thank you to the campers for being such great listeners! We hope you had an awesome summer.

Panda Express Benefit Fundraiser

We were so excited to partner with Panda Express for one of our tastiest fundraisers to date. On August 20th, the Moscow Panda Express pledged to donate 20% of all event sales to HSoP. We encouraged our community to stop by for a bite to eat and were so impressed by the support shown! The fundraiser ran for just one day and generated more than $300 to help the homeless pets in our care. Thank you to the Panda Express team for helping us to raise funds for those who need it most and thank you to everyone who ate Panda Express in support of our shelter!

Li Shang's Journey to Adoption

In April of this year, a very special dog named Li Shang arrived at HSoP. He had been spotted at a campsite for several days, but nobody was able to get close enough to actually catch him. Finally, a live trap was used to catch Li Shang so he could be examined and hopefully reunited with his family. He was brought to HSoP and our staff tried their very best to track down his family. Unfortunately, Li Shang was never claimed by an owner. Upon his arrival, it was very clear that he had stranger danger. He was extremely nervous around new people and needed lots of time to settle and feel comfortable. It took him several days to warm up to our staff, and several weeks before he truly trusted them. Li Shang was a fiercely loyal dog, and we knew that the right adopter for him would need to be patient and willing to take things slow in creating a lasting bond.

Li Shang waited many months before the right person came along. He had met several people looking to adopt, but it never felt like the right fit. Finally, our shelter staff received a call from somebody asking to meet Li Shang specifically. It took multiple meet-and-greet appointments before Li Shang was able to trust the adopter. Thankfully, this adopter had experience interacting with dogs similar to Li Shang and knew exactly how to take things at his own pace. Over the course of several weeks, the adopter made frequent visits to Li Shang until the bond they had was completely solidified. After 12 meet and greet appointments with the same adopter, and after meeting everyone he would be interacting with in his new home, Li Shang was finally ready to go home with his people. He had been at HSoP for nearly five months, and our staff was elated to see him go home with such a dedicated adopter and friend. Li Shang is now loving his new life, and we have been grateful to see some happy updates about he and his family!

Take a look below at Li Shang's adoption photo, taken the day he left HSoP for his forever home:

September 2022

Howling at Hamilton

This year's Howling at Hamilton was a splashing success! The event had to be cut short due to unexpected hazardous air quality, but that didn't stop the fun. We saw 290 dogs attend in the three hours we were at the pool, and they all seemed to be having a tail-wagging good time. The University of Idaho Men's Tennis Team donated more than 300 tennis balls for the event, which ensured that each dog had a toy to chase into the water! Our pool-jumping contest was moved to 3:00pm, and everyone loved getting to watch the dogs fly. Our winner, a Wire-Haired Vizsla named Honey, jumped an astounding 14 feet and 9 inches into the pool! All of our top three winners were awarded with paw-some prize baskets filled with chew toys and other goodies, thanks to our friends at Idaho Central Credit Union. After all was said and done, Howling at Hamilton raised nearly $3,500 for the pets at HSoP! We are thrilled to see our community take part in this event each year, and we already can't wait for the next dog day at the pool. Thank you to everyone who came out in support of our mission!

Take a look at some of our favorite pictures from Howling at Hamilton!

HSoP Wine Raffle

If you love a good bottle of wine, and you love your local humane society, then this raffle fundraiser is for you! We're hosting a raffle of delightful wine and accessories to help raise funds for our shelter. There are four prizes available in the raffle, and each prize features wines from Dutton-Goldfield or Colter's Creek. Raffle tickets will be available starting Monday, October 10th, and ticket sales will end at 4:00pm on Monday, October 24th. Winners will be drawn at 5:00pm on Monday, October 24th. If you'd like to participate in this raffle, tickets can be purchased at the shelter from 1:00-6:00pm Wednesday through Saturday, or on our website beginning Monday, October 10th. Winners must be 21 years of age or older, and a valid ID matching the winner's name must be presented in order to claim any of the prizes. Tickets cost $2 each or 3 for $5, and you can purchase as many tickets as you would like. All proceeds from this raffle will benefit HSoP. Keep an eye on our social media for more information!

Kookaburra's Merlin Fund Story

Every so often, we receive a pet who requires extra love, attention, and medical care before being ready for adoption. This story is about a sweet little kitten named Kookaburra. Back in August, Kookaburra arrived with a group of siblings. Everyone seemed to be in good health at first, but there was something obviously wrong with Kookaburra's eyes. As it turns out, this sweet baby was born with two non-functioning eyes that appeared to be causing her pain. To ensure that Kookaburra can live a long, healthy, and comfortable life, our veterinarians recommended both eyes be removed. She had her surgery on September 28th, and her procedure is estimated to cost between $1,500-$2,000. If you are interested in making a donation toward her care, you can do so by mailing a check to 2019 E White Ave. Moscow, ID 83843 or by making a donation through PayPal. If you are mailing in a check, please write "Merlin Fund" on the memo line. We truly hope that Kookaburra's surgery provided her some much-needed relief. Despite her challenges, she seems to be a happy kitten who has already adapted to life without eyesight. Kookaburra stole the heart of someone on her vet team when she went in for surgery. This lovable girl will be going home with her adopter next week, where she will continue on her road to recovery with plenty of love and snuggles.

Here is a picture of our sweet girl Kookaburra. We have edited the image due to the graphic nature of her eyes:

Opening Our Doors Again

In the last two years, our hours of operation have changed drastically. The stress of Covid-19, combined with staffing difficulties, has led our shelter to be open by appointment only for quite some time. Now that we are fully staffed again, we're pleased to announce that this will no longer be the case. Beginning the week of Monday, October 3rd, HSoP will be open to the public from 1:00-6:00pm Wednesday through Saturday, and open by appointment only on Mondays and Tuesdays. The first day for walk-in visits will be Wednesday, October 5th from 1:00-6:00pm. This hybrid schedule is intended to help our staff and animals get used to having walk-in visitors again. Our mission is to serve our community and the pets within it, and reopening our doors will make us much more accessible to those in need. We're excited to see smiling faces come through our door again, and our pets will surely appreciate the extra attention!

HSoP animals currently available for adoption:

*Thankfully there are not too many to feature here!*

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