Collierville camp encourages puppy (and kitten) love
Linda A. Moore
Some of the best parts were obvious, sitting on the floor playing with a pair of roly-poly black puppies or smearing peanut butter and birdseed on pine cones for the birds.
But the 19 youngsters who attended Kids Camp on Tuesday at the Collierville Animal Shelter also learned valuable lessons in how the shelter works, how to approach strange dogs with a "friendly fist," careers that allow them to work with animals and being a responsible pet owner.
Eleven-year-old Rylee Gillespie spends her summers with her grandmother in Rossville, Tennessee. They were delivering the dog food Rylee bought with a portion of her birthday money and saw the announcement for camp on the door.
So her grandmother signed her up on the spot.
"It's cool. I like it. You get to play with the animals and learn more about them. Because when I get older I want to be a veterinarian," said Rylee, who between her two grandmothers has four dogs and two cats in the family.
"A lot of them want to be vets," said Nina Wingfield, shelter director. "So I think that's wonderful."
In her talk with the children she told them about some of the animals they've housed. There have been no fish.
"We've never had any lost fish," Wingfield said.
Using a friendly black-and-white mixed-breed named Simon, she showed the wrong way and the right way to approach a strange dog.
Always ask first.
"That's very. very important because guess what, I have a dog that I would say 'no you can't' because she's afraid of new people," Wingfield said.
It's the same for cats, who can act as though they want to be picked up until you try to pick them up, she said.
"So, be careful because you don't want to get bit or scratched by an animal," she said.
After lunch the kids went to the cat room where they were able to give many of the cats and kittens an equal amount of love.
The camp was sponsored by retailer Target, which sent seven employees from stores in Collierville, Germantown and Olive Branch to volunteer.
"I just love animals and I thought it would be fun," said Calvin Holman, an employee in the Olive Branch store's human resource department.
In this year's camp the kids didn't clean out cages or kennels, although there was a wee accident with one of the puppies.
Next summer the shelter will host a pet sitting class for kids, Wingfield said.
"And they will have to pick up poop," she said.