I’ve worked in animal care and welfare for 17 years and have been a companion animals officer with City rangers for one year now. Previously, I worked for 16 years at the Sutherland Shire Council Animal Shelter, which houses stray or lost animals.
Dogs are my greatest love and passion. From being a dog mum to training and rehabilitating them, and working with them, I love and live for dogs.
I feel incredibly lucky to work in a role I am passionate about, helping people and their pets.
“More people need to rescue and adopt an animal, rather than opting for a breeder or pet shop.”
There’s an ongoing crisis of too many animals and not enough homes in shelters and rescues. Animal re-homing facilities are over capacity and overwhelmed with pets in desperate need of homes.
Rescuing an animal is so rewarding. Just like owning any pet, there can be challenges to overcome. They may need training or help learning better behaviour, understanding and support while they adjust to a new life and family. There’s always progress through professional training, and time and patience.
Throughout my career, I’ve found new homes for many animals through adoption. The large majority have been success stories where the new pet found their forever home.
“How I lost Prince broke my heart, but how we lived filled it.”
I lost my heart dog Prince in August this year. A heart dog is your canine soul mate.
Prince passed away unexpectedly just one week after the devastating diagnosis of cancer. He was 11 years old. We had been together for 9 and a half of these years.
I adopted Prince from Sutherland Shire Council Animal Shelter. We did everything together, including a lifelong dream of a 3-month road trip up and down the east coast of Australia.
Prince inspired me to further my dog training and behaviour qualifications. This helped countless other dogs that came into my care at the shelter.
“Sometimes the animal rescues you. With Prince I was always told how lucky he was to have me. But the truth is I was the lucky one and we rescued each other.”
From the moment I picked Coco up, it felt like it’s meant to be
The pain of losing Prince was unbearable. Then came Coco Pops, who I adopted from the shelter the next day. Coco is an American Staffordshire Terrier, who had been waiting 9 months to be adopted.
Once Coco was home, I learnt his training needs were greater than I expected. He’s now on a strict training plan and has made amazing progress. He still has a long way to go and many new skills to learn, but that’s the best part of our journey together.
Coco is there for me to cuddle, play with, train and teach, and make me smile and laugh.
How you can get involved at animal shelters
Visit: Even if you’re not ready to adopt, you can show pets love by giving them treats, reading to them and just spending time with them.
Donate: Items such as food, treats, bedding, toys and enrichment toys to engage senses are always encouraged and greatly appreciated.
Volunteer: An integral part of helping animals find new homes and provide exercise, training and social time they need while they await adoption.
Foster: Sutherland Shire Council Animal Shelter has a foster program for cats and kittens. Foster carers can offer temporary care to mother cats and kittens, neonatal kittens who need specialised care, kittens under 8 weeks of age too young to be adopted, and cats and kittens who need additional socialisation to prepare them for adoption.
Adopt: If you’re looking for a new family member, consider adopting an animal from a shelter and tell family and friends about their local options. Follow the shelter on social media and share the animals needing new homes. You never know who it will reach.
Promote pet adoption: Animals that end up in shelters are not bad, abused, mistreated or unsuitable for re-homing. They are pets that haven’t always had the opportunity for a great family to love and care for them. Sometimes their owners have found themselves in impossible situations where they can no longer care for their pet.
Find out more about living with pets in our local area.
