Subject: Request for stats
From: <eiderdown@yesbiscuit.com>
Date: Sun, September 22, 2013 10:40 am
To: info@conwayshelter.orgIs your shelter open admission? Your website gives that impression but I wanted to ask to be certain. Would you please send me a copy of your most recent year’s statistics detailing intakes and outcomes?
Thank you,
Shirley Thistlethwaite
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Subject: Request for stats
From: <eiderdown@yesbiscuit.com>
Date: Mon, September 30, 2013
To: info@conwayshelter.orgI haven’t received a reply to this e-mail so am re-sending.
Thank you,
Shirley Thistlethwaite
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Subject: Re: Request for stats
From: Virginia Moore <vmoore@conwayshelter.org>
Date: Mon, September 30, 2013 11:37 am
To: “<eiderdown@yesbiscuit.com>”I just googled her. She looks like trouble….
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Snaaaap.
That is hilarious. Keep knocking.
But…if there’s nothing to hide, why worry about trouble?
If you can’t own it, you shouldn’t be doing it.
Amen!
OMG That’s too funny. I just googled you too and you ARE trouble!
I’ve been trouble since the age of 4, per my Mom. Which is apparently who The Google has been talking to.
Trouble comes asking for performance data and with a chunk of mercury fulminate in its pocket.
[heart]
YesBiscuit!
Shelter (noun): Something that affords protection; a refuge, a haven.
Shirley Thistlethwaite!
I just googled her. She looks like trouble….
Thank you for that. I needed a good laugh today. Of course I had to google your name and what comes up….. article after article about Memphis.
Big oops – agree that if there’s nothing to hide, then stop acting like there is. Now that you have their attention . . . let’s see those stats.
OK, I did just really google you. And…I’m not seeing “trouble”. I’m seeing “advocate”. But then, I’m not trying to hide how many pets I kill in a year. Must be one of those “depends on your point of view” things….
Billy saw this post and also Googled me. He learned I am a high volume breeder who tries to hide my puppy mill activities by changing my name regularly. Damn Google, is there no privacy anymore?!
Miller! I knew it! And here you told us those Beagles came from shelters! Probably trying for the next designer breed – the Flatcoat/Beagle mix. The … Fleagle. The Boat. The FlatBeagle. The Flagle. The Batcoat. The…um…you’re a miller!!!!!1!!!!11
hehehe. I’m terrible with stats but then, I believe in sanctuary, which is where my dogs are; sounds like THEY are trouble! Good one, but sad.
Be careful everyone Shirley is trouble for trying to find the truth! Isn’t it usually state law that shelters have to provide statistics?
I had to google you too…maybe it’s your bad poetry and swearing she’s afraid of. Keep knocking…
I was hoping for a meme where you would photoshop your head onto Gus’s body.
Just in time for Halloween, I will be the Gus with 1/2 face.
that’s Trouble with a capital “T”!!
Oh, I sure just got a good giggle when I read this post!! LOL!
Geez…Stats are public knowledge aren’t they?
So, the best the character assassins can do is to accuse you of being a puppy miller? As an effective advocate for Pit Bulls I regularly get called a dog fighter.
My best advice for people who can’t do any better than that in their own defense when they are challenged by people like us is: Keep digging.
In fairness to dumb people, I could see how my last name could possibly seem like different names at times.
btw, if you run low on dogs for your fights, see me. I will give you a bulk discount.
Shirley, this email is my personal address. I am interested in upgrading a local animal shelter (although I use the word very loosely in the case of the Bisbee Animal Shelter. Until I began questioning the shelter operations, I had only raised money for the shelter and volunteered.
Now, thanks to you (this email) and others, I’m even more dismayed at how backward Bisbee has been. They do not keep records! Nor policies or procedures. Nor have any trained staff or volunteers. It is, after all, an option (to operate an animal “shelter”) and in the case of Bisbee they use it to employ their dumb relatives (dumb from drug abuse I might add) because – well, the animals don’t speak English, do they? So, send me your stats and let me see what we’ve been missing. And why do you keep these numbers, Shirley? What use are they? Jacque Jacqueline O’Connor POB 2552 Sierra Vista, AZ 85636 (520) 335-2499 The greatest menace to freedom is inert people. (Louis Brandeis, 1927) No one loves armed missionaries. (Maximilien Robespierre) If the good people don’t go into politics, the scoundrels surely will. (Judge Levi S. Udall). Patriotism is often the cry extolled when morally questionable acts are advocated by those in power. (Bradley Manning, 8/21/13)
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Question for you, O Harbinger of Trouble,
Let’s say that, at your own instigation or per a reader’s suggestion, you contact a shelter for information. And let’s say that the information you receive is well documented and overall positive (or even just positive relative to expectations).
Do you a) create a post that recounts what you found, giving some credit to the shelter, or b) move on to an entry about a facility where the story is more concerning, preferring to focus energy and digital ink on a problem shelter? Or have you never encountered this situation? Because in fairness to this particular shelter (and I have no idea if the story there is good or bad) some simple Googling would make it appear that the staff at any shelter mentioned on this blog is probably going to wind up being called a bunch of asshats.
Any shelters/shelter workers ending up looking like asshats on this blog are shown to deserve the title, with the stats, proof and witness statements to support it in my experience so far, and the support of other reputable watchdogs who quote and support this blog.
That’s not an easy thing to achieve if you care to look at the calibre of the supporters of this blog and it’s author.
Karen, that does not address my question at all. Can you point out where I said that Shirley mistakenly labeled anyone as an asshat?
Perhaps you could just let Shirley reply.
One time I heard about a shelter who was doing very well so I contacted them for more info. Instead of blowing me off, they responded in a most forthcoming manner. Everyone there was willing to talk to me as it turned out. So I asked them for their story:
http://yesbiscuit.wordpress.com/2010/12/18/testify/
More recently, the internet has been scrambling to condemn Olympic Animal Sanctuary based largely on hysteria and a few photos taken out of context. I went directly to the source for more information and found the owner was not only willing to speak with me, he was happy to let me publish lengthy updates in his own words on the challenging situation he is facing. I have published a few of these posts about OAS which has made me a target for trolls who send me ignorant, hateful comments by the truckload.
I do my best to be fair Joel.
OK thanks, I was just curious. I suppose it just depends on the underlying goal of the blog. Some bloggers tend to focus on the positives – here is who is doing it right. Some bloggers might want to focus on where things are going wrong. Others might do a mix. Just wondering if you had a strategy of focusing on one end of the spectrum, or if that end is only what you generally find.
I used to take shelter dogs to training classes (and am hoping to start again). Of course, one of the basic precepts is that the dog needs to hear praise when he/she is doing something right, but also needs to know when he/she is doing something wrong. But it was interesting to watch the instructors work with the handlers, because each instructor was generally better with one or the other (praise vs. correction) when addressing the handlers.
This is also an issue now that my wife and I are potty-training our daughter…
If I ran a shelter where everyone was doing their jobs, I would be proud to post the stats online so everyone could see. There wouldn’t even be a need for anyone to write in and ask for those figures. But if someone did, there wouldn’t be a need to pass around a clandestine group memo, trying to figure out what the person’s motives are.
Stats are merely information that indicates whether or not a shelter is doing its job. They should be freely available regardless of who wants to see them.
She DOES look like trouble….. ;)
Haha! Thats awesome. Keep on making trouble, Shirley! ;)
gotta love that reply all function…..lol!!
Wow, their adoption fees are high! And their hours are short. I hope they have a really clean, nice, comfortable facility and staff that really wants to work with adopters, because they seem to be very interested in selling clothes and household items and getting people to buy expensive bricks and plaques for the lobby, but I’m not seeing any pics of people interacting with dogs and cats, and write-ups extolling the animals good points don’t seem to exist. I’m guessing (hoping) they do use the money generated in the resale shops to pay for animal care, but yeah, having a page with actual statistics of intakes and outcomes would look more impressive and give a better view of their work.
She googled you and proubly thought dam she found us and now we will have to remember our lies.
They probably don’t have time to keep good stats because they’re too busy killing!
I have since received another e-mail from this person which said the shelter is limited admission and does not kill for space. I have not yet received any stats.