Janet, Animal Control Officer, in Franklin was called by a member of the public who found this turtle stuck in a hedge. Janet has found a suitable foster home for her and the Franklin shelter are hoping someone will claim her. They think she is about 10 years old. Local vets and pet shops have been advised. Have you lost a turtle?

Winners in the annual Early Bird Registration draw for 2011 in Franklin have been presented with their prizes by Animal Control Officer Janet. To be in the draw owners had to register their dogs before 31 July this year. Each prize winner has received a basket of goodies for their dogs and themselves from DSS Animal Management and Butch Pet Foods. This annual promotion aims to encourage and reinforce the positive aspects of Responsible Dog Ownership. Congratulations to our prize winners this year.

At times our Animal Control Officers (ACO's) are required to assist the Police with properties that have a clandestine lab set up.

These properties will often be home to dogs which act as both a lookout to warn of people and/or the Police approaching and also as a means to guard the property. As with anything inside a clandestine lab, these dogs have come into contact with the chemicals and once removed from the property they are requried to be thoroughly de-contaminated.

These pics show a training exercise at our Franklin Shelter whereby ACO's get suited and booted in order to clean the dog off. The dog would then be placed in a kennel and a sign, clearly advising that the dog has come from a clandestine lab, would be placed on the door.

This was a training exercise - please be aware that no ACO's or dogs were hurt in any way during this exercise :-)

Up to 200 dogs rehomed by the Humane Society took part in the Humane Society’s annual Party in the Park at One Tree Hill on Sunday 27 March. DSS Animal Management donated the prizes for the competitions. Competitions included: Best groomed, best child handler, the dog that looked most like its owner, best rescued, dog the judges would most like to take home, best quick trick, veteran dog and best in show. A fun day for the dogs and their new owners. Many dogs from our shelters are fostered by the Humane Society until a suitable home can be found. This society does an excellent job in saving many unwanted dogs. Several staff members who work for DSS are foster ‘parents’ – such a worthwhile thing to do and so rewarding when a loving home is found that gives these dogs a second chance.

Bronwyn from DSS Animal Management with some of the dogs rehomed by the Humane Society

A really nice Christmas Story DSS Animal Management’s Animal Control Officers come across lots of different and unusual situations as they go about their daily work. One such incident happened recently and we are happy to say the story had very good ending thanks again to a microchip. Last Thursday, 9 December 2010, Animal Control Officers Amber and Jane found a little kitten stuck up a tree with 2 dogs sitting below- they rescued him and took him to the shelter. When they got there another Animal Control Officer, Bronny, saw him and said "ooh Alex (Team Leader Franklin) has always wanted a ginger kitten, I'll take him home". He went home that night. He was very hungry and quite tired. Alex called him Greg and took him to the vets the next day to get him checked out. The vet said “I think he's been fixed" and when they scanned him they found a microchip. After a look up in the Companion Animal Register all his owner’s details came up. Bronny rang and asked if they were missing a kitten. After being deafened by screams of delight the answer was obviously yes. It turned out that his name was Simba and he had been missing for 4 days. The owners had put flyers up and around but thought that he was lost forever.

Reunited

I guess the moral of the story is that it's not just dogs that need to be microchipped and yes there is a Santa Claus!! A really nice reunion and as you can see by the photos he is very cute and his owners are very relieved to get their little baby back. So now Alex will have to wait longer for her little ginger kitten - and that will round up their animal collection to 6 dogs and 6 cats!! Yes, they do have a rural property! Can't have an odd number eh!!!! Christmas present maybe??

At the annual Clevedon A & P Show held in November 2010 DSS Animal Management had a marquee and a display. A Guess The Dog Breed Competition was held and Katie from Pukekohe was the lucky winner. Well done Katie.

Franklin County News - 2 December 2010 By REBECCA McLEAN If anyone knows first-hand the necessity of microchipping a dog, it’s Otaua’s Joy Noble. Mrs Noble and her husband returned from a family outing in Auckland to find their three-year-old Japanese Akita, named Akita, missing and presumed stolen from their fully fenced, Perry Rd property. Left behind was the couple’s Jack Russell, Eddie. Three days later Akita was reunited with his family thanks to his microchip. ‘‘Those two dogs won’t go anywhere without each other. If we go anywhere, we tie one dog up and let the other run free around the property. ‘‘By the looks Akita had been ripped off his leash and we know there’s no way he could have got out or go anywhere without Eddie – they’re best mates,’’ said Mrs Noble. Mr and Mrs Noble immediately contacted neighbours and searched the farmland surrounding their property. ‘‘We didn’t initially think he could have been stolen because there is no reason why anyone would come all the way out here. ‘‘People only come past our property if they are lost. ‘‘I immediately contacted council and searched creeks and the coast thinking we may have to recover her. I didn’t sleep at all that night,’’ she said. Mrs Noble also had to break the news to their daughter in Auckland. ‘‘She was devastated. She immediately came home. Akita is her baby, he sleeps under her window when she is home,’’ Mrs Noble said. Three days passed and he family were on the verge of giving up hope until they received a call from Manukau City’s pound. ‘‘They said not to get excited but they had a Japanese Akitathat they traced back to us through his microchip. ‘‘We ust had to ring the vet in Waiuku, where it was inserted, to confirm numbers and details,’’ she said.The couple picked up their daughter in Auckland and traveled to Manukau to reunite with their beloved dog. ‘‘I cried all the way to the pound.

ROVER RETURNS: Otaua’s Joy Noble and Jack Russell Eddie are pleased Akita is back home.

Before I could see him, I could hear him howling. As soon as he saw us he stopped,’’ she said. Akita had been picked up after he was noticed walking around aimlessly near Whitford. His registration tags had been ripped off and how he got there is unknown. ‘‘Never in a million years would we have thought about contacting the Manukau City’s pound. We never would have found him if he wasn’t microchipped. ‘‘We moved back to New Zealand from Australia seven years ago with two dogs who were both microchipped, so we knew the benefits of it. ‘‘If you love your dog, you will get it microchipped,’’ she said.

Alex
Team leader Alex was working at Auckland Airport on 9/11. This spurred her decision to change careers, into animal control. With 10 years’ experience under her belt, Alex has a few good yarns to tell. ‘‘I closed down the north-western motorway once. I got a call to say a chicken was stuck in the barrier and had been there for five days. I had everyone in fits of laughter as I ran up and down the motorway trying to catch this chicken, it even attracted television news crews,’’ she said. The sickest incidents she had been to included collecting a dog’s remains after its owner roasted it on a barbecue and the two guys who thought it was funny to drag two goats to death. ‘‘I still don’t understand these people and how they can do this to a living being,’’ she said.

But on a positive note Alex said the best part of her job was reuniting dog owners with their dogs. ‘‘There is a misconception that we like to cause trouble for dog owners but we don’t, if we don’t receive a complaint then we have no reason to get involved. We only act on what we have been told by the public. All we want to see is responsible dog and pet ownership,’’ she said.

Alex has five cats and six dogs. She also fosters dogs that have been rescued on the job and looks after them until they can be adopted.

Janet
When Franklin County News visited, animal control officer Janet was coming off the night on-call duty. ‘‘When you’re on call you’ve got to go at any time. Through the night I dealt with stock on roads and responded to complaints of barking dogs,’’ she said. The hard-working team could work up to 11 days straight and were rostered to cover the nightshift. Janet too had closed a motorway, her closure was the southern motorway. ‘‘A cow had fallen off a truck, it was in bad state and needed to be shot,’’ she said.

The toughest job she had been called to was tending to a zerolevel emaciated dog. ‘‘In vet terms, a zero is as low as you can get. This dog had the worst case of emaciation the vet had ever seen. It was a bag of bones. It hadn’t been fed by its owners for at least a week, yet it was still wagging its tail and was happy. That’s the amazing thing about dogs, no matter how badly a human treats them they still want that human contact,’’ she said. Janet also had the pleasure of reuniting a dog that was presumed stolen from Ohakea Airport, which was found in Tuakau three years later. ‘‘That’s the beauty of the microchip,’’ she said.

Amanda
Animal Control Officer Amanda used to work at a boarding kennel with Janet before becoming an animal control officer 10 years ago. Even when the working day was over Amanda said she never stops working. ‘‘Whenever I’m driving I still notice wandering dogs, I never quite click off,’’ she said. Amanda said the most difficult part of her job was picking up dogs on the road who had been hit and left.

Amanda too takes in puppies that have been abandoned or neglected and raises them until they are ready to be adopted. ‘‘We’re not like the SPCA, but we still do try to help,’’ she said. Amanda helped rescue a fourmonth- old emaciated dog that the team, out of their own pockets, cared for back to health. ‘‘She had such a lovely nature, even after what she had been through,’’ she said.

Friday, 26 March 2010 was a special day for DSS Animal Management staff at the Franklin shelter as this story unfolded. A day a few tears were shed and a wonderful outcome for Rocky, a special German Shepherd, and his Air Force handler. Rocky served in the Solomon Islands with his NZ Air Force handler Glen. He then retired and was living with the Glen’s best mate Rob in Foxton. Two years ago Rocky went missing. He ended up being sold by someone to ‘a guy in a pub’ and Rocky came to live in the Franklin area. His new ‘owner’ did not register Rocky or have him checked for a microchip. Then last week he was found wandering by a vet nurse from a local clinic. She picked him up and took him to the vet clinic hoping he would be claimed. Two days later the Franklin Animal Shelter, operated by DSS Animal Management on behalf of the Franklin District Council, was contacted and Rocky was picked up and held at the shelter. Following standard procedure Rocky was scanned for a microchip by our staff and one was found. The chip number was queried in the National Dog Database and Rocky’s legal owner was discovered. Imagine the excitement when our staff called Rob in Foxton. Rob then rang Glen – told him to sit down and then passed on the news ‘They’ve found Rocky’! There were lots of phone calls, exchange of photos and some very excited people in the Air Force and in DSS Animal Management! Glen flew to Auckland from Ohakea Air Force base as soon as he could and on Monday 29 March was reunited with his mate. A happy ending and all because a microchip, the size of a grain of rice, was implanted in Rocky all those years ago.

Each year DSS Animal Management offers FREE dog evaluation, assessment and basic training sessions for dogs and their owners who reside within the Franklin District.

These free training sessions have been introduced to socialise and train dogs with little or no formal training. The aim is to attract dogs exhibiting any behaviour problems and improve communication between dogs and their owners and ultimately reduce dog problems. Our dog trainer assesses each dog in order to gauge their degree of ‘good manners’, obedience and overall standard of training. Owners are given feedback and guidance where necessary.

2009 was the first year this training was offered and was a great success. The free training will be offered again later this year, 2010. Dates for this year will be announced in August or September this year.

BUDDY FRANKLIN SHELTER’S FIRST POLICE DOG (Updated) Buddy is a German Shepherd. He was 18 months old when he came into the shelter. Buddy came in with his mum. Buddy and his mum had a bit of a reputation for going for walks by themselves. While Buddy stayed at the shelter we all noticed that he had a very high ball drive. He liked to play with balls and tug toys. Buddy would not let go of his tug toys and would hold on for a long time. We were told by Buddy’s previous owner that he was a very intelligent dog. Buddy could open and close doors all by himself and liked nothing more than to bring them gifts. With Buddy’s nature and high drive we rang the NZ Police to see if they would like to come and look at Buddy. A trainer from the Police Dog Section came in on a very rainy day to put Buddy to the test. Buddy spent about 30 minutes with the trainer and as you can see by the pictures he was extremely focused. After a phone call to base the trainer decided to take Buddy. They said that he a great grip on the tug toy; this is something which is really important because it helps when they catch the ‘baddies’ Buddy then experienced his first ride in a police car, he was all packed and off to be a police dog. Buddy came to visit us a few times while he was training, his new handler was very happy with him, although Buddy was known to get a little distracted every now and then. In December 2008 Buddy and his handler graduated from Police Dog Training School. Buddy is now a fully operational Police Dog and has already been used in helping to catch a few criminals. We are all very proud of Buddy, now called ‘BUD’ UPDATE: Buddy has now been an operational police dog for 18mths and has been responsible in helping catch many criminals. Buddy and his Police handler pop in from time to time and it is nice to see him doing something that he loves. He still likes to play with his favourite toy.

Meet the 4 Cs - Cleo, Caleb, Cody and Casey.
These guys from us are in the process of being rehomed by the Humane Society

Franklin District Council is asking people for information on the horrific killing of two goats that were taken from their roadside tethers and dragged to their deaths behind vehicles on Saturday night.

This little pup called Cody was dumped on the side of the road with his brother. While Cody’s brother went to the Humane Society he was adopted to a new family through us.

Here are a few photos of Cody with his new mate at Christmas time.

While Duke was in the Franklin shelter he showed some unusual tendencies for a Labrador. We think he may of been imported from Austraila!!