MEET CEL HOPE, DIRECTOR OF THE SHERIDAN DOG AND CAT SHELTER...

    As the new Director of the Dog & Cat Shelter, I’d like to take this opportunity to introduce myself and invite you to come to the Shelter, meet me, and share ideas about ways to continue to improve both our shelter and our ability to serve the community.  I’m impressed with the beautiful facility and the caring and dedicated staff that I have inherited.

    In looking over the mailing list, I see that I know many of you.  I’m looking forward to seeing you at Shelter activities.  I am also excited about meeting those of you whom I don’t know, and I invite you to come to the Shelter and let me give you a tour. 

    To give you a thumbnail sketch of who I am, I have lived in the Sheridan area since 1971 and owned my current home for 25 years.  I have raised, trained and shown German Shepherds for nearly 30 years.  I compete in obedience, tracking and agility.  I have been active in German Shepherd Rescue and have cooperated with other rescue groups for twenty-five years.  I had the first Therapy Dog in Wyoming, continue to do weekly Therapy Dog visits to our local nursing homes, and certify new dog-handler teams for Therapy Dog work.  I also have taught obedience classes, including years as a 4H dog instructor.  I have a B.S. in Education (secondary level, all sciences) and a M.A. in Adult Christian Community Development with a specialization in Adult Education and emphasis on volunteer recruitment and management.

    I hope to use my gifts and experience in several ways.  I would like to begin programs to educate children and adults in animal care, training and safety through visits to schools, participation in community events, play days and other activities at the shelter, newsletters, our website, and any other venues that become possible.  I especially want to implement periodic follow-ups of animals adopted from the shelter with support, training suggestions, and any other help to families that might ensure that the dog or cat is successful in its new home and stays there all its life.  I am open to your ideas, would like to hear from each of you, and eager to work with all who are interested in the welfare of the dogs and cats in our area.

DETAILED INFORMATION ABOUT CEL...

Cel Hope

Executive Director of the Dog & Cat Shelter

As of 4/1/05

VITALS:

Born 4/11/48 in Beaumont, TX

Moved to Dillon, MT in 1970 to teach school, then to Otter MT to teach for 2 years. 

Married Ed Hope in June, 1973; divorced 1980.  In that time we headquartered here in Sheridan but wandered a lot.  No children.

Bought my home in Sheridan in 1980 and have been here ever since.

EDUCATION:

• B.S. Education (lifetime teaching certificate, all sciences, secondary level), Texas A&M University, College Station, TX.  Attended Texas A&M on a scholarship that included a position as a lab technician involving work at the USDA lab on campus researching herbicides.  Conducted various experiments, helped with field work and performed other lab work as needed.
• M.A. in Adult Christian Community Development with a specialization in Adult Education, from Regis University, Denver, CO.  The program placed a great emphasis on volunteer recruitment and support—skills I used in my work at Holy Name and will continue to use as Shelter Director.

WORK EXPERIENCE:

Religious Education Director for Holy Name Catholic Church, Sheridan WY          
Nov 1982-March 2005 

·        Created and administered religious instruction programs for children:  Sunday Preschool for children 3 – 5 years of age, Religious Education (CCD) classes for public school children grades 1-7, Sacramental Preparation classes for elementary school children, special catch-up classes for children who did not receive instruction on schedule. 

·        Planned and taught classes for adults who wanted to learn more about their Faith.  

·        Recruited, trained and supported volunteer teachers for all programs.

·        Organized, formed a team of volunteer teachers, and with them taught an extensive set of classes for adults who wanted to become Catholic and a separate series for older children who had the same desire.

·        Created, and continue to facilitate on a volunteer basis, a Bereavement Ministry for parishioners.

·        Developed and continue to maintain a parish website, www.fiberpipe.net/~holyname, which included writing most of the pages.

·        Created and maintained a parish library which has over 3000 books, 150 videotapes, and numerous audiocassette series, all listed by topic on computer.

·        Organized and supervised many special projects, recruiting volunteers to help in my office and on teams. 

Other Work Experience

WHY I DO WHAT I DO

I have always been an animal lover.  As a first grader, I carried home on the school bus a kitten which had been born at the school and managed to convince my parents to let me keep him.  He wasn’t allowed in the house so I spent most of my waking moments outside with him and with our family dog.  We always got our dogs from the local animal shelter.  I was on my own, working my way through college, before I obtained my heart’s desire: a purebred German Shepherd.  I’ve had GSD’s since then.

I can’t imagine life without animals and enjoy their company.  I’m always trying to improve my ability to listen to what they’re telling me, which is why I find training so fascinating.  Until now, animals have been my hobby and the way I relaxed from work and refreshed myself to go back to work; now they’ll be my work, something I hadn’t expected but see rather as a gift. 

I am still very new in my position as director of the shelter but I think I’m going to love it.  Whenever the paperwork gets too intense, I can take a break and enjoy some unconditional acceptance from one of the dogs and cats that are waiting patiently for someone to love.  Even after having done German Shepherd Rescue for so many years and helping many great GSD’s find new homes, I am still constantly amazed at the truly nice animals in need of homes, often through no fault of their own—owners moving and leaving them behind, people losing jobs, families breaking apart.  I’m saddened by surrendered dogs that are given up because of behavior problems that could have been solved if the owners would have taken some training classes.   People can find fantastic companions, eagerly waiting to love and be loved, at the Shelter.

 Challenges:  obtaining increased financial support for the shelter so that we are able to better serve the animals which come to us; encouraging ever more people to spay and neuter their pets

             Plans/Goals:

• good stewardship of our facility;

• wise management of funds entrusted to us;

• increased wages for the hardworking shelter staff; 

• improving advertising of adoptable dogs and cats so that they more quickly find forever homes;

• developing educational programs that enable people to be better pet owners so every animal has a loving home for all its life;

• sponsoring more opportunities for fun things for people to do with their pets;

• following up on adoptions and helping new owners work though any problems or concerns they have with their new pets;

• regular presentations to and involvement with school-aged children to help them be safe with strange animals and to grow to be good pet owners themselves;

• working more closely with breed rescue groups, who often have foster homes and national advertisement which can mean re-homing dogs faster

       Things I think important:

• reverence for living things and gentleness and kindness in our relations to both animals and humans;

• long-term commitment to the animals that share our lives, so that they are healthy, happy and safe all their lives, especially in their old age

        Shelter Stories:

        I haven’t been here long enough to have many stories to share.  I’ll leave most of that to the other staff members, other than a short comment about one of the strays which has tugged at my heart.  “Emma”, as we have named her, was brought in as a terrified stray, covered with ticks and fleas, and with an old, untreated break in a hind leg which healed so badly that it hinders her movement, especially getting up from a resting position.  She was also very lame in one front leg.  Since we now have a vet on staff—a great blessing for the animals—I asked him (Dr. Ray Smith) to examine her to see if she was in pain.  Terrified, in a strange, noisy place, being examined and discussed by three total strangers, she made no protest but instead looked steadily into my eyes and licked my hands as I held her.  No one claimed her, so she now belongs to the shelter.  We have cleaned her up, gotten rid of the ticks and fleas, doctored the split pad on her front leg, and will spay her here.  She continues to cooperate in every way possible and always has a lick and a tail wag when any of us stop to visit, pulling herself up laboriously despite that bad hind leg and making her way close to us so that she can give us kisses.  Once she’s healed from the spay operation, in about ten days, we’ll take her to one of the vets in town to have her useless leg amputated.  We have started an Extraordinary Vet Expense Fund to cover special needs such as this, and are asking for donors who are willing to cover the costs, on a case by case basis.  Anyone who is interested in helping animals with unusual needs can call the shelter and be put on the list.  When we have an animal that qualifies, I’ll call with the animal’s story and an invitation for a donation.

DOG EXPERIENCE: 

Breeding

• Established GSD breeder for 28 years.  Bred American lines until about 1988, then switched to European import working lines.  Pups go as pets for active families as well as to people who do Search & Rescue, obedience, agility & tracking competition, and Therapy Dogs. 
• Possess extensive experience matching puppies’ temperaments to the needs and desires of prospective owners.
• Created and maintain a website, www.celhaus.com.  People from all over the country contact me for help after they read the socializing, training and problem-solving articles that are contained on it.

• Developed informational puppy owner that are mailed to assist pups’ owners.  Handouts explain the pup’s physical and mental development at that particular age, what behaviors and obedience exercises he is capable of learning, early signs of behavior problems that might occur along with suggestions on how to handle the problems, and how to tell if they’ve so neglected their ownership responsibilities to form the pup correctly that attendance at an obedience class is necessary.  Mailings are sent out every three months until the pup is a year old, then every six months until maturity.  
• Authored a book, targeted to older children, on puppy development from birth to placement at 7 weeks
• Authoring a second book, for the same age level, about being a responsible dog breeder.
• Train and show my dogs in obedience, agility and tracking.
• Member:  German Shepherd Dog Club of America, United Schutzhund Clubs of America, Central Wyoming Kennel Club, Agility Club of Central Wyoming

Volunteer Activities

• Performed German Shepherd Rescue for 28 years. 
• Initiated Northeast Wyoming German Shepherd Rescue.  Responsibilities of this rescue effort include:   evaluating temperament and determining whether a dog is aggressive or stressed and afraid, whether it is a good candidate for rescue and adoption or should be euthanized. 
• Work with volunteer foster homes for German Shepherd rescue. 
• Socialize and train rescues for adoptability. 
• Member of a regional network of rescuers who work together to try to save German Shepherds throughout the Mountain West and east to Kansas.  Very few rescuers reside in this area, which has many German Shepherds to be rescued. 
• Member of Canine Underground Railroad, a volunteer group which transports rescued dogs to new homes.
• Owned the first Therapy Dog in Wyoming (1981).  All of my adult German Shepherds are Therapy Dogs, registered with Therapy Dogs Incorporated, and regularly visit the nursing homes as well as participate in the annual Sheridan High School Health Fair.  Every litter visits each nursing home twice during its 5^th and 6^th weeks, each pup carried and handled by a child. 
• Tester/ Observer for Therapy Dogs Incorporated.  Test dog/handler teams and certify that the dogs are of good enough temperament and manners to visit nursing homes, hospitals and other institutions; and that the handler is competent to handle a dog so that it, and the frail or sick people it visits, are safe.
• Taught public dog obedience classes for the local kennel club that existed for a few years.
• Directed the 4H dog program in Sheridan for many years in the 1970’s.
• Taught 4H obedience classes for several years in the 1990’s.
• AKC Canine Ambassador, available to visit schools and teach children about dogs. 
• AKC Canine Good Citizen evaluator, able to test dogs for the CGC award.