Click here to visit our other website!
Our Pet List
Pet of the Month
December's pet of the month is Zeus. Zeus is shy but silly, playful, active, and quite curious. He is a little over a year old, neutered male, and up to date on his shots. He's a long boy who currently weighs in around 85 lbs. He might do a touch more growing, but is pretty much fully grown. Zeus's mom was a husky/shepard mix, and his dad was a pure bred Doberman.
Zeus was brought to our shelter with his sister back in March. Their family couldn't keep them any more because they had more dogs than the town they were from allowed. Zeus and Cleo (his sister) had been living with their older sister, mother, and father (all canines). They had a fenced in yard and a family that loved them, but didn't understand the importance of early socialization. The family had planned on keeping Zeus and Cleo, but the neighbors complained, the ACO got involoved, and Zeus and Cleo came to our shelter. Both of them were terrified. After several months of letting them adjust and begin to trust us, both dogs were fixed and placed up for adoption, and Cleo found quickly found a new home. Zeus is still searching.
Zeus likes to play with other dogs, although he can be a bit pushy and tends to play rough. He loves to wrestle and chase, and splash around in the wading pools. Now that it's cold out and we have put the wading pools away for the winter, Zeus likes to stick his whole face in his water bucket and chomp around. Zeus loves to play with toys, and can be pretty tough on them. When you're a young dog who has to keep yourself entertained for about 23 hours a day, playing in a water bucket and chewing toys are perfectly normal stress relievers.
Zeus is silly and goofy once he gets to know you. He will come up to you in the yard and try to engage you in play any way he can. He lets our staff members touch him all over, pick up his feet, check his teeth, play with his ears, bath him, etc. It's the "getting to know you" stage that he has a hard time with. If the people that he is greeting are oblivious to him, have their backs to him and pretend they don't know he's there, he will often come up to them and give them a sniff. On the other hand, if the people are looking at him and/or reaching for him, he usually freezes before he even gets into the room, and often then can't be convinced to go up and say hello. He's pretty food motivated, but when he is nervous he refuses most treats.
We have a lot of people who want to meet Zeus because he is a handsome dog. If we were willing to adopt him out to a family because they think he is cute, Zeus would have found a home already. Unfortunately, thinking a dog is cute does not mean that a family will be able to have the time, patience, and understanding to help Zeus become the well adjusted pup we know he can be with the right training. Zeus is going to need a home where his family understands how to socialize and desensitize a nervous dog. He wants love and companionship and to be able to do the things well socialized dogs do, but he doesn't have a good concept of danger or non-danger at this point. So if you're interested in Zeus because you have some time on your hands, patience, and love dogs who need some special help, please come down and meet him.
Fall is here, and fall and winter holidays are fast approaching. Ticks love to hide in leaf litter, so if your pets love playing in the leaves, make sure to keep up the tick protection, and check them for ticks on a daily basis. The fun and goodies of fall decorations and Halloween can pose a danger to your pets. Be sure to keep decorations and candy away from your pets who may chew and injest them. During parties and on Halloween night, it's a good idea to keep pets in a part of the house away from the door. Costumes can be frightening to even well adjusted pets, and may cause fear based aggression. The door opening over and over also gives your pet a chance to escape and get lost, or fall victim to some people who think it's funny to pull pranks using animals.
Join our new Pet Walking Club! Here at the shelter, we understand how important it is for people to bond with their pets, and exercising together is a wonderful and mutually beneficial way to do this. People who regularly exercise or play with their pets are much less likely to ever give them away or abuse them. The club will also give you a chance to socialize with other pet loving people, as well as give your pets a chance to socialize with other pets!!! Tjhe walks are held once a month, and will each last about 2 hours. Each walk will take place at a different location, most of which require special permission to be allowed. Each walk fee is $10 a -erson, well mannered children accompanyied by adults are free. Walks are held 12 months of the year, and will only be cancelled for dangerous conditions. Please call 792-2233 for the most up to date information or come by the shelter to pick up a brochure to join, and get a schedule of when and where the walks will be held.
The ARL/SRI {et Walking Club will meet on November 10 at 10:00 AM at Casey Farm, 2325 Boston Neck Road, Saunderstown, RI. This historic farm is owned by "Historic New England" (The Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities). The farm today is run as a Community Supported Agriculture enterprise with members enjoying the work of planting, growing and harvesting organic vegetables and caring for farm animals.
The farm offers two opportunities for wonderful walk experiences and the ARL will provide guided walks for both. One is a walk from the farm yard to Narragansett Bay, a walk of approximately 1 mile on a wooded lane. The other walk is from the farm yard to the Pettaquamscutt River, a walk of about 2 miles on grassy paths. The scenery is beautiful this time of year.
Please remember, all pets must be on a leash, or otherwise secured, and all dogs must have proof of current rabies vaccine. Walkers are advised to arrive a little early to sign in and recieve an official Pet Walking Club badge. Walk donation is $10.00 per person. Dogs are free! Our sponsor for this month's walk is South County Post & Beam. We thank them for their support and the refreshments provided after the walk.
The Animal Rescue League of Southern Rhode Island is sponsoring an Animal Care giving and Loss Support Group, led by Beth Voso, a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with 19 years' experience in counseling. The purpose of the group is to provide a forum for adults who share a bond with pets to work through difficult issues such as the loss of a pet, the challenges and concerns of caring for an aging pet, facing the probability of euthanasia, managing feeling of guilt, and helping children to cope with the loss of a beloved pet. The group meets the second Wednesday of each month in Suite E205 at The Meadows Professional Office Park, 1130 Ten Rod Road (near the intersection of Rt. 102 and Rt. 4), Wickford, RI. Please call the ARL/SRI at 401-792-2233 if you are interested in attending. Participation is free.
Every week, we get numerous calls from people who are having trouble with their dogs. Most of the problems can be solved with a little more training, and actually knowing how to communicate with the dog. Click on the button there, and you will be able to see videos on how to train dogs and even cats in an easy, humane manner, that will make your pet happy to work for you!
Everyone needs to be ready to evacuate themselves and their pets quickly and efficiently. Come blizzard, hurricaine, tornado, tidal wave, or attack, the rule is that if it's not safe for you to stay home, it's not safe for you animals to stay home. You can prepare an evacuation kit so that you can be ready to leave at a moments notice. For all pets, you need to have current photos, carriers-cages-crates, update-able ID tags, collar, leashes, current medical records, food, litter, water, and appropriate medications. Make sure that the photos and medical records are in sealed bags to protect from water damage. You also need to have a place to go with your pet. Most hotels or motels don't allow pets, even in disasters. If you have friends or relatives in an area that is likely to be safer (northern RI, or even out of state), make arrangements with them. Do not rely on boarding kennels, vets offices, or animal shelters to be able to house your animals during a disaster. Sadly, during Hurricane Katrina, many animals in these places had to be left behind, and drowned in their cages. In this country we are supposed to learn from our mistakes, so please take a lesson from all those heartbroken people in the south and be prepared!
We are refining and tweaking our volunteer program at the shelter. We have a volunteer bulletin board, a new sign in process (to keep everyone's hours together), and an orientation. All new volunteers need to sign up for the orientation prior to volunteering for the shelter. At the orientation, we will cover basic rules around the shelter, how we expect the animals to be handled, proper dress, what kind of activities people can help with, etc. Space is limited, so if you want to volunteer, please call us at 401-783-7606 to sign up for the orientation. The orientations for the summer are held at the SK Guild, on the first monday of the month, at 7pm. We hope to see you there. This orientation is for anyone who has not volunteered at our shelter before, or anyone who has not volunteered in the last 4 months. We are also more than happy to have current volunteers attend the orientation for a refresher course on the rules, to find out what we might not have gone over with you, and to let us know how we are doing! Please be sure to sign up.
Please click to see our recently adopted pets!
We are looking for volunteers to bring cats to Petco in Warwick one weekend per month. If interested, please call (401) 783-7606 for more details.
Once again, we are trying to build a new building, so that we can serve both the animals and the people of the community better. Please contact our director at 792-2233 to find out how you can show your support.
Cheers and Tears 
Cheers...
During the month of October, we adopted out over 20 animals. Congratulations to Nanook, Mittens, Buddy, Lily, Olexa, Piedmont, Jack, an all there friends. We hope to see pictures soon!
Tears...
Over the last 2 months, some things have slowed down in the shelter. Namely cat adoptions. If you are thinking about bringing a cat into your home, please consider adopting from the shelter. Also consider an adult cat. Kittens are cute and small and bouncy, but they only stay that way for a very short period of time. We have a shelter full of nearly 50 adult cats of all ages, personalities, colors, and coat types, just waiting for a family to come in and love them. Our "older" cats typically range in age from 6 mths to 10 years. With a healthy diet and normal vet care, many cats are now living well into their teens. We are constantly hearing people tell us about cats they have that are 18 years old and still going strong, or 23 yrs old and still a lap cat. Every day that we don't adopt out a cat, our waiting list gets longer and longer. People desperate to place their cats can't because there is just no room at the inn. So please come down and take a look at some of these great feline friends.
Who We Are
We have room for approximatly 22 dogs and 50 cats. We may be able to take other animals as well, depending on space availability.
Adopting a friend
Are you looking for something special that you didn't find among our animals who are posted? Give us a call at and tell us what you are interested in finding. With the animals constantly changing, sometimes we have an animal that is not posted yet. We also usually have a list of animals waiting to come in. If we don't currently have what you are looking for, we will check on the waiting list for you, and see if we know of anyone who is looking to place an animal that might be a match.
How You Can Help
We are ususally looking for volunteers to help clean the shelter, walk and train dogs, help with fundraisers, spend time with
animals, and perform various other tasks of shelter life.
If you can't contribute your time, you may want to consider donating to us. We appreciate all your monetary donations, and
also are in constant need of items that keep the shelter running. While we appreciate all donations, there are certain items we find ourselves
particularly in need of:
