Little Guild marks 50 years of matching pets to owners

WEST CORNWALL — The Little Guild of St. Francis for the Welfare of Animals shelter is celebrating 50 years of finding good homes for more than 20,000 cats and dogs. Events planned for the coming year will help raise funds so it can continue to do so.

The no-kill shelter, which has been located at its current location in West Cornwall since 1989, is able to house 15 dogs and 35 cats in its 3,000-square-foot facility. The dogs have an indoor and outdoor run and there are three rooms for the cats, including a quarantine room. There is also a large fenced-in play area outside.

Visitors are warmly welcomed: Sit down in one of the cat rooms and a few felines will jump into your lap and melt your heart with purrs of affection. Associates will bring you to a living room where you can sit down on a couch and meet one of the friendly canines to see how they might fit in your home.

This will give you and the dog a chance to interview one another. The Little Guild associates try very hard to match personalities so that both parties will be happy.

Khurshed Bhumgara, president of The Little Guild, said that dogs in the kennel are not in their true state and must really be seen outside to know their personality.

“They build up energy and the only way to release it is to go for a walk and have fun through human contact,� said Bhumgara.

The shelter also makes careful efforts to be sure that prospective adopters truly want a pet.

After registration there is a 24-hour waiting period for all adopters, a “cooling off� time that gives prospective pet owners a chance to reason with emotions and their economic and living situations. Those looking to adopt are also given a background check to see if they have owned an animal before, have payed all their bills and are qualified.

The Little Guild’s only paid employees are Jim Lussier, executive director, and three other staff members, of whom some are part time. Volunteers fill in the gaps by taking dogs for walks and cleaning the kennels and litter boxes. The best time to volunteer is on the weekends.

Bhumgara said the most important thing for the animals is human contact, which is essential to socializing the animals. Two or three dogs can play, but it’s not the same as a walk, where there is a link between the animal and a pack leader, he said.

“That’s why volunteers are so important,� Bhumgara said. “Without them, I don’t think we would exist.�

Stephanie Bentz, kennel associate for the past seven months and mother of two, said she had always wanted to work with animals.

“It has been like a dream come true,� she said.

Some of the animals at the shelter are brought from local pounds by animal control officers of the 17 towns in Litchfield County.

When an animal control officer finds a stray or lost pet they must, by law, advertise for the owners. If the pet is not claimed in five business days, it becomes property of the town and may be picked up by shelters like the Little Guild.

Other animals at the shelter have come from pounds located in U.S. southern states like Virginia and Georgia, where spaying and neutering are not social norms and over population is more commonly cured by euthanasia, Bhumgara said. He said that there are more cats than anything else.

All animals at Little Guild are given health evaluations. Puppies and kittens will get their basic shots as well as be spayed or neutered at the right age. Sick animals undergo medical treatment and operations are performed as needed. Most of the work is done in-house by veterinarians who come to the shelter.

The minimum donation to adopt a dog is $125; it’s $75 for cats. Along with their new friend, adopters get coupons for medications, a bag of food and a microchip implanted in their pet that can be scanned if the animal is lost.

The Little Guild survives entirely on donations; it does not receive any money from town or state government. Major donations have come in the form of bequests, from people writing the shelter into their will.

Since the shelter has helped save animals for 50 years, it is encouraging people to raise a dollar for each one of those years. The Little Guild has initiated the 50/50 pledge, giving members of the community ideas of events they can organize that will raise $50 for the animal shelter. The goal is to raise $50,000 by the end of the year.

Ideas range from holding a dinner, lunch or dessert party and charging attendees $5 to $10, to having a bingo night or car wash or sponsoring someone to lose weight. The beauty of the pledge is that donators are free to invent whatever they can think of to raise the money. The possibilities are endless.

The Little Guild is also holding a gala event sometime in October. Patrons will be able to enjoy the party with their significant other and their pet in an outside venue.

For more information about adoption or fundraising, contact the Little Guild at 860-672-6346.