By Loree Walden, Marketing Manager, Yavapai Humane Society
With the new year comes an opportunity for a fresh start, and the opportunity for a new you, a new adventure or even a new life.
I think about the animals that come through Yavapai Humane Society who have no idea why there is this huge change happening in their lives. I wish I could get inside their heads and find out if they feel hope about this change or if they just want to give up and wait for their person to come back, which we all know they won’t.
We, as humans, have the ability to change our own futures for the better and make it new. Animals do not.
They rely on us to change their lives and make it better. Here’s the thing, they don’t know that. They don’t know they need to be “themselves” as you walk by their kennel, because they don’t understand what’s happening to them or why you are even looking at them. They’re afraid, they’re sad, they’re confused … and they just need someone to give them a chance at a new life.
Humans act differently in different situations; so do animals. My point? The dog you see in its kennel at the shelter might be acting completely differently than it will act once you take it out and meet it in one of our bark parks, and then again it might act even more differently once you take it home.
But just like we need time to adjust to change, they do too. It takes 30 to 60 days for humans to adjust to change and new routines. Animals need time to adjust, too, and sometimes it takes longer than it does for us.
They need to learn your routines, your voice, their new surroundings and the new people who are now a part of their lives.
It’s a new year. It’s time for a new start for all of us. My biggest wish for the new year would be a feeling of hope for all of us, including our animals — that means I wish for people who are willing to give these animals a chance and give them hope for a happily ever after.
New year, new you, new life for you, new life for the animals.
