Photo 1: Adoption desk at Humane Society of Memphis. Adoption coordinators monitor the register, check emails, sort through applications, answer phones, and set up meetings for potential adopters.
Photo 2: Adoption manager Sara Siskin, 25, checks emails and prints applications. Siskin wanted the adoption coordinators to be able to sort through and respond to applications when they arrived.
Photo 3: Siskin supervising a kennel walk-through. Due to COVID-19, the shelter requires appointments to allow person(s) to meet and play with the animals in the yard.
Photo 4: Madeline Smith, 20, assists George Jacoby in a meet and greet. Jacoby decided Nola had more energy than he could handle, but he had fun practicing new training techniques with her.
Photo 5: Adonis the Alaskan Malamute looks at Siskin for reassurance. Siskin introduced Adonis to Jacoby because her advanced age made her less energic than Nola but still ready for Jacoby’s daily walk at Shelby Farms.
Photo 6: Adonis surveys the shelter, happy from playtime. Siskin took advantage of Adonis’s break to explain to Jacoby about Adonis’s medication, health concerns, and her need for a microchip in case she got lost.
Photo 7: Siskin does a final look at Jacoby’s application and Adonis’s information packet to ensure they are a good fit. Jacoby decided he would like to adopt Adonis because he fell in love with her beauty and youthful, but not overwhelming, spirit.
Photo 8: Siskin prepares Adonis’s medication and writes the instructions and vet information. Adonis waited over five years at a Millington vet’s office for a new home, surrendered by her deceased owner’s husband, before she was brought to the Humane Society.
Photo 9: Adonis cries while Penelope Withers, 28, gives Adonis her microchip while Siskin holds her still. Normally, the shelter would have done this when the animal is neutered, by Adonis was already sterilized when she was brought in.
Photo 10: Maggie Blithes, 34, says goodbye to Adonis. Blithes was the employee who recommended Adonis move from the vet’s office to the shelter 2 weeks ago.
Photo 11: Siskin and Jacoby fill out and review adoption paperwork. Adonis was visited by employees from every department to say goodbye, an unusually sad adoption for the shelter even though business has been steady throughout COVID.
Photo 12: Jacoby pays Adonis’s adoption fee. Designer dogs have a higher fee to deter reselling of animals and to cover the extra verification of paperwork the understaffed shelter must do for these dogs.
Photo 13: Jacoby shares how excited he is to have Adonis. Staff listened intently to Jacoby’s story, happy that Adonis has a good place to call home after five years of waiting.
