Adoption center making adjustments to help the dogs
ZANESVILLE - Despite some growing pains, the Muskingum County K-9 Adoption Center is up and running.
"The building has been a huge success," said Muskingum County Sheriff Matt Lutz. "We are in a more modern facility, it is updated, and bigger. It is light years ahead of where we were." The new facility opened to the public in February.
As with most new builds, Muskingum County Commissioner Mollie Crooks said, there are still bugs to be worked out. The commissioners tried to be cost conscious, Crooks said, and use materials that they thought would work in place of more expensive stainless steel kennel walls. "But things don't always work out the way the planning went," she said.
Some dogs were able to chew the plastic walls in some of the kennels, damaging them.
Only a handful of walls are damaged, Kennel Master Amanda Dunlap said, but once one dog succeeds in making a hole, others may find a way to make it bigger.
To remedy the walls, the commissioners voted to retrofit half of the kennels with stainless steel walls. Once the upgrades are made and tested, the rest can be done at a later date if necessary. Crooks and her colleague Cindy Cameron voted for the project, which will cost about $70,000. Commissioner Jim Porter was absent for the vote, but indicated in prior meetings he was not interested in spending more money on the project. After drainage issues were fixed last year, the total cost of the project has passed $700,000.
Meanwhile, Lutz is adapting to his new role as dog warden. The law enforcement side of being the dog warden is relatively simple, Lutz said. "As far as doing the law enforcement job, dog licensing, and dogs at large is normal law enforcement stuff we are used to doing.
"The learning curve is the kennel side, what it takes to run one of these facilities. We have one now that is over double the size we had, with all the trials and tribulations of trying to take care of 50 dogs at one time," he said.
Working with Lutz are two deputy dog wardens, and the three kennel masters. They also have "the best volunteers in the county," Lutz said.
Lutz and Crooks are looking forward.
"We are working through the bugs of a new facility," Lutz said. "We want to make sure we are going to be good to operate out of here for quite some time, and get things fixed up front instead of waiting years down the road and realized we should have done something sooner."
"We need to get this facility to a level where it is good for the next 30 to 40 years," Crooks said. "We are building for the future. We know there are things that are not right with the facility, we have to make sure we correct those things and make sure we have a facility that everyone is proud of."
Looking back, Crooks said, efforts to save money initially may have caused the commissioners to overlook the value of expertise in building kennels. "Hindsight is 20/20," she said. "We have to continue investing to make it right."
ccrook@gannett.com
Social media: @crookphoto
740-868-3708
This article originally appeared on Zanesville Times Recorder: Adoption center making adjustments to help the dogs
