Dawn loves helping animals
Dawn Katz moved to Westerly in June with her husband Stan so hecould begin a new job in Ashaway. They had been living in Atlanta,Ga., where Dawn was born and raised when a job offer lured them tothe Northeast.
Dawn is convinced that she was “a New Englander in anotherlife,” because she loves her new surroundings so much.
“I wonder if the people who live here appreciate it,” she muses.”I love it here.”
While she was in Atlanta, she used to volunteer at animalshelters that were what one might consider large scale andprimitive, housing 70 to 80 dogs at a time. Although the sheltershe worked at in Cherokee County was well run, many practices inGeorgia are what Dawn considers “antiquated.”
“Many people think Atlanta is progressive,” says Dawn, butwithout regulations regarding spaying and neutering, dogs can beseen running loose. Until recently they even used to gas dogsaccording to Dawn.
“People down there have little respect for animals,” addedDawn.
She used to write the Petfinder web ads that are placed by manyshelters to help get the animals adopted. Writing descriptions ofthe dogs and cats, sometimes writing up to five to 10 per day, shelearned a lot about the different breeds.
But when the opportunity to move to Rhode Island came up, shewas more than happy to head north. And what she found was love andrespect for all the animals at the Charlestown Animal Shelter. Shebegan volunteering in August and is there regularly, walking dogs,picking up after them, playing with them and making them feel likesomeone really cares.
“I enjoy it. It’s really interesting. Working with dogs, you geta lot back. Dogs, they say it (how they feel) with their eyes,”says Dawn, who often feels sad when she hears about the history ofa dog at the shelter. They all come with a story and often, forher, it is “heartbreaking.”
When she is done walking them and they turn to look at herbefore going back into their pens, “you can tell they don’t want togo.”
But they’ve got life pretty good at the shelter as they awaittheir forever homes.
Stan and Dawn rescued one of their three dogs from the AtlantaPet Rescue, a silky terrier named Travis. They also have Chanel, athree year old Shitzu and a two-year-old toy poodle named Muffin,a.k.a. Killer, who weighs all of six pounds.
When she isn’t volunteering at the shelter or taking care of herown dogs, Dawn enjoys reading, traveling and checking out newrestaurants with Stan.
