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Monday, Jul. 06, 2009

Stray pup becomes mascot for Macon Animal Control Shelter

Just four months ago, animal control officers responded to a complaint that a dog was wandering up the driveway of a house on Ormond Terrace in Macon.

Now, the affectionate pit bull-American bulldog mix has become a mascot for the Macon Animal Control Shelter.

A.C. — short for Animal Control — was a mere four weeks old Feb. 27 when a woman called animal control late in the afternoon, asking officers to come and pick him up. Not knowing the puppy was so small, officers waited until the next morning to respond to the call, said Van VanDeWalker, an animal control officer.

“When we got him, he was blue,” said Jim Johnson, the shelter’s director. A.C. was picked up on the day before Macon received an inch of snow.

A veterinarian examining the puppy remarked that he’d never seen a dog’s core temperature so cold, VanDeWalker said.

“Even his breath was cold when he breathed,” he said, adding A.C. was wrapped in a blanket and put on a heating pad for extra warmth.

Afraid the dog wouldn’t survive the night at the shelter without extra care, VanDeWalker and his wife took the puppy home.

Every two hours during the night, VanDeWalker’s wife fed A.C. a bottle filled with a warmed mixture of evaporated milk, water, egg yolks and Karo syrup.

“We didn’t think he was going to make it,” he said.

Although he has several other dogs and cats at home, VanDeWalker and his family volunteered to give A.C. a home on the weekends and at night during the week.

“He just stole our hearts,” VanDeWalker said, stroking A.C.’s head as he slept curled up on a break room couch.

A.C. is now a 40-pound, healthy dog who spends his days at the animal shelter, spreading his toys throughout the administrative offices and greeting most visitors.

As visitors make their way to the front desk, it’s not uncommon for A.C. to greet them by sniffing and licking their toes.

Typically, people don’t mind, said Cathy Maynor, who works at the front desk.

She said A.C. often burrows underneath her desk and peeks out the front to have a perfect view of anyone walking in the door — and to have access to more toes.

“That’s his little peeking hole,” she said. During lunchtime, A.C. can be found lying underneath the break room table as officers eat, VanDeWalker said.

“I think he’s the only dog in Macon who loves to go to the shelter,” he said, adding A.C. gets excited each day when he sees VanDeWalker put on his animal control uniform.

“This dog is spoiled rotten by everybody down here,” he said, pointing to a box of toys in the break room.

In addition to his presence at the shelter, A.C. took on a new role this week as volunteers set up a Facebook page in his name with links to pictures of animals at the shelter in need of adoption, said Patti Jones, president of Central Georgia Cares.

Central Georgia Cares is a nonprofit organization working to help the shelter with goals of increasing the number of animals adopted, decreasing the number euthanized and increasing awareness about spaying and neutering pets.

Jones said the Web site is a way for prospective pet adopters to view the animals without having to trek down to the animal shelter, located on 11th Street in Macon’s industrial district.

“We have so many animals in this town with a need for a good home,” she said.

To contact writer Amy Leigh Womack, call 744-4398.