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Features


Going to the dogs

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Published:

Story by Heather Gascoigne;

Photographs by Kevin Poirier

It’s a good way to get exercise.

Petting a dog is proven to lower blood pressure.

Yes, those are good reasons to spend volunteer time at local animal shelters.

But for Barbara Acerbi, the reason she spends her time at Safe Harbor Humane Society in Kenosha is a little more intangible.

“I get a feeling of satisfaction when I know I’ve helped get animals adopted,” she said. “When an animal comes into the shelter, whether it’s a stray or been surrendered, it’s very traumatic. But when they are adopted, they’re happy animals.”

Acerbi said she’s been volunteering at the Kenosha shelter since she retired from Snap-on Tools 12 years ago.

Acerbi can often be seen with animals at the local pet supply stores, hoping to increase the animals’ likelihood of finding their forever home.

“When I started volunteering ... I was walking the dogs and playing with the cats to socialize them,” she said. Now, her time is often spent making sure Safe Harbor has enough money by helping at spaghetti dinners, pancake breakfasts and benefit concerts, as well as spending time taking the animals out to meet potential owners.

“I know so many people who say ‘I can’t go there because it makes me so sad,’ but you get past that,” Acerbi said. “The animals need to be walked, to be socialized. There are so many volunteers to come to help, but they always need more.”

Automatic love

For Deborah Carlson, 57, the time she’s able to give to Countryside Humane Society has one big benefit: Love.

“I just think that for people who are retired, if your kids are grown and gone, and especially if you’re single, you’ve got that love and the dogs just love you automatically,” she said. “They just want to be noticed. It is just such a good feeling.”

One thing Acerbi and Carlson share is a history of love for our four-legged friends.

Both women say there was always a dog in their home when they were growing up.

Carlson was led to volunteer at the shelter by her late father’s love of animals. When her dad passed away in August of 2009, the family asked for donations to Countryside in lieu of flowers. Carlson’s volunteer work started when she took the donations to the shelter. It has been curtailed by health issues, but there’s no shortage of desire and love on Carlson’s part.

Acerbi’s home now is occupied not only by her human family, but also by three dogs — an Afghan hound, a beagle and a miniature Australian shepherd.

“We always had dogs growing up and when my kids were little, there was always a dog in the house,” she said. “And I would feed any animal that came around: squirrels, birds, you name it.”

Both women say volunteering at an animal shelter brings a sense of satisfaction that can be hard to find elsewhere.

“It just means so much to them,” Acerbi said. “Walking a dog means the world to them. Socializing with a cat means so much to them. They can’t just sit there in a cage the whole day.”

‘Feel sorry for the dogs’

Paul Zich, 75, of Silver Lake, has been a volunteer dog walker for the Society of St. Francis in Bristol for eight years. Once a week he visits the shelter and takes 18 dogs for a half-mile walk, one at a time.

“It’s not a very vigorous walk,” he said. “They have to stop and sniff a lot.”

Zich ended up adopting one of the dogs himself, an older dog he’d been walking for years that never got adopted, but he still makes a weekly trip to the shelter.

“I feel sorry for the dogs,” he said. “They never committed any crime, and they’re locked up.”

For Acerbi, volunteering at Safe Harbor is a family affair, too — one that involves granddaughters Shannon Mehleis, 27, and Kaley Acerbi, 18, as well as the “100 percent support” from her husband, Jim.

As for that desire to bring every animal home, Acerbi says you deal with it. But she said it’s still there.

“I always tell my husband if anything happens to him, I’ll have the house full of dogs so he won’t have to worry about me,” she said with a laugh.