Cashiers Highlands Humane Society
A huge pride for the shelter is the semi-truck that is sometimes seen moving up the mountain painted with the words H.E. A.R.T. The Humane Emergency Adoption Rescue Transport has given the shelter the designation of Official Emergency Rescue. With this vehicle, our shelter workers assist in puppy mill raids and natural disaster rescue. The truck transports 27 animals.
In the twenty years I’ve been associated with our shelter, it’s grown from a cabin with kennels, to a state-of-the-art facility, with numerous volunteers, success stories and a professional manager who has moved it into the twenty-first century.
One of the success stories is written in my little chapter book, Walker Hound of Park Avenue published by Progressive Rising Phoenix Press. This event happened years back at our much-smaller shelter. Walker, a Treeing Walker Coonhound, was my Friday morning assignment, walking him on leash and trying to interact with him. Walker was the saddest dog anyone had ever seen. We were certain he would die with the diagnosis, “Failure to Thrive.” All that changed the summer seven-year-old twins came to vacation in our resort town. I’ll never forget the moment when we gathered on the driveway to watch Walker be driven away to his new home in a Lincoln Town Car with a chauffeur! Walker is an amazing story of rehoming adaptability. It also destroys the myth that “you can’t expect too much out of rescue dogs.” The shelter took calls for months from people in New York City asking, “Do you have any more of those hound dogs?”
Walker Hound of Park Avenue is a chapter book for young readers, but it’s also a fun read-aloud story shared by readers of all ages. My dream for this book is that it be used for education and fundraising for shelters and breed rescue groups. It’s available in soft cover or hard binding wherever books are sold. Click on the cover above for a link to Amazon if you wish to purchase the book.