Newspaper Page Text
Top to bottom: Miss Penny,
Mountain and Dew,
Hope Gentle says older dogs
often require less work
than younger ones
animals may need.
Founded in south DeKalb
County in 1966, PAWS Atlanta is
Georgia’s oldest no-kill shelter.
The shelter usually has about
175 to 225 animals on site and in
foster homes.
Suzie Sloan, the shelter’s
director of development, said
medical conditions are often
barriers to finding homes for
senior animals.
“Every dog and cat that comes
into our shelter gets whatever
they need in order to be healthy
and prepare them for their
forever family,” she said.
“Senior animals are usually
house-trained, really chill
companions, and they’re just
so grateful,” Sloan said. “Many
senior pets we take in recently
lost their owners, so they’re used
to being in a loving home.”
Living and working
with senior animals
Lifeline Animal Project
currently has more than 1,000
animals at its Fulton and
DeKalb shelters and in foster
homes. About 20 percent of
them are seniors, or ages 8 and
up, according to Karen Hirsch,
public relations director.
A devoted animal shelter
volunteer since 1994, Hope
Gentle has been attached to the
Fulton shelter since 2003.
“Generally speaking,” she said,
“an older dog is less work.”
That’s a huge bonus at her
Austell home, which she’s
currently sharing with 11 foster
and adopted dogs and cats. Four
of the six dogs are at least 13
years old.
“I’m never lonely, and if I
hear a noise in my house I don’t
wonder what it is,” Gentle said. “I
get my exercise walking the dogs
two at a time. The good thing
about walking an older dog is
they don’t pull as hard.”
She’s at the shelter for 10-
hour days, twice a week, to do
everything from laundry to
transporting shelter animals
to rescue groups who’ve agreed
to take them. “Last Saturday, I
drove a duck and a sheep to Save
the Horses,” she said.
Gentle, who served in the U.S.
Army for 20 years, was featured
a few years ago in a LifeLine
newsletter about the veterans
among its staff and volunteers
for Memorial Day. “As much as
I am grateful for my military
experience,” Gentle was quoted
as saying, “had I been able to
work with an organization
that helps animals, I would
have chosen that path without
hesitation or regret.”
Mountain and Dew
A Grant Park couple, Alycia
Linke and Amiel Tomlin, wound
up with two new senior pets
a few months ago when they
went to LifeLine looking for a
companion for Pam, their 2-year-
old rescued chihuahua.
While they also own 15-year-
old Bear, they could tell that
their chihuahua was really
missing their 16-year-old dog,
Peggy. Linke gave Peggy to her
mother after her mother’s cat
died.
After that, “We noticed a
change in Pam’s behavior,”
Tomlin said. “She didn’t eat a lot.
She seemed very sad. She just
wanted to lay down all day long.”
Tomlin said Linke started
tearing up when she found an
8-year-old chihuahua named
Dew on LifeLine’s website. “Right
then, I know we were getting this
dog,” he said.
They took Pam with them to
meet Dew at LifeLine’s DeKalb
shelter. The dogs instantly hit it
off. Done, they thought.
But then they met Mountain,
another 8-year-old chihuahua
who’d entered the shelter with
Dew. When they saw Mountain
and Dew curled up together they
knew they couldn’t break them
apart.
Tomlin said their dogs’ energy
levels are perfect for their
household because he and Linke
work a lot. He’s a radio broadcast
technician and Linke’s a photo
stylist.
He said he wants to show love
to those dogs that get the least,
when it comes to adoption.
“They’re older. They may not
live that long, but at least you
can give them those cool last few
years. These are like my friends
and we look at them like family,”
he said. “If I had a young kid,
which we may one day, I want
them to understand that there is
beauty on both sides. Everything
isn’t perfect, and get out of the
mentality of young, old and
good, bad and something not
being worth something or not.”
Skeet Wright, Miss Penny’s
owner, said people searching
for new pets should “give senior
animals a chance.”
“Just look at them. Don’t just
look at the puppies,” she said.
“They’ve got great personalities,
and they’ll appreciate you.”
AUGUST 2020
How you
can help
PAWS Atlanta
The shelter expects to
reopen to the public in
August. During the COVID-19
pandemic, you can help
by becoming a monthly
supporter, virtually adopting
animals, hosting virtual
happy hours, creating
Facebook fundraisers or
donating supplies from the
shelter’s Amazon Wish List.
For more information, visit
www.pawsatlanta.org.
LifeLine
Volunteer at the shelter
or from home, where
you can make flyers to
advertise animals and
make enrichment toys for
dogs. Donate supplies or
money, which helps pay for
surgeries for injured animals
and helps support a shelter
program that provides free
pet care services for people
in need. Senior discounts
for adoption are available.
For more information, visit
lifelineanimal.org or call
404-292-8800.
County animal
shelters
■ DeKalb and Fulton
counties, lifelineanimal.org
or 404-292-8800.
■ Cobb County.
cobbcounty.org/public-
safety/animal-services or
770-499-4136.
■ Gwinnett County.
gwinnettcounty.com/web/
gwinnett/departments/
communityservices/
animalwelfareenforcement
or 770-339-3200.
ATLANTASENIORLIFE.COM