Ace, a 7-year-old Doberman/German shepherd mix, lies in the grass on a gray, muggy Friday in August outside the shelter that was once his home.
Almost a year removed from his 942-day stay at Humane Animal Partners Stanton/Christiana (HAP), he rolls onto his back and kicks a leg up in a sign of contentment as familiar hands reach down to give him a belly rub.
The dog now lives a life of quiet contentment in a Bear home with dog beds fit for a king and a grassy backyard to call his own, but his journey hasn’t always been smooth.
Ace’s story
“Adopt don’t shop” has long been a chant of the animal community to urge potential pet adopters to seek out animals from shelters instead of buying from breeders.
For most animals in shelters, the turnaround from shelter life to adoption is a quick one, according to HAP, but for others, a stay at a shelter can last years.
“I think a lot of people, when they enter the shelter, have this idea of locking eyes and it’s love at first sight, but that’s not always the case,” said Cory Topel, senior marketing manager at HAP.
Pets in shelters can have a difficult time adjusting to new environments, and some are dealing with medical and behavioral issues or anxiety from past trauma. These factors can make an animal seem shy or unfriendly if potential families aren’t patient.
Ace’s three years at HAP illustrates that struggle.
“It was a rollercoaster because (Ace) was adopted out and returned throughout that 942-day period six different times. For staff who grew to love him and spent time with him, it was hard at times,” said Topel. “People were putting vibes out into the universe of, ‘Please let this work, please let this work.”
Ace initially was surrendered to HAP when his former owner, an army veteran, was deployed overseas.
While in HAP’s care, Ace received behavior and medical support, including dental work and a tail amputation, personalized kennel accommodations to keep him safe, and got daily walks by staff.
He struggles with anxiety and came to the shelter with a mix of dietary and medical needs, factors that made it harder for him to find potential adopters willing to be more patient.
Although he quickly became a hit among potential owners, getting adopted and returned six times triggered his separation anxiety.
HAP became the only constant Ace knew, with staff treating him like a team mascot and parading him around the facility to be spoiled with love and affection by staff members. He even appeared on the shelter’s promotional material.
“Because he’s a larger dog, a beautiful dog, our staff just fell in love,” she said. “… I felt like he was the face of HAP.”
Despite the care shown by staff, Ace spent those two and a half years watching his shelter companions find forever homes.
That is, until Michael Doyle came along, and Ace walked out of the front doors of the shelter for the last time on his 942nd day, into the arms of his forever family.
‘Written in the stars’
Since adopting Ace seven months ago, Doyle’s life with his partner Tamela Whitlock has changed for the better. He even jokes that the dog is training him on a few things at this point.
Doyle and Whitlock, both in their mid-50s, have always been dog people. After their dog Max died in March 2022 at the age of 15½, they knew another dog would be in store for them after the grieving period, said Doyle.
When Whitlock saw Ace on HAP’s website last August, the couple was shocked to see he had been there for nearly three years and was worried about what his fate would be if he wasn’t adopted soon.
“I got really worried they were gonna put him down any day because I didn’t know Humane Animal Partners was a no-kill shelter,” said Doyle.
After a September vacation, the pair met Ace and then Doyle began visiting him and taking him home for a longer stays to see how he’d fare.
Eventually, Doyle fostered Ace, and soon after, Ace officially joined the family.
“I was just like, ‘we can’t leave him there to live his life in a shelter.’ [HAP] did a good job, but he deserved to live in a house,” said Doyle. “There was no way I was leaving a dog there 900-something days.”
Topel says Ace’s adoption was a weight off the shoulders of all HAP staff, who desperately wanted to see the dog in a loving home instead of the shelter, calling the match “written in the stars.”
“Oh my gosh, I mean, Micheal and his partner Tammy are truly saints on this earth,” said Topel. “Michael saw the goodness in Ace and was willing to exercise such compassion for Ace, and he now lives like a king.”
Doyle says any costs to care for the dog are worth the enrichment Ace has brought to his life.
Ace sleeps in the master bedroom every night, enjoys lying in the grass and chasing squirrels, and is pampered with homemade doggy ice cream twice a day. He also loves car rides and is taking full advantage of his “free reign” of the house.
“He’s a really good fit for us,” said Doyle. “He just needed someone to give him a chance and be patient with him and work with him.”
‘If you don’t help these animals, no one else will’
HAP, formerly known as Delaware Humane Association and Delaware SPCA, will soon celebrate 150 years of service with an anniversary gala on Nov. 16.
Along with the Stanton/Christiana site, HAP has locations in Wilmington and Rehoboth Beach that contribute to the thousands of adoptions the organization completes each year while also offering low-cost spay/neuter and wellness services.
As the first, and one of the only, no-kill shelter states, Delaware’s shelters frequently get shipments of animals in need of medical attention and adoption, especially from states where there are no policies in place to help care for stray populations and no-kill shelters are not as abundant.
“If you don’t help these animals, no one else will. Our lives are better enriched when we have animals,” said Topel. “It teaches compassion, it teaches care. Ultimately, it helps create a better society overall.”
Shelter staff includes certified dog trainers and enrichment coordinators who work with animals in residence to aid them on their training and behavior journeys, and a long list of volunteers and fosters whose work is integral to the success of HAP’s facilities.
“We rely so heavily on fosters to open up their hearts first and then their homes for a safe, sterile and loving environment.,” said Topel. “Animals just always do better in a home environment instead of a shelter.”
Although Topel says some days can take an emotional toll, dogs like Ace remind everyone why they do the work they do.
“The animals that are here longer are always being loved on by staff. There’s no one employee at HAP that doesn’t love animals and love what they do,” said Topel, who always hangs out with the animals after her lunch break. “You’d be hard-pressed not to walk into our locations at any time and see an animal up at our front desk.
”We’re always trying to find ways to show these animals that while they are in a shelter environment, they are still loved and cared for.”
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‘Animals need love, too’
While the cards have finally fallen in Ace’s favor, hundreds of shelter animals remain without homes.
“I think at the end of the day, animals as a whole, they make people happy. No matter how bad your day is at work, or whatever else happens, your dog is always gonna make you happy,” said Doyle. “Animals need love, too, just like humans.”
Doyle says that giving up on a dog after only a few days or a week is not allowing the new relationship enough time to form or giving the animal space to acclimate to its new surroundings.
He stresses that pet adoption is a long-term commitment, one not to be taken lightly.
Although many people want to adopt puppies and kittens, Doyle advocates for more people to consider older animals instead of being set on raising a pet “from scratch,” saying that they deserve love just as much as younger animals and have the bonus of already knowing most commands and tricks.
“I think Ace is a prime example. They had to cut off part of his tail, they had to pull his teeth, he’s on medication … but our house, he’s happy here.”
Doyle & Ace frequently visit HAP to say hello to staff, but Doyle admits it is difficult to visit the shelter sometimes knowing there are plenty of animals of there still waiting for the homes they deserve.
Inspired by his journey with Ace, Doyle is committed to donating $500 of his commission from each sale with Century 21 Emerald to HAP through the end of the year, which will help support the facility and the lifesaving care they provide to their animals.
“At the end of the day, if I can get some animals out of the shelter and into peoples’ houses, that would be a great thing,” he said. “To me, that is money well spent: making sure HAP has the money to do what they need to do.”
Ways to support Humane Animal Partners
Although summer is typically a slower period for adoptions, Topel says adoptions are down more than usual this season.
Here’s how you can get involved:
- Volunteers at HAP. Assist with daily tasks at the facility, like upkeep, outreach and event staffing, that allow the shelter to continue providing a high quality of care for its animals.
- Fosters provide temporary care for long or short periods of time for young, sick, injured, under-socialized or stray animals until the shelter can safely accommodate their needs on-site. Essential supplies such as food, litter and litter boxes are provided by HAP, along with all medical care a foster animal needs.
- Participants in the Doggy Day Out program can take a shelter dog offsite for a few hours of fun, an evening adventure or a sleepover, and are sent home with a doggy bag filled with everything they’ll need to spend time with a pup for the day. These short excursions help the animals manage kennel stress, get exposure to different environments, socialize and burn off energy, all efforts that can be beneficial for the adoption process.
- Support from the community, efforts from both the state and residents, is just as meaningful, too, with monetary contributions covering a variety of HAP’s expenses, including food, toys, outreach and other resources.
Visit humaneanimalpartners.org to learn how to adopt, volunteer, donate, foster, and more.
Got a tip or a story idea? Contact Krys’tal Griffin at kgriffin@delawareonline.com.
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