Walker County Animal Shelter manager has big goals

Walker County Animal Shelter volunteer Sarah Puckett walks Lucy, who was surrendered by her owner. Lucy's parents were moving out of state and started crying when they dropped her off. So, Puckett said she promised to spend a lot of time with Lucy, who is a Labrador retriever mix.

By Katie Ward July 13, 2016 4 min read

Walker County Animal Shelter volunteer Sarah Puckett hangs out with Benny, a Pug mix, while taking him for a walk. According to shelter manager Alison Smith, the animals are fed twice a day. The dogs have inside and outside runs with a bowl of water on both ends, and every dog has a Kuranda bed that is easy to disinfect and is durable.

Get Involved

* The Walker County Animal Shelter is at 5488 North Marble Top Road, in Chickamauga. For more information call (706) 375-2100.* Visit the Friends of Walker County Animal Shelter website at Facebook.com/helpingwalkercountyanimals.

Walker County Animal Shelter manager Alison Smith is celebrating 10 years at the shelter by looking forward, not back. She has big goals.

Sitting in her office surrounded by some of the pets she personally has fostered and adopted, she wonders aloud how many other people in Walker County would be willing to foster animals to help save dogs’ and cats’ lives if they knew all the benefits.

“I believe in educating and socializing animals so they have human life experience and are able to deal with everyday challenges like being handled by other people or how to deal with thunderstorms,” said Smith, adding that she has fostered animals her whole life.

This, she explained, makes the animals more adoptable. And the gift of love one gets from adopting a shelter cat or dog is “better than taking a drink at the end of the day.”