Open Arms emergency shelter now pet-friendly

FINDLAY — Survivors escaping domestic violence in can now leave with their dog, cat, guinea pig or other small pet by their side. Ashley Ritz, executive director of Open Arms Domestic Violence and Rape Crisis Services, said the emergency shelter operated by the agency is pet-friendly. "We know there's a need for it so being able to address it and try to eliminate that barrier for someone wanting to come for shelter because it's already a big step on its own. That's a gigantic step for a survivor to leave an abusive situation and leave the home. So to try and make it a little easier on them, hopefully this will help," said Ritz. She said there has been talk about the idea for over a year. "It's not that it hasn't been a need for a while for survivors or people needing our services in shelter. Because we had some renovations done at the shelter we thought, OK, well, this would be a good time to try and incorporate this need that we were seeing," she explained. The agency received a grant from the Flag City Morning Rotary Club. Members also provided labor to help build the kennels and clean up an area at the shelter. The program officially launched in January. At first, Ritz thought having pets at the shelter would be easy. But it turned out to be a little more complicated, she said. "We have lots of families in shelter, and its community living so they all share the space. So just because one person likes having their dog or cat there or whatever animal, it doesn't mean that the other six people or however many folks are in shelter are going to like that animal, too," she said. The animals are housed in a separate heated inside space and will have their own crate or kennel. "If they're an outside animal, we have outside kennels, too," Ritz said. "But it's not in the actual housing area of the shelter itself. There's a bit of separation if somebody had allergies or something or someone is afraid of a dog." She said the whole purpose is to keep people safe and feeling comfortable in the home. "So bringing in some big dog that's going to intimidate the other residents or scare them, well then we're defeating our whole purpose," she said. They also came up with guidelines for the program. "We can't just have a bunch of rogue animals running around without shots and being spayed or neutered," she said. Prior to having an area for pets, Ritz said survivors had been asking whether they could bring pets along. "They didn't end up coming for shelter at all, and I don't know if the pet was the barrier or not," she said. "It's hard to tell. Obviously we've had service animals in shelter before. We're required to have those, but pets are a whole different ballgame for us." She said they can accommodate any smaller animals like hamsters, cats, dogs, birds and even reptiles as long as they're enclosed. There are also bigger crates for larger dogs. "Now if you're considering a horse as a pet, and some people might, we wouldn't have the capacity for like larger farm animals," Ritz said. "But that doesn't mean we couldn't work with you on finding a safe space for them." There are currently two outdoor kennels and about half a dozen indoors kennels of various sizes. "If we need to put in more, we will. Or, if we need to get different sizes of crates and stuff, we can do that, too," said Ritz. "It's just what we are able to accommodate now and it's just kind of one of those things we'll figure out along the way." Since the program began no one has asked about bringing their pet to the shelter. Ritz said there will be some extra costs associated with the program, but Open Arms still has funds left from Morning Rotary that can be used. There are also other state grants that could be used as well, she said. "We're excited to be able to launch it officially and help people and their family members," she said. "We know that pets bring comfort and healing to survivors, and sometimes they're the only support that somebody might have. They've been with them through an awful lot in their life, and a lot of people consider them family." That's why they feel it's important to at least have them in a safe space with the survivor. "Maybe they're not exactly in the same room, but at least the survivor knows they're there and they're safe and they can go see them whenever they want," she said.