New Dog Pound under construction

By Ryan Applegate

People’s Defender

Adams County is finally getting the dog pound it has needed for decades. A new facility is under construction within the village limits of West Union on State Route 41, and county officials say the expanded, modernized shelter will significantly improve conditions for both animals and staff.

“When I came in, there was a lot of dog complaints, and I’ve been here six years, I think,” said Adams County Commissioner and Board President Barbara Moore. “The first thing that I noticed as a commissioner was that there was a lot of complaints about the dog pound.”

Moore said she was alarmed at the condition of the shelter, particularly the lack of facilities for employees. “Our employees working there did not have a bathroom. They had to use an outhouse. It was past, many years past time for us to get a new facility.”

Commissioner Kelly Jones, who brought construction experience to the board, took a leading role in pushing the project forward. “Just getting the plans done and making sure we’re seeing that, and trying to make sure we can do it in a reasonable budget,” Jones explained.

The new pound is expected to be about four times the size of the current building.

Moore added that the layout will greatly improve how dogs are cared for and adopted. “They’re going to have intake rooms so they can do medical, get bathing, all of that… Adoption room, break room.”

The current facility only has room for 24 dogs, but the new pound will accommodate up to 40. It will also feature indoor-outdoor kennels, giving dogs shelter from the elements without sacrificing outdoor access.

“We have big outcries during cold weather,” Moore said. “Our staff does the best that they can with what they have, but this is going to make it so much easier and so much better.”

Dog Warden Donnie Swayne said the improvements will make a major difference in both animal welfare and daily operations. “We can only hold about 24 dogs and [the new one] will house 40 dogs,” Swayne said. “Plus, it’s going to be a lot easier to clean, a lot easier to maintain. Dogs are going to have indoor-outdoor kennels, so we don’t ever have to keep a dog outside in the wintertime anymore.”

Swayne also emphasized how the facility will improve the shelter’s appearance and functionality, which can influence adoptions. “Here, we have no place to bathe the dogs, no place to really work with them. The new place is going to have an intake room. When they come in the intake room, they’ll get their vaccinations and they’ll get their baths before they go out in general population and everything’s cleaner. When your dog is cleaner and the kennels are cleaner, people seem to adopt more. Back there, it’s clean, but it’s just where everything’s falling apart and the concrete’s all cracked up and it’s just not a good place to look at when you’re adopting a dog.”

Moore agreed that the improved space will also boost morale for employees. “Our kennel tech, she has a strong love for the animals. And so, I think it’s going to be better for her just knowing that the conditions of the dogs are going to be better.”

Jones believes that more people will be drawn to adopt from the new facility. “We’ve got a nice new place to come. The dogs have an improvement area. We’ve got an adoption area. People come in.”

The project came together after years of struggling to find a suitable location. Originally, commissioners considered a spot near the airport, but community pushback made that option unworkable. The solution came from an unlikely but fitting source: the Adams County Fair Board.

“We were able to get the land for free through the Adams County Fair Board,” Moore said. “That was the major consideration of that location.”

Jones said the location is ideal. “To me, it’s perfect because it’s over the hill. The dogs will be out of the way. The tradeoff was, we got the ground free.”

The total cost of the project is coming in well under what similar counties have spent. “The bid was $539,000 minus the pens. Realistically, we’ll probably have $70,000 in the pens. So we’ll be about $630,000, maybe about $675,000,” Jones said. He noted that Highland County’s new pound cost more than $1.7 million.

In addition to better infrastructure, commissioners and the dog warden agree that tackling the stray dog problem in Adams County also depends on public responsibility.

“People, buy the dog tags,” Jones said. “Vicious dogs, they need to be turned in. And people need to take care of the dogs.”

Moore added, “People get very upset with Donnie when he comes and checks and they don’t have their dog tags… But that’s what funds that department. And so when people don’t do that, that’s less funding.”

She also stressed the importance of spaying and neutering. “When I first came here, I don’t think they spayed any of the animals down there. Now we’re trying to do all of them before they go out for adoption.”

Swayne noted that the dogs coming in often require time and attention before they’re ready to be adopted. “A lot of dogs are not socialized. A lot of them are scared when they come in. It takes a little while to decompress and get trusting ways back sometimes.”

Looking ahead, Commissioner Jones hopes the facility can serve the community in more ways than one. “What needs to happen now is we need to take underprivileged children that don’t have a project, bring them to Dog Pound, give them a dog, go over to the fair and have a dog show,” he said. “It’s done for the children. If they can’t afford a project, they can get a dog, and grooming, and walking. It’s going to be fun.”

As the walls go up on the new dog pound, so does the optimism. For the first time in decades, Adams County’s animal shelter will be a facility that reflects the care and compassion of the people who run it.

“Our staff does the best they can,” Moore said. “This is going to make it so much better.”