Marnie Tyson has worked at PAWS for 5 years in the Companion Animal Shelter and is now the Acting Shelter Manager. Before PAWS she worked at another shelter in Mississippi that had a 75% euthanasia rate (this means ¾ of the animals at the Shelter were sadly put to sleep).

Marnie's duties include monitoring all the Staff, volunteers and animals in the Shelter. She assesses and evaluates animals with Behavior problems and assists with cage cleaning and medicating animals each morning. The job also includes lots of paperwork and handling e-mails and phone calls regarding animal related questions. Marnie has worked with some interesting animals including a Serval (an African wild cat) and a Coati Mundi (a raccoon-like mammal from Central and South America). Unfortunately not all of Marnie's work is fun, she sometimes has to Euthanize sick or non-adoptable animals.

Although some days at the Shelter can be sad, Marnie continues working with enthusiasm, knowing that every moment spent at PAWS gives her the opportunity to affect an animal's life, mostly for the better.

Marnie wanted to tell you about a cute little dog who she will always remember, "There was a dog that came in shortly after I started at PAWS. A little chow Cattle dog mix, I think her name was Matilda. Her coat was so matted that the finders had to cut the harness she was wearing out of her coat. Being a chow, the staff was hesitant to push her behaviorally. She had a tendency to snort when touched and the staff thought she was growling. She was placed on staff only and her hopes for finding a new home were quick disappearing."

"I started to push her a little at first, touching her head, then back then a back leg. What a break through we had when she started pushing back, rubbing her head on my leg for more. I started petting her, really petting her and she loved it. I decided it was time to start trying to get those nasty hair mats off. I was in the receiving room slowly working the baseball-sized mats off from behind her ears when a Volunteer offered to help. Being that she was a professional groomer, I was able to get permission from the Supervisor for her to help me. We trimmed the mats off from behind her ears and scheduled a full grooming for the next shift. Mind you, the groomer commented that in her profession- chows are the hardest to do and she normally turned them away, but felt completely safe to groom this matted girl."

"The following week the groomer gave her a beautiful lion cut and even left a tuft at the tip of the docked tail. The grooming session lasted about four hours - that is a really long time for a dog to be bathed, blown dry, shaved, brushed, trimmed and basically handled, especially for a chow. The only time she got wriggly was at the end when we trimmed the hair between her toes."

"Next step was a temperament test (like a four hour grooming wasn't enough). Luke and I did the test. He was the tester and I the scribe, writing everything down. He was still uncertain of her because of her breed; I on the other hand had become very trusting of her because of the trust she placed in me. This made for an interested test. We pushed her, as we do with any dog, and anything that we did worked out fine. The best was that he was unable to flip her on her back, but I had only minor wriggling to deal with. She was ready to start looking for a home."

"Her new family came in, finally, mom, and two teenage girls. The younger girl was looking for a dog that she could go to obedience classes with and generally become a dog geek (loving term for all who successfully live with herding dogs and mixes). They fell in love with her and with very thorough counseling from the staff and myself they took her home."

What a great story Marnie!!!