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Playwright bequeathes $243,000 to society to help retool program on animal behavior
By Connie Bloom
Beacon Journal staff writer
Published on Saturday, May 10, 2008
You're sure to wonder how a New York intellectual, thespian and playwright born in 1913 could affect the soft center of a community like Akron, especially two years after her death.
Hers is a story that was related by Marcia Carsten, a volunteer at the Humane Society of Greater Akron. Catherine Blankenship was her aunt, a woman whose heart was wrapped around canines, but like so many others in the Big Apple, was denied one in her rent-controlled Greenwich Village apartment. To get her fill, she took up dog walking part time.
Originally from Straitsville, Blankenship would visit her sister at Carsten's family home in Worthington. Carsten's mother, Maryalice Rheinscheld, cared for her in her declining years and eventually became executor of her estate.
When all was said and done, $243,000 was earmarked for our favorite dog man, Doylestown animal behavior consultant Ken McCort, to retool training protocol at the Humane Society of Greater Akron.
The bequest specified McCort.
McCort's reputation for working with hopeless and hapless dogs is long and wide in this country and abroad, so he is in the right place at the Boston Township rescue, which currently has 98 adoptable dogs and 23 ''works in progress,'' 10 of them needing serious work before they are fit for a new
home.
McCort and Carsten gave me a taste of the challenge in a recent visit to the hallowed grounds from whence my one and only dog, the divine Emily, came seven years ago. Everybody has read about the outdated facilities — a new building's in the works — but the setting is unforgettably bucolic and the healing energy and joy are right on the surface.
Now picture the affable ruby-cheeked McCort, the living embodiment of the mad scientist, peering gleefully over his four-legged minions on the grounds of his Quick Road laboratory. McCort is doing what he loves and he's anything but sedate.
''You're in a lab here,'' he said. Disney dogs do not come to the Humane Society, he said, but these are not bad dogs. ''They are here because someone screwed up majorly.''
Most are products of abuse or neglect and arrive with missing parts and broken hearts and crazy issues. Some are territorial. Some are aggressive around food, toys or people. Some are fear-aggressive and want to bite when they feel threatened. They may be afraid of tall men, all men, or all people. The list is long.
Bring 'em on.
''It's like a sickness,'' said Carsten, who works will fear-aggressive dogs and has attended McCort's three-day seminars on dog training at Wolf Park in Battle Ground, Ind. ''I'd pay to do this.''
She talks about Maxine, a scarred white mutt with missing teeth and a mysteriously forked tail. ''She was crazed, dog aggressive,'' Carsten said. Nobody could come near her. ''And you should have seen her performing on the green,'' the day she was, miraculously, adopted after three years of intensive work by Carsten and other volunteers.
And how did they do it? They used positive reinforcement, which is the key to training your pets at home. Its genius is its utter simplicity.
It's a matter of resources, McCort explained. He has them, the dogs want them.
What does that mean when you have 98 restless barkers? You drop treats on the dogs that are quiet. The barkers see this and learn fast. When one dog gets calm, they all do. Quiet, calm dogs eat less and poop less, which means less work for everybody, McCort said. It's gold when it's worked consistently.
Now logistics, that's something else.
The 98 dogs all get fed and walked and kenneled three times a day, using a revolving supply of 250 volunteers in staggered shifts. Looking for ways to make extra time for the staff, McCort walked from the farthest indoor station to the most distant run outside and it took six minutes. Those six minutes represent one walk and potty for one dog (whose cage is being cleaned while he's away). Get out your calculators! Even though departures and destinations are closer in most cases, a phenomenal chunk of time is involved.
It gets worse. How are you going to train a bunch of barking dogs to stay calm if your volunteers aren't on the same page? And how do you get them on said page? ''If you have one volunteer going against the grain, it all unravels,'' he said.
McCort works intensely with the society's Canine Crew, an elite SWAT team of volunteers led by Carsten who take on the most challenging cases. They, in turn, work with the other volunteers.
And it's working.
Newlyweds Colleen and Sterling Bowes, 79 and 81 respectively, dropped by to adopt a little black dog named Glen who had been shot. As proof of the pudding, the staff gave them the slug.
''I lost my dog Sandy two years ago,'' Colleen Bowes said. It will be a new chapter in their lives as they return to their love nest, Glen in tow.
The transformation takes place almost before your eyes when a dog finds its ''forever'' home.
''You can feel them begin to connect with you,'' Carsten said.
''They're social species,'' McCort said.
The century-old Humane Society is undergoing a metamorphosis that promises great things for the community in the future, said Executive Director Karen Conklin.
In February, she facilitated the first monthly Summit Animal Summit with representatives of other rescue groups in an effort to join forces in adopt-athons and similar events. The agency also is looking to recast its name to distinguish it from other humane societies.
Early designs on the new shelter have been revamped and enlarged to accommodate 400 animals in a 25,000-square-foot building with geothermal heating and sufficient natural light to keep the animals on a natural circadian rhythm, which is great for their temperaments, said board President John Fickes. Groundbreaking is tentatively scheduled for June 1 at the industrial park on Cochran Road in Cuyahoga Falls.
Meanwhile, donations and adoptions are the heartbeat of the organization. If you can adopt, please do. Adoptions are $115 for dogs and $90 for cats. The animals have been spayed or neutered and are up-to-date on their vaccines.
Another way to help is to follow in the footsteps of the inimitable Catherine Blankenship, whose gift will improve the future of countless dogs and cats for years to come. Talk to your attorney about ways you can leave something behind.
For information, go to http://www.summithumane.org.
Connie Bloom can be reached at 330-996-3568 or cbloom@thebeaconjournal.com.
You're sure to wonder how a New York intellectual, thespian and playwright born in 1913 could affect the soft center of a community like Akron, especially two years after her death.
Get the full article here.
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