Barking Up the Right Tree

John Masullo stood outside North Hempstead Animal Shelter, pointed to a scar on the side of his head and struggled slightly to complete his thought.

No problem. A few minutes earlier he had expressed himself perfectly without saying anything at all.

As a cadre of shelter volunteers snapped photos and offered well wishes, Masullo knelt next to 7-year-old Noelle, whose body also reflects a difficult past. He gently rubbed her coat, and a connection was already made. When he went to sign the adoption papers, Noelle dealt with the awkwardness of her surgically repaired hind right leg to get up and walk toward Masullo. After a two-year stay at North Hempstead and one failed adoption, she wasn't letting her new human stray too far.

Noelle was abandoned at Port Washington Animal Hospital battered and blind in one eye. Masullo spends the balance of his days watching TV on the first floor of a home he shares with family, having bravely dealt with multiple brain surgeries. But on this Monday morning, for two souls who have faced more than their share of challenges, everything--finally--was just right.

"We're going to be couch potatoes together," Masullo joked.

Yes, I got a little teary-eyed. Nine months earlier my wife Jan'Ell and I had adopted a beagle-lab named Jack from North Hempstead. And while I would never compare my plight with John Masullo's, Jack did help us stay sane through what turned out to be a much more extended bout of unemployment for myself than I had anticipated. Last week we put an ornament on our tree marking his first Christmas with us. There's no other way to put it: He's our child. (And he seems determined to keep that title exclusively his by sleeping between us as often as possible.)

So after getting a great new job with Patch one of my first thoughts was paying it forward by going back to the no-kill shelter. There I met Bob Slifkin, M.D., who has seen Masullo-like moments of joy play out before but still has to take a moment from time to time and collect his emotions. He's president of The Shelter Connection, the independent volunteer organization that provides such services as adoption assistance, dog walking and fund-raising for the shelter.

Since its inception a decade ago, the nonprofit has raised around $200,000, almost half of it going to the Mend-A-Paw program for medical needs. (Slifkin got John's brother Sal, who had done work on Slifkin's homes, to volunteer his time designing the nature trail next to the facility. The byproduct of that was John connecting with Noelle.)

"The Town is required to have the basics," shelter Assistant Director Sue Hassett explained. "They're not required to have a playground, or a nature trail. [The Shelter Connection is] so good about asking, 'What do you need?'

"If I have a dog hit by a car, I don't have three weeks for red tape. I call and they'll say, 'Go for it.'"

Hassett still fights the dog pound stereotype--a morbid place where petrified animals await a death sentence. On Monday morning four volunteers were scheduled for duty, but the ranks swelled into double-digits, as the word was out that Noelle was leaving and everyone wanted to bid her farewell. She had become a member of the family, and even visited schools to help teach kids about humane treatment. The running joke among the volunteers involved the dogs that were lobbying for Noelle's plush kennel digs.

"Everyone here loves the animals," Slifkin said of the shelter staff and volunteers alike. "It's really fun to watch, and it all comes down from Sue."

Hassett had rechristened her office the "senior citizens center." Holding court as usual on his teal chair was Soda Pop, Hassett's blind poodle and de facto office manager.  Snoozing under one desk was 14-year-old Peanut, a multicolored beagle with a thyroid condition. Stationed to Soda Pop's left were Fido and Fritz, 13-year-olds who have been together forever. They were given a new lease on life thanks to a partnership between The Shelter Connection and New York City's New Hope program, which allows North Hempstead Animal Shelter to take in NYC dogs at no expense to the Town.  

Hassett permits such slumber parties in her office because the kennel full of younger dogs can be a little much for the old fogies. (Although I was told that Jack, who's only about 7, received the same privilege when got a little skittish upon arrival.)

Sure, it's a favor to the dogs, but the secondary benefit is a loving, nurturing atmosphere.

"We don't want [potential adopters] coming to a depressing place," Hassett said. "We want them to come here and be happy."

Mission accomplished.

To find out more about The Shelter Connection, call 516-626-8948, log on to www.theshelterconnection.com or send questions to tsc@theshelterconnection.com.