MUSKEGON, Mich. — More than 100 dogs fill the kennels at Pound Buddies Animal Shelter in Muskegon right now. One in particular is ready to find his forever home after a rough start at the shelter.
Assistant Executive Director Kendra Boos says this month has been their busiest of the year, and in the midst of that, a new addition named Ollie has made a remarkable recovery.
"He's super fun. He's spunky and he loves to play," Boos says.
Ollie still has plenty of puppy energy. The one-year-old shepherd mix arrived at Pound Buddies about two months ago.
"He was actually owner-surrendered by a family. They were homeless and they couldn't take care of him," Boos says.
When he got to the shelter, he looked like a completely different dog.
"I've actually never seen mange on a dog like this, but it's just circles on both of his eyes. And [there was] hair loss, and then it feels kind of like bumpy," Boos says.
It only took one round of treatment over the last few weeks for his skin to clear up and the fur to grow back. Boos says she can tell there's been a change in his behavior since then.
"He came in... He didn't look that great. He didn't look, you know, like someone would be like, 'Oh my gosh, I wanna adopt this dog.'" she says. "But it's always fun to see the transformation, whether it's medicine, or it's a little bit of love, food and water, it's amazing how much they can transform."
There are more than 120 dogs at the shelter right now.
"[The dogs] keep coming in, so whether it's owner surrender, or they're stray dogs, people lose their housing and that kind of thing, we're pretty packed right now," Boos says.
Pound Buddies is currently raising funds for their A New Leash on Life campaign, to revamp their outside space.
"We're going to do a walking path. There's going to be more yards," Boos says. "The most important part of our day is getting these dogs to go outside, getting them out of the kennel to get exercise, hanging around people, all that kind of thing."
Ollie is currently available for adoption, and so are plenty of other dogs and cats right now.
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