Jasmine jumped. Her furry body wiggled when Eric Imhoff walked through the front door of his Battle Ground home. Although they’d only known each other about a month, the two had a strong connection.
Their paths first crossed on Nov. 11, when Eric and Tonya Imhoff, along with one of their daughters, went down to the Humane Society for Southwest Washington’s animal shelter in Vancouver. They hoped to adopt a dog. Jasmine, a 1 1/2 -year-old husky, went home with them.
The Imhoffs took advantage of “He cared. We care.” It’s a grant-funded program run through the Humane Society that launched on Veterans Day and lasted through the month of November. During the event, veterans and active-duty service members adopted 114 dogs and cats.
No money exchanged hands thanks to money provided by the Ray Hickey Foundation.
The total amount of money provided by the charity is estimated to reach about $40,000; the total is fluid as the cost of the adoptions is subsidized, said Lisa Feder, vice president and director of shelter operations.
‘Cleared the shelter’ of animals
“It was nonstop crowds from the moment we opened up the doors” on Veterans Day, said adoptions supervisor Mary Clayton. “The staff didn’t leave until late at night.”
A total of 55 adoptions were completed — a new record for a single day, Clayton said. On a normal Saturday the shelter places around 35 animals, she said.
Promotion helped push the numbers up. Posts on social media and local news reports helped spread the word, Feder said. There were the normal adopters, too, as many people who showed up were unaware the fees had been subsidized for veterans during the special event.
Ray Hickey Foundation’s grant money will last through the coming year, and the Humane Society plans to hold other free adoption days aimed at veterans — Independence, Memorial and Labor days, so far. There also will be a 25 percent discount for veterans through the year.
“It pretty much cleared the shelter out,” Feder said. “We had a lot of animals, and it made us scramble to fill the kennels again for the next weekend.” The Saturday after the holiday weekend saw about 45 adoptions, she said.
Clayton said she believes many of the people, veterans included, sought to adopt a new pet for companionship. There was an elderly couple who visited the shelter hoping to get a new pit bull. Theirs had recently died, and fortunately they found the pet they wanted, Clayton said.
Other adopters’ stories were similar. But people were not looking for a handout, Feder said. Though the adoption fee was waived for veterans and service members, many of them donated money or bought products to make life as comfortable as possible for their new members.
Eric Imhoff had received an email about the promotion. His kids — ages 11, 15 and 17 — had been bugging him to get a four-legged friend for nearly a year. With the adoption fees waived, he decided now was the right time.
When the family met Jasmine, she was calm and collected despite the influx of people at the shelter and the continuous barks of other anxious dogs. Tonya Imhoff said they found this characteristic appealing; she described her family as “low-key.”
“Out of all the other dogs, she was really calm,” Tonya said.
“She was so sweet and friendly. She wasn’t really jumpy,” she said.
In the first month in her new home, Jasmine has been fitting in well with the family, she said.
Their husky is 50 pounds. She doesn’t like riding in the car. She often rests by the front door, waiting for everybody to get home. The kids were at school on a weekday in mid-December, and Jasmine did just that when company called. She laid quietly on the entryway vinyl, heeding the calls of her owners and only whimpering slightly when she wanted to be petted.
The Imhoffs know little of Jasmine’s background. She came from Tulare in Central California. She had given birth to a litter of puppies. How she ended up alone is a mystery, Eric Imhoff said, thumbing through a manila folder that included a guide for being “responsible husky owners.”
Eric Imhoff said the waiving of fees for veterans influenced his decision to go through with the adoption. He served in the U.S. Coast Guard, working in communications, from 1992 to 1996. He was last stationed in Seattle, where he met Tonya, he said.
“This will help (veterans) in their daily lives,” Eric Imhoff said. “It gives them an avenue and brings joy to their lives. But it helps everyone. Our family is helped out, of course. It brings exposure to the Humane Society, and it’s a tragedy how much these adoptions are needed, but an event like this helps.”
