More 'woof' under one roof

POST FALLS — Kayla may be known as a repeat offender in the police ranks, but she didn't seem to mind the escort Monday.

The Labrador was the first dog taken to Post Falls’s new animal shelter next to the police station. She was transferred from the previous facility off Seltice Way near the wastewater treatment plant.

With no other dogs around yet, Kayla cruised past the kennels with her tail wagging before checking out the fenced play area out back. She was taken to the shelter after an open house at the 2,400-square-foot facility that's twice as large as the previous one.

"It was built to accommodate growth," said Kristi Alexander, an animal safety officer.

The former shelter was built 16 years ago.

The new shelter, which cost $558,448, offers more office space and has an intake area to clean the dogs, which was lacking at the former site.

"The small office out there didn't lend itself well to the public coming in," Police Chief Pat Knight said.

A donation by Richard Weitzel to the Animal Safety Division in 2015 covered $170,000 of the cost. Weitzel, who died at 82, donated a total of $235,119 to the division.

The cost was further defrayed because the city's Wastewater Division purchased and will use the former facility.

There are 35 kennels (all indoors) at the new shelter compared to 48 at the former one, but the new ones are larger. The number of dogs at the facility each day averages about 10.

"Kennel space has never been an issue," Knight said. "It was not having adequate office space."

The new site offers one-stop convenience for the public that the former facility didn't.

Citizens formerly had to come into the police department's front lobby to find out where their dog is being housed or to pay a fine before driving to the shelter.

"Now a citizen can come to the police department and walk straight over to the animal facility versus having to come here and find out they need to drive across town to the old shelter," Knight said.

Animal safety staff will also have offices in the new shelter instead of at the police station. That move, in turn, frees up space at the police station.

Post Falls resident Greg Griffin was among those who attended the open house to check out the new digs.

"The facility is very nice and great for the people who live in this city," Griffin said.

Griffin, a dog owner, said he wanted to check on the shelter's procedures and location in case he ever has to pick up his dog there.

Post Falls is under contract to also take in dogs that are picked up by Kootenai County, Spirit Lake and Idaho state authorities.

The shelter keeps the dogs from Post Falls for at least three working days — five working days for the other areas — before they’re considered for adoption. Dogs in Coeur d'Alene and Rathdrum are taken to the Kootenai Humane Society in Hayden.

The Post Falls shelter typically takes in about 800 dogs a year. About 150 of those are taken to other shelters if the owners don't pick them up in 72 hours or they can't be adopted out.

"The majority go back home," Alexander said.

Dogs are not euthanized unless they are not picked up, adopted, taken elsewhere and are sick or vicious. Fewer than 10 are euthanized each year.

The shelter typically takes in only dogs, but has taken in other animals, including cats, mice, ferrets and guinea pigs, in emergencies.

Knight said the police department looked into expanding the former facility to create more office space and an intake area. That project was estimated to cost $200,000.

"When we looked at the cost to expand versus having the shelter on our own campus, the benefits to bring it home outweighed the expansion," he said.

Knight said the new place should last for years to come.

"The employees have moved into their new facility and are really enjoying it," he said. "It is a clean, professional building for the public to visit and, in some instances, reclaim their loved ones."