North Country Animal Shelter - Part 1

I'd intended to pay a visit to the North Country Animal Shelter in the town of Malone, New York for a long time and it finally happened one beautiful Saturday:

There was only enough parking for a few cars and I had to enter through a chain link fence gate with side by side signs which proclaimed both "Open" and "No Admittance." I was a bit intimidated, but gave it a try:

The scenery was lovely, set in a snowy pine forest:

I walked past some outdoor pens with dogs in them and entered the dog building, where the small dogs, short haired dogs and puppies were kept:

Unlike most shelters, this one had lots of puppies:

And lots of small dogs:

This Poodle mix look frightened, so I spoke softly, hoping to calm it:

While other dogs, of course, were barking for attention:

I was told that this older dog, with the sad face and the short legs, already had a family who would pick him up soon:

I left the building and checked out the outdoor pens. In this northern climate, the idea of dogs being left outdoors was troubling, but I had to admit they all looked comfortable and happy. Each pen was wrapped in tarps to keep out the wind and each dog seemed to have a dog house and soft bed:

There was a row of smaller kennels, filled with dogs. Even though this was a Saturday, I was the only person looking at the dogs and I could only hope that they got more adoptions than what I was seeing:

This dog, near the entrance, looked all alone and I wondered if he might be antagonistic to other dogs. I decided to check out the cat building next, but I'll post about that tomorrow: