By Allison Perrine
It’s no secret that pets require a lot of time and attention. And given the current pandemic, there’s never been a better time to adopt a new furry friend.
Over the past several months, as people remain home from work and school, many animal shelters have encountered an unusual but not unwelcome situation: lower inventory as more animals find their forever homes.
“We have never been this empty in my nine years of being here,” said Lindsay Papa, office manager of the Tinton Falls branch of the Associated Humane Society. “We have done amazing with adoptions – 255 adoptions since March 9 to be exact.”
Papa said she certainly credits the pandemic with the jump in adoptions as more families found themselves staying home with extra time to train and care for their animals. But knowing that may not always be the case, the adoption center instructed all of its adopters to leave their homes starting with short periods of time and slowly staying out longer to prepare their pets for their eventual return to the office.
“We told the adopters to try and get the new animal in the home used to being alone so that when they do go back to work there would not be any separation issues,” she said. “We told all people to do this even if they have had their pets for numerous years. The constant of the family being home and them getting used to it can be traumatic.”
And that’s exactly what pet parents TJ Bocchina and Martina Cvitech have been doing for their dogs – a 3-and-a-half-year-old mixed breed named Dudley and most recently, his new sibling and playmate Toby.
“I’ve been begging my husband, TJ, for another dog for two years and he always said we never had enough time for another. Then when the pandemic happened and we had to postpone our wedding, he finally caved and we began looking,” said Cvitech, a Neptune City resident.
Cvitech is still working, but Bocchina has been home and tending to 8-month-old Catahoula mix Toby. “It’s been nice to have someone be able to take him out – especially in the beginning with his potty training,” she said. “It’s been good because we can take the dogs out places and have our friends bring their dogs over. I was worried that Toby would bond more with TJ since I work, but he seems to be pretty attached to me.”
To prepare Toby for when the two return to their offices, they have been leaving him alone with Dudley during the quarantine. Every few days, they extend the time that they are alone. The only difference will be that Toby will attend day camp with Dudley on days when both Cvitech and Bocchina work long hours, she added.
Similarly, Middletown residents Andy Herschman and Kelly Dykeman had planned to adopt a dog after their upcoming wedding in September, but as their schedules changed, they decided now was a better time than ever to bring home their pup, Snickers.
“The extra time at home has been crucial for training and getting Snickers used to her forever home. With more time and schedule flexibility, we have been better able to meet Snickers’ needs in regards to crate training, command training, leash walking and organized play time,” said Dykeman. “We have absolutely loved having time to get to know her and for her to get to know us.”
Of course, all of the extra time at home with a new pup has caused some minor issues. That includes Snickers hopping in on dad’s virtual psychology classes and sneaking into mom’s virtual therapy sessions, the duo added. “She had a lot of thoughts on Pavlov’s dogs.”
While Herschman and Dykeman are still working remotely, they plan to bring Snickers to doggy day care at Camp Bob Wow once they return to the office to keep him engaged and socialized. They are also fortunate to have family members in the area to give Snickers some extra play time and belly rubs.
The adoption increase not only includes dogs, but cats and other furry friends as well. In the Lincroft section of Middletown, residents Dominique Connolly and her family decided to adopt a kitten recently after moving to the suburbs two years ago.
“My younger daughter really wanted a dog and my older daughter a cat. We got the dog in November and then once we were all home during quarantine, my other daughter started begging for the cat again,” she said. “It seemed like it would be a good distraction with the quarantine so we started looking, but there weren’t many kittens available this year.”
That changed after a visit to the Monmouth County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (MCSPCA) where there was a litter of kittens waiting to be adopted – and one that would eventually win them over – a gray tabby with spots of orange they named Maya Dumplin’ Connolly.
“Even though she was supposed to be my daughters’ cat, now I am so used to her sitting on my lap all day while I work,” Connolly said. For the first week, Maya Dumplin’ had to be kept in one room so she could get used to their dog. Now the two get along great; the dog “literally follows her around like a puppy dog and she…loves to pounce on his tail and snuggle up with him.”
Middletown native Evan Marx and his girlfriend Sami Perna had been wanting a dog for some time and, with the two in their apartment more often than ever before due to the pandemic, they decided it was the perfect time to adopt their new black-and-white miniature Australian shepherd Lily.
“Sami and I got a dog now because we were both home for it, so we could have more time together to train Lily,” said Marx. “We also wanted to train a dog in our apartment that we rent rather than a house that we own.”
Marx had been laid off due to the pandemic and Perna had been working from home. Now, Marx has since returned to work at a new location in-person, but Perna remains at home and will be there for the foreseeable future, he added. Because of that, Lily is not alone often and if she is, it’s only for a few hours.
Papa reminds everyone that its shelter still has animals that need homes, and anyone who would like to make donations is welcome to do so. “We are always in need of unopened wet/dry dog and cat food, towels, sheets, thin blankets, Clorox wipes, paper towels and baby kitten feeding supplies such as KMR and miracle nipples.”
The article originally appeared in the September 3 – 9, 2020 print edition of The Two River Times.
