Austin Colbert/The Aspen Times
The Aspen Animal Shelter is more than just a local rescue with puppies and “turn-key” furry friends. It’s a sanctuary for the unadoptables, as well as the people who volunteer with them.
Seth Sachson, Aspen Animal Shelter’s executive director for the past 32 years, takes in about 200 dogs a year. They primarily come from the National Mill Dog Rescue based in Colorado Springs, an organization that rescues dogs from puppy mills and is, as Sachson puts it, “always overflowing.”
Since a drop in adoptions following COVID-19, Sachson has been seeing local adoption rates return to a “strong and steady” trend. Going into the summer months, adoptions will also start to boom with people becoming more active and the Aspen Animal Shelter’s high visibility at the Saturday farmer’s markets in town.
But there are still a number of Aspen Animal Shelter canines, due to a lack of socialization caused by their experiences at puppy mills, who have trouble getting adopted. Huskies, notoriously difficult off-leash, make up a big part of this demographic.
Bandit and Thor, two huskies, have been at the shelter longer than any other animal. They and their counterparts are the profiles who grace the advertisements in the newspaper weekly, their photos appearing again and again despite adoption rates bouncing back post-COVID 19.
“People love turn-key, easy dogs,” Sachson said. “But they’re living beings, not machines, highly influenced by so many factors. For dogs like Bandit and Thor, the label I have in my mind is that we’re more of a sanctuary for those dogs.”
What makes Aspen Animal Shelter, which also takes in and adopts out cats, different from a large number of rescues is that Sachson isn’t willing to adopt out these more difficult dogs to just anyone. Sachson’s favorite part of his job is pairing people with dogs who are the right fit, and he said he’ll never sacrifice a dog’s needs just to get it out of the shelter and have it potentially returned to the system.
“We want to find homes for the dogs, but not where we’re putting the dogs at risk with someone who can’t handle them,” Sachson said. “These guys are much better off living here with a pack of dogs they know, being fed good food, running around on my property.”
Sachson owns multiple acres in the area that he’ll take the shelter’s longer-term residents to run around and play. Aspen Animal Shelter also has a robust volunteer program made up of a diverse range of community members who socialize and give love to the dogs not yet adopted. Sometimes, those showing up have just lost their own dog or are going through a breakup, and the socializations are also giving them support they need.
“When people come here and spend time with the animals, they’re both benefitting,” Sachson said. “My biggest takeaway from this job, what I love, everything I’m describing, comes down to the word community. It’s all about community, about people who, for whatever their reasons are, want to spend time with these animals and the dogs who don’t discriminate. They can’t care if you have $1 million in your bank account or $1,000. They don’t care what car you drive. They are equal opportunity lovers who can never get too much love back.”
Bland Nesbit has been volunteering with the Aspen Animal Shelter since 1991. According to her, showing up for the dogs is indeed a “feel good” for the shelter’s residents, herself, and the rest of the volunteer community.
“You get a lot out of it,” Nesbit said. “The dogs give back to you. Sometimes, if you’re having a bad day, to go walk a dog at the shelter is a really helpful thing.”
Nesbit is part of a core group of dedicated volunteers that she said especially gravitates toward the dogs that have been there the longest.
And not all hope is lost for those long-term residents. Last month, siblings ZuZu and Petals finally got adopted together after three years in the shelter. They now live outside of Basalt at Sopris Mountain Ranch.
“They’re doing great,” said John and Nancy Olson, the adoptive parents of ZuZu and Petals. “We’ve known Seth for a long time. He’s created a community at the shelter that’s such a great home — even these girls had a great home for those three years. He’s just done this amazing job where it is so much more than a shelter.”
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