It all started with Jingles

**Jeri Dreyer is shown with a min pin (miniature pinscher) that is up for adoption. Jeri’s passion for animals led to an award for the Denison Animal Pound.** Photo By gordon wolf

Last week Wednesday, Jeri Dreyer, manager of the Denison Animal Pound, was presented with an award from the Best Friends Network in recognition of achieving a no-kill shelter status for 2022.

The Best Friends Network, located in Utah, is the biggest rescue in the nation and averages around 1,600 animals at all times, Jeri explained.

She was surprised by the award, presented at the Denison City Council meeting, because she had forgotten that the Best Friends Network had called some time ago.

“About a year ago I got a telephone call. They wanted to know if I could send my records,” Jeri said. “I did, after I removed people’s names. I didn’t know why they wanted to see my records, and they didn’t say, but I have nothing to hide. I had forgotten about it. Then at city hall they told me about the award.”

The no-kill shelter status is for exceeding a 90% save rate for cats and dogs. Jeri said the pound is always at or above 90% and has even gone as high as a 98% save rate.

She goes to great lengths to find a home for every cat and dog. The exception is dogs that are too dangerous to adopt out.

Jeri’s love of animals began at an early age with a little black cocker spaniel named Jingles.

“I went to three different grade schools, two different junior high schools and two or three different high schools, but my best friend was my dog because we never lived anywhere long enough to really make friends,” she said.

Jeri was born in Sioux Rapids and then her father went into construction. She lived in Storm Lake (at least two different times), Albert City, Sibley and Marathon.

Jingles was not only a trusted friend but also a trustworthy source of transportation when Jeri was in grade school.

“My mother worked at a factory, and when it was time for her to get off work, I put on my roller skates and put the leash on Jingles and he would pull me,” she said. “It was several blocks to the factory, and he knew the routine.”

Jeri came to Denison with her husband, Ron, and their two children, Brent and Jessica, in 1977 and a year later started grooming dogs at the veterinary clinic at the corner of Highway 30 and 20th Street, now called Lincoln Highway Animal Hospital. She started with Dr. T. A. Willroth, then worked for Dr. Kevin McKeown when he purchased the clinic and now works for the current owner, Dr. Beth Reineke.

“I just enjoy being with animals,” she added.

She uses Petfinder and the pound’s websites (denisoncitypound.com or denisoncitypound.org – both work) and also works with rescue organizations to find homes for the animals.

An example of a long-distance success story is a huge malamute weighing 120 pounds, probably the biggest dog that was a guest at the pound in Jeri’s time there.

“A rescue had already interviewed somebody and had them on a waiting list, so the rescue was in contact with me,” Jeri recalled. “The family that was going to adopt him lived in Kansas City, so the day after Thanksgiving my husband and I drove to the airport in Kansas City where the head of this rescue flew in from Atlanta, Georgia. He met us at the airport, and then we met the new family.”

Another time Jeri and Ron drove to Wisconsin.

“I had a little black cocker spaniel here, and he reminded me so much of Jingles. But he had dry eye and so was mainly blind,” Jeri said. “I found a rescue in Wisconsin that guaranteed me he would not be put down. The rescue would find him a family and give him a retirement package where they would pay for three haircuts a year and pay for his eye medicine, because it was quite expensive. So on our anniversary (in September), Ron and I drove to Wisconsin to this rescue so I could kind of check it out. The rescue got the dog a wonderful home. The dog’s new family sent me a picture.”

Jeri said she loves it when families that adopt dogs or cats from the pound send pictures and keep in touch with her.

“I’ve had people come here from New York, Boston and Alaska,” she added. “I’ll meet them at the airport (in Omaha) or they’ll fly into Omaha and then drive up here.”

She recalled one woman from New York City who adopted two dogs. The woman sent crates and everything else needed for the dogs to the pound in Denison. Then she flew into Omaha, rented a SUV, drove to Denison to pick up the dogs and headed back to New York City.

“I’ve met some wonderful people through operating the pound,” Jeri said.

People travel that far to get a dog from the pound in Denison because they are looking for a certain breed, or they just fall in love with a dog or cat because of the pictures Jeri posts online.

“What you want to do is get a good picture, so when people see that picture, they fall in love and they have to have that dog or cat or come and meet them,” she said.

Jeri grooms the dogs before she photographs them.

She recalled one Sunday when she went to the pound and gave haircuts to six dogs that were going to up for adoption.

“They had to be cleaned up and spruced up because nobody would adopt them the way they looked before they were groomed,” she said.

Jeri started working at the pound on May 1, 1998, and since that time the size of the facility has doubled. The addition was done more than 10 years ago after numerous fundraisers.

“When I first took over, we had just the one kennel with eight runs, but we cover the whole county for animal control,” she explained. “The way I wanted the pound was to have the room for the animals to stay until they get a home.”

Those who want to help the pound can bring bags of Purina dog food.

“I ask for Purina because it’s the most reasonably priced and the dogs do good on it. I try to keep them on one food so they don’t have gastric problems,” Jeri said.

She continued that Walmart in Denison and Carroll donate food.

If other brands of dog food are donated, Jeri mixes those with the Purina.

She explained that stores are not carrying as much dog food these days so there aren’t as many torn bags.

“We are running pretty short, and having that food is the secret to keeping the dogs here,” Jeri said.

She explained if the City of Denison had to buy all that food, she wouldn’t be able to house the dogs as long as she does.

“Getting our food donated is a way these guys (dogs) can have the time they need here to get adopted,” Jeri said.

The pound also receives donations of medicines, such as worming medicines, from veterinary clinics.

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Denison Mayor Pam Soseman (right) presented Jeri Dreyer with a plaque from the Best Friends Network for having a no-kill shelter for calendar year 2022. Jeri is the manager of the Denison Animal Pound.

Some dogs are long-term guests. A dog Jeri adopted out last week Thursday had been at the pound since September.

But Blue is the longest resident of the pound – five years – because he is not adoptable.

Blue is a pit bull who years ago wouldn’t let people go into or out of the convenience store in Vail, Jeri explained. He had to be darted by law enforcement to be taken to the pound.

“I just kind of fell in love with him because he’s got a really good heart and he is not aggressive to other animals,” she explained. “When he woke up (from being darted), I could see the kindness in his eyes. He goes out with me when I do the chores at the pound.”

Jeri said she jokes with the police that she hired Blue for pound security.

She added Blue will stare down any dog he thinks will give her problems.

The Denison Animal Pound is a state licensed facility, and state law says that any animal adopted must be spayed or neutered within 30 days. The new owners have to pay a $50 spay or neuter deposit which is refunded once they turn in the paperwork with the veterinarian’s signature. Many people, however, ask that the deposit be retained to help with the operation of the pound. If the paperwork isn’t turned in within 30 days, the new owner is contacted and is told they have to return the animal.

Dogs and cats that end up at the pound can be adopted out after seven days. That’s the amount of time the owner has to come and claim their pet and pay an impoundment fee.

“A few dogs go up for adoption right at the seven days. If they aren’t, it’s because I need to work with them on socialization and things like that,” Jeri said.

That was the case with a chocolate lab mix that Jeri adopted out last week.

“She was so shy when she came in that you could hardly see her because if you’d go outside the pound, she’d go inside, and if you came in, she’d go out,” she explained. “I couldn’t touch her for weeks, so I just let her figure out that I wasn’t going to hurt her and that I was going to be here for her. Then, suddenly, it was just like she was asking, ‘Can I be your friend?’ When the woman and her daughter came to meet her (last week), she was playing ball with them.”

It just takes some time and patience to work with animals, Jeri pointed out.

“If I have a real bashful dog or a dog that’s not socialized well, when people come in, I’ll have them offer a treat whether they’re interested in that dog or not,” she said. “You just have to let them know that nobody’s here to hurt them.”

Some dogs that come into the pound haven’t been treated very well and need time to trust people again.

Jeri not only cares for animals at the pound but has adopted some herself. She and Ron used to have four dogs adopted from the pound, but they all got old, and one after the other died.

“The one that broke my heart the most was a goldendoodle,” she said. “My kids said they’d get me a new dog but I said no, I couldn’t.”

But at Christmas two years ago her kids presented Jeri with a French bulldog, and then about a year later Jeri and Ron got another French bulldog.

Lulu and Rosie, who are inseparable, are the first dogs Jeri and Ron have had that haven’t been adopted from the pound.

Jeri is very good at reading the personality of dogs, which helps when people come in to adopt an animal.

“If I don’t think a dog is going to be a good fit for a family, I will tell them right away because I don’t want that dog coming back,” she explained.

However, if a family adopts a dog and it just doesn’t work out, she encourages people to return the animal to the pound so a new family can be matched with the dog.

Jeri said one woman called and said the dog she adopted had too much energy for the family, but she was afraid to bring the dog back to the pound because she thought it would be put down.

“It really bothers me that people think that if they bring a dog back to the pound that I’m going to destroy it,” Jeri said. “I will keep the dog here until I find a new family. It’s work, but I don’t mind the work; it’s for a good cause.”