Shelter on the Hill: A Humane Society

We’d like to introduce SOTH’s cattery manager, Robin Reno. She has served as Manager since Connie retired at the end of 2022. Here is her story:

Family: I moved to Frazier Park from the San Fernando Valley in 1986 to raise my daughter. I’m now the proud grandma of 6. Also part of the family is my dog Bear and my 4 cats. Bear loves to help with the kitties, cleaning and socializing. My cats' names are Nitro, Hemi Engine, Chevy Corvette, Karmann Ghia, fka Tilly. Tilly came into the Shelter with a broken leg. While fostering her during her recovery from leg amputation I fell in love with her. She became the 4th cat in the Reno family. Her name is Karmann Ghia as all of my boys have car/truck names!

Volunteering: I have volunteered with both dogs and cats at Shelter on the Hill for 8 years now. I took over the cattery manager’s position when Connie retired at the end of 2022. I foster kittens in my home when they need special care or bottle feeding.

Bottle Babies: Thirty years ago I helped rescue a cat from a tree. To my surprise I noticed her 4 kittens at the neighbor’s house. The mom cat wanted nothing to do with the litter of kittens, so I bottle fed my first litter of kittens. This was the beginning of my devotion to fostering bottle babies.

Dressmaking; I have had a dressmaking and alteration business for 47 years, serving the mountain communities since 1986.

Joy Horner took a few minutes away from her volunteer time at Shelter on the Hill Animal Care Center today to talk with us. We asked Joy to share her enthusiasm for adopting senior shelter animals and why she is a part of the success of Shelter on the Hill.

Joy and Bob Horner have four dogs and one feral tortie cat. All of their pets are rescues. "Ruthie" is their 15 year old German Shorthair Pointer. She came from the Bakersfield SPCA. "Harry" is a local SPCA foster rescue. Joy said he is a foster fail, meaning the Horners ended up keeping this 7 year old Poodle/Chihuahua/Rat Terrier boy. Heart throb "Enzo" is a Cairn Terrier blend, SOTH alum, who was adopted as a senior dog only to have his new owner pass away. Joy was quick to adopt Enzo when he came back to the Shelter a second time. He’s now about 16-years old. New girl on the block is "Willow". Willow is just seven months old. Joy knew immediately when she saw her at SOTH that Willow could be her walking & exercise companion. Willow has beautiful black and white coloring. Joy researched her DNA and got feedback from Shelter friends on what breed she might be. Nobody could guess her lineage. Willow is 24% Staffy, 13% Australian cattle dog, 7% St Bernard (yikes), 7% Husky and the remainder is small percentages of hunting and herding dogs. We can say for sure that she is a very lucky dog to have found her perfect home. We want to remember one more dog, "Emma". The Horners adopted elderly poodle mix Emma because they wanted her to have a loving home at the end of her life. They had Emma for about 10 months and made sure she knew she was loved.

Joy began volunteering at SOTH in 2014. Due to family obligations she stopped volunteering for a little while but is very happy to be back in 2020 on a regular basis. Joy works with both dogs and cats. Most recently she has been working in the Cattery and said considering she was once allergic to cats this is fantastic.

One of the things Joy appreciates overall is the reputation for good work that Shelter on the Hill has in the community. Several of their neighbors have adopted dogs from the Shelter and it is fun to see them as her neighbors. Joy remembers the mountain community before Shelter on the Hill opened and recognizes the volunteer team effort, congenial coworkers, spay/neuter advances, training and home visits that SOTH participates in to make adoption work. One observation is that each volunteer shows extra love and attention to the adoptable pets which helps them find their forever person.

It was an unseasonably hot Saturday morning in September when the contractor for SOTH's Animal Care Center stopped by to check on a construction issue. The interior of the shelter was complete but there were still a number of outside issue that were waiting for county approval before an official opening. But at the front door our contractor found a dilapidated cardboard box, stained and stinky with feces, containing nine 5-week old puppies - and the call went out for help! Robin was there that afternoon and has been volunteering (along with husband John) one or more shifts every week since that fateful day. Here's Robin's recollection:

It all started around Sept/Oct. 2013 when John received a phone call from Candace wanting to know if I wanted to volunteer at SOTH. They just had nine puppies dropped off at the doorstep. John told Candace that I could volunteer, but that I couldn't bring any puppies home. At that time of year it was getting dark early, so I asked John to accompany me. John couldn't just sit there, so he started helping me. We have been volunteering ever since. Of course, I fell in love with the puppies and wanted one. John new he couldn't win this one, so we picked out #7, because of her floppy ears. Over Thanksgiving we brought her home for a trial to make sure she would get along with a cat that I already owned. We named her Koko. However, I wanted a lap dog. When we took her to the vet for her first checkup, we were told that she would be around 50 to 60l bs. I said "well, so much for a lap dog."

Then comes Tue. Now I work in the cattery at SOTH and this kitten came in that looked just like my cat at home that was a rescue, also. SOTH still wasn't open yet. I told John that Trudy needs a companion, because we are always going away. Needless to say, I talked John into having another cat. Since we brought her home on Tuesday, we decided on Tue.

After all this, I still wanted a lap dog. Sadie was at the shelter for 5 weeks before I could talk John into letting me bring her home. Every time we were at the shelter I would hold her and play with her. One day we were getting ready to leave and John said "you can bring her home for a trial only." Well, the rest is history.

Koko and Sadie are greatly involved in our lives. We take them everywhere from riding ATV and Side by sides to riding wave runners (jet skis). It seems that every where we take them, people are always stopping us to take pictures of them.

The rewards we have received from adopting our animals from the shelter are great, but we are also blessed with the volunteers we work with.

That being said, our family now consists of 2 dogs, 2 cats, 2 chickens and 2 tortoises.

Robin & John