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We know our services and programs impact you, so let's talk about them! Together we'll learn from the people behind the scenes and get to know our city a little better. From the City of Winnipeg, this is Our City, Our Podcast.
We know our services and programs impact you, so let's talk about them. Together, we'll learn from the people behind the scenes and get to know our city a little better. From the city of Winnipeg, this is Our City, Our Podcast.
Rachel:This podcast is recorded in Treaty 1 Territory, the home and traditional lands of the Anishinaabe, Ininew, and Dakota peoples, and in the national homeland of the Red River Metis. We acknowledge that our drinking water comes from Shoal Lake 40 First Nation in Treaty 3 Territory.
Rachel:Hi. I'm Natalie.
Rachel:And I'm Rachel.
Rachel:And this is Our City, Our podcast. Now, Rachel, are you a pet owner?
Rachel:I sure am. I have a dog that I adopted from animal services. Her name is Nellie because she's very nervous.
Rachel:But, you know, this is exactly what we wanna talk about today because, there is despite some maybe some some bruises, some dents, some real gems available at animal services.
Rachel:A gem, but yeah. It's a it's a real responsibility caring for a dog. That's for sure. Our next guest, Leland Gordon, the general manager of Winnipeg Animal Services, will talk all about that responsibility and the joys, that he encounters in his really rough work at animal services. Thanks for speaking with us today, Leland.
Rachel:For those listening who don't know who you are and haven't seen you on a morning show somewhere, tell us who you are and what is your role at the city.
Leland:So, my name is Leland Goran. I'm the general manager at Animal Services. And, so we have a a small operation right at right at Logan and McPhillips where we, we enforce the responsible pet ownership by law. We have an animal shelter where we care for dogs, and we have pet licensing. We also have, when people license their dogs and cats, you know, that generates revenue of course to provide services in our community.
Leland:So, we have a very close relationship with our friends at the Winnipeg Humane Society where we provide funding to help pay for the care of cats over there, spay and neuter programs, emergency treatment for sick and injured dogs and cats, and lots of other great stuff. So, it's a little little animal shelter, right at Logan and McPhillips, but we do a lot in our community.
Rachel:And as far as as your time with the city, is this your first job that you've held with the city?
Leland:It is. You know, I volunteered for a year before, at animal services before I got this job. And, you know, when I was there, I was like, my dream was to run animal services, you know. And I was coming in, volunteering, walking the dogs, taking them for walks in the community, taking pictures, and putting them on, online, trying to get these dogs adopted. We put them on the city of Winnipeg's website, winnipeg.ca, of course, petfinder.com, and, just try to save as many dogs as possible by getting them up for adoption.
Leland:And so when I heard that my predecessor is retiring, you know, I, in the states, I'm, used to live in the states. I ran 2 big animal shelters down there and I was like, I'm gonna get this job. You know, I've run 2 shelters. I've been volunteering since I was in university also. And, and so the opportunity came up.
Leland:My predecessor retired. And, so I've been with the city for about 14 years, running animal services.
Rachel:How long is that in dog years, Leland?
Leland:I don't know, I'm not really good at math, unfortunately. So whatever that is times 7.
Rachel:Yeah. That's a long time to be at animal services. What are some interesting initiatives you've undertaken since you've started?
Leland:Well, so we've got a great team of staff and volunteers. So we've all worked together to come up with some great initiatives. But, you know, one of the coolest things that we started years ago was getting on social media. Right? And so, I encourage your listeners to like Winnipeg Animal Services on, Facebook, Instagram, and x, and we feature, pictures of dogs for adoption, events coming up, donation opportunities.
Leland:People also send in photos and stories about dogs they've adopted from animal services. We also feature our doggy dates. So if you feel sad for dogs in animal services, you know, I encourage people to follow us on social media because you can maybe you're not in a position to adopt, but you can share the photos and try and get those dogs adopted. And I encourage you, but if people feel sorry for dogs or cats, in animal shelters, whether it be animal services or other facilities or rescue groups in Manitoba that adopt your next dog or cat, from an animal shelter or rescue.
Rachel:Now I'm sure you get this question all the time, but have you adopted a dog from the animal services?
Leland:I have. Of course, I have. All our my dogs is, have always been adopted from animal shelters, and I have a a large, a 115 pound American Bulldog, Mix, who I adopted, from animal services. And the funny thing with that story is, we it was my wife's birthday weekend, I believe. Yes.
Leland:And, there was this cute dog, you know, at animal services that named, we named Millie. You know? And, can we bring the dog home just for a doggy date on the weekend for my birthday because we were dogless at the time. Right? And so what a doggy date is is you can check out a dog like a library book from animal services just for fun.
Leland:Right? And so you could take the dog home, you can take the dog to green spaces. We have 3 malls in Winnipeg, so Kildonan Place, Grant Park, and, Saint Vital Mall. Their managements actually allow our dogs inside their facilities, which is awesome. And so you can have a dog for a day up to a week.
Leland:And we've actually had people take their dogs to, their fancy cabins in the White Shell, which I don't have, of course. Right? So we yada yada yada, we brought the dog home, of course, for the dog it did just for the weekend, and she never came back. So a handful of those people will end up adopting the dog. And then the other people just wanna help.
Leland:So we have doggy daters who are coming in veg very regularly to animal services, just to help. Maybe they're not in a position to add another dog to the home. Maybe they're a college student and they're just not ready for a dog, for whatever reason. And so we have people we see very regularly. There's probably 2 or 3 families a day coming into animal services to take dogs on doggy dates and once they start doing this, we call them serial doggy daters and we actually have a cute key chain that says serial doggy dater that we give out to those people and so that will help, you know, expand the program in our community, hopefully.
Rachel:So aside from doggy the doggy date program, what are some other options for people who who maybe wanna just hang out with a dog but don't necessarily wanna own 1?
Leland:Yeah. So the Dog A Gates is really the best for that, just taking one out. But we also have a a small volunteer program, and there's information about volunteering on the City Winnipeg website in the animal services section. We also have fostering. So if you're a very experienced dog owner and sometimes we have dogs that are a little bit broken, you know, and they need some help.
Leland:Right? Maybe they're not maybe they don't like dogs. Maybe they don't like men. Maybe they haven't had the greatest life. Right?
Leland:So that's where we need like really experienced fosters to take the dog out of the shelter and spend time within in a home. And so we still feature the dog up for adoption while it's in that person's home, because the shelter is not a great environment for dogs. Right? It's very sad when you come there. It's sad for our dogs.
Leland:It's sad for our staff and volunteers, but also so we do everything we can to try and get these dogs adopted out as soon as possible. And then as far as volunteering, right? Yes, with volunteering, you can walk the dogs, but you can also do really other exciting things like lots of dishes and laundry. And just think about how how you could come come to animal services. You could do, like, a 100 stainless steel dog bowls, and then you can, like, brag in the community.
Leland:You know? You know, you you have a you have a relative in your family complaining about doing the dishes at home, and you're like, really? Do you know what do you know what it's like to do dishes? How about hand washing a 100, stainless steel dog bowls. Right?
Leland:So we actually have a team of volunteers that do that every day where they're doing dishes and laundry. They make play with dogs while they're there. So anyway, I hope you enjoyed that. It's a pretty another very exciting thing we have at animal services. Lots of dishes and laundry.
Rachel:Working with animal services, I have a question for you. In that, is it is it a good space for an animal lover, or does it have its ups its ups and downs?
Leland:Well, it has its ups and downs. It's a great space to an adult. Before I got this job, I volunteered like at 6 shelters in the states. I ran shelters. I you know what?
Leland:There's people that want to help as many dogs as possible and save as many lives as possible. And that's where you go and volunteer at an animal shelter like animal services. Right? Like, we're not in the greatest area. We don't have, like, walking trails or any of that kind of stuff.
Leland:Like, it's it's, it's an industrial type area right at Logan and McPhillips there. Right? So we have a very small team of volunteers, that come and help. We have some volunteers which are just awesome, and they come and try and walk every single dog in the building. And they'll take the dog down Logan, you know, past the recycling facility, you know, doing all and they'll come in with a goal to walk every single dog in the facility, and we're absolutely grateful for that support.
Leland:So if you are an animal lover, animal services is a great place to volunteer. You don't have the time to do all that stuff as far as being a volunteer. The easiest thing to do is just to take a dog on a doggy date because there's no there's no schedule. You just come down when you have time, and we're open, of course. Right?
Leland:And they'll tell our staff will match you with the appropriate dogs and then you take a dog out. Right? That's a very easy way to take a dog for a walk. And you can zip it around the outside of our building or you can take the dog in your car, go to Kildonan Park, go to any green space. And that's just a really, fun and easy thing to do.
Rachel:And yet I understand there are some some some hardships going on right now, when it comes to, current overflow issues.
Leland:Yeah. And so as we know, there's a handful of people. If you if you see national media, there's a handful of people who during the pandemic went out and got dogs with really not the intention or whatever for caring for that dog for the entire life of the dog, whether it be 10 to 15 years. Right? And so shelters and rescues across Canada are really struggling right now with too many people surrendering dogs or dumping their dogs on the streets.
Leland:So that happened during the pandemic. A small percentage of people did that. But also we're still seeing people going out and getting dogs, people who aren't in a position to properly care for a dog. And that includes the the high cost of veterinary care, the costs of, you know, a a a good bag of high quality dog food starts at $60. Right?
Leland:Training. You know? If you all dogs should have training. Right? And so training is expensive.
Leland:Right? And and so there's all there's there are we are seeing more and more people who have continued to not stop and think. So I'm sure it's it's great having a dog. We love to snuggle dogs. Yes.
Leland:Snuggling is a great thing. Right? However
Rachel:Top ten favorite things.
Leland:Absolutely. But when you add a dog to your family, it's like adding another kid. Right? And there is not
Rachel:A kid with a goldfish brain.
Leland:That's right. Right? And so there there's not there's not free there's not free veterinary care. There's not free food. You know, these so we we encourage people before you get a dog, to stop and think.
Leland:Do you have the financial means to care for yourself? Do you have the financial means to care for yourself plus all the expenses that I discussed earlier? Are you ready to make a lifelong commitment? Do you have a stable home? Do you have your own home?
Leland:Do you have a stable home where you can take care of that dog? Right? And if you don't, wait. Right? Doggy date.
Leland:Right? And if you know somebody who is, like, a friend, a family member, or a coworker that's not really in the position to get a dog and you hear that they're thinking about going out and getting a dog, educate them. Right? Because we're seeing so many dogs come in, strays off the streets now, people trying to surrender their dogs at our front counter, not people not investing in training. They have a problem with the dog and the easiest thing is just get rid of the dog versus, engaging a trainer or, engaging our friends at the humane society that have lower cost training programs there.
Leland:And, you know, we have people even lying in our front counter that that they found a dog, and it's really their dog. So they'll be at our front counter going, I found this dog. Right? And they're pretending it's a stray and they'll then when they pretend it's a stray, we have to hold that dog for a certain period of time to give the owner an opportunity to find their dog. Right?
Leland:And They're never gonna come. And they're never gonna come. And now instead of now we have to hold this dog for at least a certain period of time. Right? And so it's very sad because, it's very hard on our staff and our tears caring for so many dogs.
Leland:Prior to the pandemic, we cared for about 20 dogs a day. That way the dogs could get out a lot. They could spend time with them, do enrichment. We could, you know, they have larger cages. So we have cages that you can split in half.
Leland:So when you open the split, there's more room for the dog to run around. Right? Now because we're so full, those those doors are closed and the dogs have a lot less room in their kennel. So dogs are under more stress. They bark more, they stress each other out.
Leland:Plus imagine you're, an ant, a worker at animal services having to clean 35 dogs. Now we have a team of 2 that do it every morning and then throughout the day. That's a lot of dogs versus 20. Right? And so shout out to the team of staff and volunteers at animal services for all the work and working together and collaborating with each other to, to care for those dogs.
Leland:We also have a problem where we're seeing so many dogs come in, but almost every single dog that comes into animal services is not spayed and neutered and not wearing a license. And so we're talking about spayed and neutered. How upset would Bob Barker be? Because so many people are still not spaying, neutering their pets. Did they listen to his show for all those years?
Leland:He said every single day have your pets spayed and neutered, goodbye everybody. And he just so many people just don't listen. And then when we talk to these people when their dog is impounded at animal services and not spayed and neutered, right? And we're, we, we talk to them about the advantages of spaying and neutering. Obviously it helps control a petro population, but it also reduces cancers in dogs and cats because you remove those parts.
Leland:Right? It reduces the urgency to roam. It reduces aggression in dogs. Right? And still, I would never do that to myself.
Leland:That's so mean. That's so cruel. Oh, and there's lots of people that do that to themselves as you know in the in the human world. Right? Whatever.
Leland:But what I'm saying is, like, it's so important to spaniel your pet. If you don't believe the people at animal service, ask your veterinarian which those people usually don't have either. Right? So, we need more people to be spaying and neutering their dogs and cats in Winnipeg. And, you know, you're still a tough person if you spay and neuter your pets.
Leland:Right? There's some people that think you're not tough. It's not cool. Trust me. It's tough and cool if you spay and neuter your pets.
Leland:I'll get you a special sticker for your car or something. Right? But it is tough. It is cool. It's important.
Leland:It's improving the life of your dog. It's improving the health of our communities. Right? And if you're struggling, right, and I don't really have a lot of money to spay neuter because right now the going rate to spay neuter a dog is 4 to $500 at a veterinarian. The city of Winnipeg has provided funding through pet licensing to our friends at the Winnipeg Humane Society where we have support available for residents living on low income.
Leland:So if you need help getting your dogs or cats fixed, contact the Winnipeg Humane Society and they can fix the dog or cat for a lot less. Plus with those surgeries, the animal services throws in a free 1 year pet license. And I'm a Winnipegger. I love free things. Winnipeggers like free things.
Leland:Right? What a great deal. How amazing is that. Right?
Rachel:Absolutely. And then you also reduce overcrowding because we always hate to see those posts when you say you have 35 dogs
Rachel:in a
Rachel:20 and a comfort capacity of 20. Mhmm. Just breaks breaks breaks your heart.
Rachel:You've made such an important case that you especially when you talk about the financial need. Do you have a a figure for the lifetime cost of a dog?
Leland:We don't. But if you think about it. Right? So you're probably spending a 1,000, $2,000 a year on stuff, whether it be food, vaccinations, heartworm prevention. Right?
Leland:People a lot of times we got, is your dog on heartworm prevention? They don't know what we're talking about. Right? Dogs can get heartworm disease from mosquitoes. We have lots of mosquitoes in the summer.
Leland:Right? So how do you
Rachel:Lyme from ticks?
Leland:Absolutely. How do you prevent heartworm prevention? You get go to your vet and you get a 6 months supply of of heartworm prevention. Right? However, the cheapest box usually of the stuff that does the very basic heartworm protection is 2 to $300 for a large dog.
Leland:Right? So you're probably talking 2 to $3,000 a year for everything for food, vaccines, to what now at training, that's even more. Right? But if something happens, your dog pulled its leg, you know, got into a fight with something. Right?
Leland:Or the sky's the limit. You know, it's it's regular. We hear people who whose dog has been involved in a traumatic incident where there are $5,000 plus at a veterinary clinic. Right? So people need to have funds available in case something happens, in case your dog gets sick, if your dog's out running and and picks up kennel cough from another dog or gets parvo.
Leland:Right? And of course, how do we prevent things like parvo and kennel cough? It's through vaccinations. That's right. You need to get proactive vaccinations to prevent those things.
Leland:Right? So it's important at the end of the day, you know, dogs and cats, of course, bring lots of love to us, but it's important that you have the means to provide all the protections, caring
Rachel:properly for a dog than just
Rachel:feeding the dog
Leland:cheap dog, so there is more to caring properly for a dog than just feeding the dog cheap dog food and keeping your fingers crossed that nothing bad's gonna happen. Right? And the more people who who buy into this messaging and are more responsible pen owners, the less dogs and cats we're gonna see ending up in animal shelters or rescues.
Rachel:Absolutely. I think you've talked about this a little bit. Aside from pet licensing and spaying and neutering your pets, do you have a main message to Winnipeggers?
Leland:Well, first of all, I wanna give a huge shout out to all the amazing Winnipeggers who are licensing their dogs and cats because that is, you know, that's generating revenue. Right? I will say it clearly. That is generating revenue for all the programming that we have at animal services. Right?
Leland:The majority of our funding to do everything that we do does not come from people's property taxes. It comes from pet licensing. So huge shout out to all those amazing pet owners who are licensing their dogs and cats. How do you license your dog cat? It's very easy.
Leland:The easiest way is just go to the city of Winnipeg's website, go into the animal service section, you can do it online, you can do it over the phone with 311, you can come to animal services at at Logan and McPhillips and license your pet there. And, so so that's the first piece. So when you license your pet, you know, what are you paying for? Like, do you if you if if you follow us on social media and you're happy that we're trying to save all the lives of these animals and you're seeing these great stories and doggy dates, that that's what your licensing is doing. It's helping dogs that are that are inside of animal services.
Leland:It's helping programming at the humane society including cats. Right? You know if there's a tragic house fire tonight at 2 in the morning and there's pets involved and the our friends at the Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service need our help, a team of animal services officers will respond in the middle of the night to help those animals and get those animals emergency care. And that's all included with our programming when people are licensing their pets. So it's, yeah, we hear occasionally well why should I license my my dog or cat?
Leland:My dog or cat never gets out. Well, it's not just about providing a tag for your dog and cat that'll help your dog and cat get reunited in the event that the pets lost because our friends at 301 can actually reunite dogs and cats 247 that are wearing pet licenses without those pets ever setting a paw inside but so it it reunites pets, but it also provides funding for all those amazing services that we have. And if people wanna come down and see, you can see the work that we're doing.
Rachel:But but also on the theme of of reconnections, you we also have a free release program.
Leland:Well, yeah. And of course, if if a dog is wearing a pet license, right, we usually never see them in animal services because 3 on 1 has reunited them. Right? But in the rare event the dog ends up at animal services, you know, or is impounded in one of our our vans in the community, And if it's a current pet license, our officers will drive the dog home for free. Right?
Leland:And so that's just another incentive to try and get people to license their pets.
Rachel:So what happens if you are looking for a dog but you aren't really, you know, vibing with any of the any of the pups behind bars at animal services.
Leland:Well, I this is what people need to do because if you're interested in adopting a dog, you need to go online first and research the dogs that we have with our write ups and pick a couple that you're interested in and then come on down. So we like we we prescreen people. Right? And then we'll bring those dogs out to to to meet and greet people. Usually don't people don't let people walk around the kennels because one, they it gets very stressful for the dogs.
Leland:They all start barking and one dog barks everybody's barking. Right? So do your research online. Pick out a few dogs you're interested in. Right?
Leland:And then come down and and we'll, we'll take the dog outside. You can play with the dog. You can take the dog on a doggy date. But if you don't find a dog at animal services, like we, let's get in the world where everybody's adopting as many dogs and cats as they can. Right?
Leland:So if you go online, right, City of Winnipeg's website, go to the animal search section. We feature all our dogs online. But when you go to that website, if you search out even further, like, hey, I didn't find anything in animal services. Right? You might find a dog in Brandon or Morden, right, or Regina.
Leland:We've had people drive long distances for dogs. Right? And so most of the animal shelters and rescues are featuring their dogs and cats online. Rescue their rescues each other are also doing it on social media. Right?
Leland:So do your bestest to try and adopt a dog or cat. And then if you don't find anything, just wait a week because the selection, unfortunately, is always changing. Right? An animal shelter is a rescue or rescues. And, so we really need to work together to get more people to spay and neuter, to get more people to adopt because these these numbers are not sustainable.
Leland:There's too many dogs and cats in shelters and rescues in Manitoba. I'd like to give a shout out to all the staff and volunteers that are working in shelters and rescues across Manitoba, we need to make sure that different municipalities and jurisdictions have basic animal bylaws that may include spay and neuter in them. Right? Because there's just too many people that are either purposely breeding or accidentally breeding. Right?
Leland:And it's all this ongoing unfortunate cycle where there's too many, dogs and cats ending up in shelters and rescues.
Rachel:You know, there's something that, I also hear people people say, and and you're you're the man to to ask this question too. And it's concern about, like, you already kind of referenced that there are some broken dogs out there and and and for those who might have young families or other pets in the house, maybe a desire to go with a breeder over an adopted dog out of fear of encountering one of these broken pets.
Leland:Yeah. And that's a that's a good point. However, you know, you can still teach an old dog new tricks. Right? And older dogs can still grow up with your kids.
Leland:You just miss the pooping and chewing stage, right, of those puppies. And you know what? There's so many lovely dogs that do phenomenally with children, young children. Right? And we see those from the doggy dates that people are sending in.
Leland:You know, all all the dogs I've had my entire life have all been adopted. All the dogs I've had from animal shelters, they've all grown up with my children when they were young. They were never puppies. No incidents. Nothing.
Leland:Right? So I think that you can find great dogs that would be great with children at animal shelters and rescues. And, you know, if we know a dog has some problems, right, we'll pass we'll we'll won't match the dog. Right? Don't guarantee anything of course.
Leland:Right? But we'll talk to the person. Well, this dog, you know, is probably not great with really young kids. Right? But other dogs we think, you know, are great with young kids.
Leland:That's great. And then of course, if you're not a 100% sure, you can still test drive that dog for a day and see how the dog is at home with your kids. Right? And so we actually also have a return policy which is very sad, of course. I would never return a dog.
Leland:How could you do well, you know what? If you take the dog home and it's not a match, we don't want you keeping the dog and you being miserable for 10 or 15 years. Right? We want you to return that dog so we can get you a dog that is more of a match and will be a long time partner with you. Right?
Leland:It's very rare that people return dogs to animal services, but it does happen. And, so that's also a thing where, you know, if it doesn't work out, there's some issue, bring the dog back. Right? And and you have a certain period of time to do that. And, of course, we also have pet health insurance.
Leland:I just wanna add there's pet health insurance that comes with every dog adopted from animal services, a a month free pet health insurance. So, I think that again there's lots of if if you're hesitant about adopting a dog from animal services or another animal shelter or rescue, talk to your friends, family, and co workers because somebody probably has either adopted from animal services or from another agency and they probably have great stories about how how wonderful the dog was to bring home to their kids. And, you know, a few weeks ago I took a dog to, I was bored on a Sunday and I am and, got permission to go and volunteered animal services. I don't need permission but I'm just adding that in there. But, went and picked up a huge dog that nobody's adopting.
Leland:Right? And, took the dog to to, Kelowna Place Mall and there's kids piling on top of this dog. And the dog was just performing so well. Kisses, loving, nothing and we featured those pictures on our social media channels and so there are and that was like 4 or 5 year old dog. Right?
Leland:So there's lots of dogs that we have at animal services that will perform well. And then of course when you adopt a dog, we encourage you about go train it. Right? Have your kids involved. Take the kids to a dog training course.
Leland:Right? And another way for, families to get closer, you know, going through a course. And so, yeah, I think that dogs dogs and cats from animal shows can be wonderful additions to any family.
Rachel:Absolutely. Yeah. Like, continuing on this positive train, what's the best part of the work that you do at animal services?
Leland:Well, I think if I already talked to my team, like, the the the most positive part is when dogs get adopted. Right? Or a licensed dog goes back to the owner and they are being super responsible and their dog was wearing a license and we were like all thrilled. Right? So when we have a dog that gets adopted to a new family and we educate them, of course, the proper being the proper, aspects of being a responsible pet owner.
Leland:Right? So adoptions are the favorite. When we get alumni, updates through our social media channels, an An alumni update is when somebody sends in, like, pictures and a little story about how much they love their dog and how we help them. Our our team of staff and volunteers really were great and helped get them the right match. Those are really, you know, those are nice stories that we see, and they make us feel warm and fuzzy.
Leland:I think the world needs more positivity and it all starts through dogs. Did you know that?
Rachel:I agree. Yes.
Leland:If we just if we just had more we had dogs and responsible pet owners everywhere, the world would be such a happier place. Oh, we did. Giving dog kisses, that's the solution to all the world's problems is more dog kisses and snuggles.
Rachel:Leland, you witnessed these beautiful moments so often, but do you have do you have a singular story that might stand out for an adoption or or a reunion?
Leland:Well, you know, one does come to mind. We had this dog named Wilson, who was an older, like, collie mix probably, I don't know, 10 to 13 years
Rachel:old.
Leland:So cute. Had the rare seizure. Nobody wanted Wilson. Wilson was dog aggressive, so that's a strike against him because some people don't wanna deal with a dog that doesn't like other dogs. And, so he was struggling at animal services and he got lots of media attention too, which was great.
Leland:But, he ended up finding this network of fosters through us who would be foster I can do it this week. Can you do this? And then and so these amazing people in our community fostered Wilson and they would be trading him off, right, just to keep him on the shelter because the shelter is a high stress environment. Right? And so but none the the first few people that were fostering just couldn't adopt him.
Leland:Right? I'm like, I'll pay you to take this dog. You know what I mean? Like, what do I have to do to get you in the driver's seat of this used dog? You know?
Leland:Now I've got other people interested. Do I need to throw in this barbecue over here? I wasn't talking like that. That was just me attempting to make money.
Rachel:But we
Leland:were I we were doing everything we can to get somebody to help us, and it's just wasn't working for months months months months months. And then he became one of the Winnipeg's most unwanted dogs, which is this cute little marketing thing we made on our social media channel where Winnipeg's most unwanted dog is the old style poster from the 1800 was, like, most wanted but has a dog instead. Right? And then eventually what happened was there's this lovely person who connected with the dog and then she started to foster the dog and then yada yada yada adopted. And so when that happened, media picked it up.
Leland:They did a nice story which we're grateful for. Grateful for our friends in the media. Shout out to them for helping, responsible pet ownership. And so yeah. Wilson.
Leland:Wilson's story was just a really nice positive story and people were just gushing in positivity. And that's just one dog. Right? So I I will, I stand by my statement that the world needs more positive stories with dogs, and it'll make the world a better place.
Rachel:I fully agree. I fully agree.
Leland:I do too.
Rachel:Is there anything you wanted to add before you leave us today?
Leland:I think it's really important that, you know, if you have a dog or cat, it's important you license your dog or cat. It is the law in Winnipeg but it also helps promote our program or helps fund our programming in Winnipeg. Easiest way to license your dog or cat. Go to winnipeg. Ca.
Leland:Do it online over the phone of 3 11 or come and visit us at 1057 Logan and then be a responsible pen owner. In other words, you know, if you wanna know what the the requirements are as far as the responsibilities, when you decide to get a dog or cat, it's in the responsible pet ownership by law. So our by law that we enforce is on the City of Winnipeg's website. So all the rules with what you have to do to be a responsible pet owner are are on the city's website in our section and make sure your pets don't have any impact on your neighbors. Right?
Leland:Don't let your cat roam the community. Right? Just be a positive member of our community. And then, you know, we encourage people to keep doing those doggy dates. The world need more the world needs more doggy dates too.
Leland:Right? Doggy dates are so much fun. And so if you're bored on the weekend, you wanna just come out, do a doggy date. All the information about the doggy date programming is on the City of Winnipeg's website in the animal services section. Don't need an appointment.
Leland:Just come down. And, so more doggy dates. And then, of course, thanks to everybody who's been licensing. Thanks to our team of staff and volunteers for the hard work that they do. And thanks for all city employees and and for doing all the work.
Leland:And thanks for your team putting together this great, this great podcast. Right? Because there's lots of great programming going on at the city of Winnipeg and I think it's important and it's nice that the city and our team here is taking time to showcase, different positive stories, that are going out throughout the, city structure. So thanks for that.
Rachel:No. Leland, thank you for what you do.
Leland:Here's the $20 I promised.
Rachel:Yeah. Oh my gosh. And Leland, finally, before we let you go, it's something we like to ask everyone and that is what is what, you know, do you have a top location, a top thing that you love about Winnipeg?
Leland:So this is an interesting story. Years ago, I used to be a commercial airline pilot in the States. I flew for US Air, which doesn't exist anymore. It was bought by American Airlines. So I love airplanes.
Leland:I'm a super nerd when it comes to airplanes. Right? Even though I don't fly anymore. And so my favorite place, I would say, is the new aviation museum that's right next to the airport. It's right next to the terminal.
Leland:And so I love going there too much. I have a family membership there, and it was just such a great place. So when they built the new one, it's like now I'm like on this new high. Oh, my god. There's a new aviation museum.
Leland:Right? And so like every other weekend, I'm like, what are we doing this weekend? You know, to my family, like, like, can we go can we go to the aviation museum? My wife will be like, Leland, it's the same planes you saw last week. Well, well, I'm like, but I need to check to make sure they're okay.
Leland:Like, I'm like and so I love going to that aviation museum.
Rachel:It looks different at different angles.
Leland:Oh, it's so cool.
Rachel:Or counterclockwise.
Leland:That's right.
Rachel:Yep. So
Leland:I encourage you, but if you really like, you know, airplanes and you're looking for something fun to do, check out the aviation museum, which is right at the airport.
Rachel:Join us next month when we connect with Mark Kinsley at Water and Waste.
Rachel:That's right. We're talking trash or, I guess, diverting. More it's about recycling, really.
Rachel:And before we go, we'd love to hear from our listeners. What are programs and services that impact you the most? Email us at city podcast@winnepeg.ca with suggestions for future episodes. Thanks for listening.