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Four-legged guests will get five-star treatment at the new Bellwether Harbor in Fremont, Michigan. The facility-with animal-friendly features like lots of light and plenty of exercise room will be anything but your typical animal shelter.
A granting organization established in 1994, the Bellwether Foundation is dedicated to responding to the problem of homeless and abandoned animals. The purpose of the program is to pair pets with humans and assist in building a strong bond between them. The new facility is scheduled to be completed in early 2002.
Muskegon Construction Company (MCC) partnered with architectural firm Tower Pinkster Titus for the design/build project. "Because the facility is designed for animals, we had to take many unique factors into consideration," said Julie Lyvere, Project Manager for MCC. "Working as a design/build team allowed us to address these special requirements early in the project."
The 13,300-square-foot building holds 12 dog kennels and a cattery that can house up to 20 cats. It also includes exam, surgery, and grooming rooms for dogs and cats and a training apartment that will be used to train service dogs for people with disabilities.
Training animals as future family pets is also an integral component of the Bellwether Harbor's mission. Volunteers will use the new facility's 60' x 40' training room to interact with the dogs and teach basic obedience commands, making the animals better candidates for adoption. Area groups can also rent the space to hold their own training and obedience classes.
"I'd say the number one reason why animals have been abandoned is because of unwanted behavior," said Dani Merrill, president and founder of the Bellwether Foundation.
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"Some of these behaviors are natural to dogs in their own environment. But what may be natural to them becomes unwanted in someone's home. Both animals and humans need to be trained in order to understand how to bridge that gap."
The new facility provides a safe, comfortable place for that training to occur. Full-size doors, painted walls, and plenty of windows make the animal "cages" look more like individual rooms. Indoor runs attached to the kennels give the dogs room to exercise, while the cattery includes a climbing area for cats to exercise and interact. Piped-in music will help calm distressed animals. The floors are sealed concrete so they can be easily cleaned, and a state-of-the-art ventilation system will keep odors to a minimum.
"Everything has been designed to provide maximum comfort and health for the animals," said Erie Toney, Project Superintendent for MCC. "Take the kennel floors, for example. The concrete has anti-microbial additives to fight bacteria, as well as in-floor heating to increase the dogs' comfort."
"We are not necessarily focusing on getting homeless animals in and out the door," says Merrill. "Instead, we want to make sure that the right people find the right pet and that the animals who come to us have a comfortable, caring place to stay while that process is taking place."
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