Animal Shelter in final stages of opening

The Pocatello Animal Shelter is moving into its new building this weekend. The move will start Saturday and finish Tuesday, Feb. 10. The shelter will be closed during that time and will reopen on Wednesday as the new Pocatello Animal Shelter and Adoption Center.

Animal Shelter Director Mary Remer is excited about the new opportunities a new building will bring to the shelter’s services.

The new education center is intended for a variety of staff, volunteer and public classes.

“For everybody who adopts an dog from us, we want to start offering some dog training classes,” Remer said. “We want to help them transition into the new home and help work out some of the kinks so the dog doesn’t come back.”

Remer is also looking forward to what they’re calling the cat bowl, a display area for adoptable cats to interact with each other and the public. When they’re not in the bowl, they will be back in their kennels.

The new cat kennels feature guillotine doors between the main space and two smaller spaces for food and water.

Overall the new shelter has room for 20 more cats and 20 more dogs, and designated puppy areas up front.

One of the new features in some of the dog kennels is the guillotine door. The door slides up and down on a track. Shelter workers will simply pull on the cord and the door will open.

When it opens, the dog can head outside and take care of business. The kennel workers can then clean the kennels more quickly, and in the warmer months, the door can stay open to allow the dogs more room to roam.

Remer is also looking forward to putting volunteers to good use. While the shelter is increasing capacity, they are not increasing employees. Remer said they will be relying on volunteers now more than ever, especially in the office.

“We have a lot of volunteers who want to help out in the office, but we can’t have them there,” Remer said. “We just don’t have any room. Now we have a lot more workspace, and there’s just a lot more workstations that we can use.”

Remer said among many ideas for the new shelter is getting younger people and kids involved with volunteering.

Remer said everyone at the shelter is looking forward to helping animals find new forever homes from the shelter’s new forever home.