Nondescript from the outside, Stroud’s new dog pound might be hard to spot, if it weren’t for the unmistakable sound of dogs barking that becomes clearly discernible when nearing the building.
The building was formerly the high school agriculture building, and was donated to the city for the dog pound, when the schools built a new ag building.
“We can’t say enough to the city for making this available to the community and to the animals, because it’s important,” animal control officer Kerri Hamlett said. “It’s a great deal.”
The indoor remodel was finished to the point of moving the dogs from the old pound to the new building just in front of it around the beginning of May, and the former pound building has been torn down.
“There’s really no comparison to the old versus the new building,” Stroud city manager Bob Pearman said.
Pens for the dogs were built inside the new building, as seen pictured to the right, with a state of the art flushing system that rinses away waste, an office and a bathroom.
“I’m ecstatic to have something like this because it’s pretty high tech considering we’re a small rural area and we [now] have, in my opinion, one of the better dog pounds or dog facilitates around,” Hamlett said.
Continued improvement plans for the pound include adding shelter beds for the dogs and building an outdoor exercise pen.
Hamlett said as many of the dogs are shifted to animal shelters or adopted as possible.
“A lot of our dogs go to rescues, unless they are sick,” she said.
The pound works in cooperation with Cimarron Valley Humane Society to find the dogs homes.
“[T]he rescue that I work with [...] comes out, personality tests the dogs, and then they get placed in foster care and then they get adopted through their adoption agency and I work with her out of Stillwater,” Hamlett said.