New PAW Shelter taking shape

Good stewards

We felt we were very good stewards of the people’s money. We wanted it to look nice and be timeless so we went with materials that will last a long time. We didn’t want it to look like a Morton building and the designers did a good job with that.”

Sandy Brown, PAW Director

FORT MADISON – The first step into the new PAW Animal Shelter is jaw-dropping.
The $6.5 million project is on track to be completed by the end of the year, but Director Sandy Brown is hoping to have the dog kennels and runs in before the weather gets too cold.
Schickedanz Construction is managing the construction with about six local contractors.
Project manager Pebbles Schneider said everything is on track to have the facility completed structurally before January, just a bit behind schedule.
She said cost overruns are typical on a project like this, but construction is coming along according to bids on the work.
“It’s going to be a little bit longer than we expected with lead times on materials and getting things scheduled. We had some delays in the beginning, but we’re moving along especially with the big dog runs in back,” she said.
Officials are hoping to have those runs done soon so when colder temperatures set in, the dogs have an indoor facility to allow them to get out of the cold Iowa temperatures. Brown said the big dogs like Huskies and St. Bernards, which thrive in the colder temperatures, will still be able to be outside.
The current facility is 1,800 square feet, but the new facility will be more than 20,000 square feet.
Brown said that increase in size is coming at the right time. She said pet adoption has bottomed out over the past six months as a result of the economy and post-COVID.
“A bag of dog food has gone through the roof. The cost of everything is going up and pets are no exception. Adoption has just bottomed out and we have a lot of animals right now,” Brown said.
“We come in and say is it big enough, then we come again and say, ‘Oh, this is really big’, then the next time…is it big enough. It’s going to be a beautiful building and they are really working hard to get it done,” she said.
The new facility will have indoor kennel runs on the south side of the facility with outdoor dog areas in between each kennel run. Those runs have 32 kennels per run giving them more than 100 kennels. The north side of the facility is reserved for cats and cat runs.
There is also a surgical suite included for spaying and neutering and other medical needs. Every room in the facility will have a floor drain for easy cleaning. Brown said the plumbing and HVAC work accounted for more than $1 million of the construction budget. She said the kennels and dog runs were also more than $1 million to build.
“In animal shelters, that’s where the money is spent. It isn’t spent on niceties, it’s the infrastructure and animal safety that gets the attention,” Brown said.
There will also be meet-and-greet rooms for potential pet owners to sit with the animals to see if they are a nice fit. There is also room for expansion on the west and north sides. Brown said she’d like to build an outdoor pet park where people could take animals they are thinking of adopting to a “park” to see if a good relationship exists.
She said the new facility will bring a richer sense of individualism and professionalism.
“We’ll have greeting rooms where you can sit and interact with the dog. People won’t be coming and going and the phone won’t be ringing. It will be more professional and way more comfortable,” she said.
“Right now, we have so many animals and it’s so noisy inside that we just take people outside to talk. We sometimes even have to go outside to take a phone call.”
Prior to the pandemic, Brown said the shelter had raised enough money to complete the project. Now with procurement issues and costs escalating, funds are coming up about $1.5 million short.
“We may have to go to some banks and tell them this is where we’re at. We’re looking at doing a few more fundraisers to try and wrap it up,” she said.
“We felt we were very good stewards of the people’s money. We wanted it to look nice and be timeless so we went with materials that will last a long time. We didn’t want it to look like a Morton building and the designers did a good job with that.
“Eventually after we’re done here, we’ve talked about our own dog park on the west side where potential pet owners could take their dog out for a walk and interact with the animal. Not for the public, but for people looking to get a feel for the animal."
Brown said the facility will probably be one of the top five facilities in the state with the Animal Rescue League facility in Des Moines being the largest. This project has been downsized by about 10,000 feet.
Brown even took painters' tape and taped off the size of the kennels, brought tables in to represent the walls and then got down on her hands and knees and crawled around to see if the big dogs would have enough room.
“I’m visual. I have to see it. I made them do that twice because I wasn’t sure. So a lot of thought has gone into this. Pebbles and Schickedanz have been great. I ask a lot of stupid questions and they get me answers.”