City of Townsend Sports Updated Dog Kennel
Author: mt43news staff reporter
City of Townsend Sports Updated Dog Kennel
MT43 News Staff Reporter
It’s a new day at the City’s Dog Kennel. Located west of the Cedar Street garbage site, the pound, as it is referred to, was a dilapidated building. With Animal Control Officer John Stenzel’s hard work, the facility has become a 1st class dog kennel.
The area holds up to five animals in spacious kennels complete with air conditioning and soon to have heating. Jeneth Roberts of Roberts Custom Dream Homes renovated the building and AdaZ Concrete laid a new patio run where the animals can exercise in an enclosed outside kennel. The building has plenty of storage for clean bedding, clean food and water bowls. Stenzel does take donations of bedding for the kennels. “I approached the Council about renovating the facility in March, and by the third week in June, we had it open for business. I was able to do a lot of the work on the renovation myself, but both the city guys and the county helped get it up and running," he said.
John Stenzel, by his own admission, is a longtime dog lover. He and his wife Sheila have adopted Boxers for years. He saw the ad in the paper for the position and decided to apply for the job. Newly retired from his job as a property appraiser for the Department of Revenue, he was looking for something to keep himself busy. “It is a perfect fit for me. I work part-time at what I really like to do – work with animals.”
He's had some interesting dog catches: he has caught one dog named Twix, a Boxer mix, several times and taken it home to its owner.
He encourages, pleads with owners to put collars on their animals, or better yet, have them chipped so they are easily identified. Stenzel often uses Facebook to locate the dogs’ owners. He said he works closely with the Sheriff’s office when stray dogs show up in the county. “We work with the deputies. They have keys to the kennel and use the facility whenever they need to hold a stray animal,” he pointed out.
The dogs are held for only 3 days at the City’s kennel. If they are unclaimed, then they go to the Lewis & Clark Humane Society kennels in Helena, where the animals are checked by a veterinarian, then rehomed to someone else.
“The job has turned out to be more of a passion,” he concluded.
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PhotoCredit: Nancy Marks, MT43 News Photographer
Image 1 Caption: Compliance Officer (Dog Catcher) John Stenzel shows off the new outside exercise area for dogs held in the pound.
Nancy Marks, MT43 News Photographer
