THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, October 1, 1995 TAG: 9509290232
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 02 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: Random Rambles
SOURCE: Tony Stein
LENGTH: Medium: 83 lines
There is a sunniness about Chesapeake Animal Control Officer Robin Cooney, but it clouds over when you ask her what she thinks of the term ``dog catcher.''
``I hate it,'' she says. ``It's such a narrow, limited view of what we do.'' Cooney can testify to the reality. When she was a kid in Indianapolis, she and her brother brought home any stray critter that walked or slithered. She has always had a dog or a cat or both within petting distance. Then, after a successful decade as a government accountant, she put her love for animals and a fascination with criminal justice into action. She signed on at the Animal Control Bureau.
And guess who finished at the top of her 26-member class at the Police Academy session that ended in August. Take a bow, Ms. Cooney. Capt. W.T. Ward, who headed the academy at the time, said Cooney ``earned being first in her class by excelling in all facets of the academy experience. Robin's personality is her most valuable asset. She was motivated and positive during the entire academy.'' Her boss, shelter coordinator Kathy Umberger, calls her ``a thorough professional.''
If Cooney was motivated and positive during the academy experience, she was sleepy, too. ``What with the homework and studying and typing my notes, I didn't get to bed before midnight and I had to get up at 5 o'clock,'' she says. Still, she'll tell you that she enjoyed the academy, especially the spirit fostered among the recruits. ``The class was competitive but supportive,'' she says.
Yes, she was nervous going in. At 34, she was about 10 years older than the average recruit. Running particularly worried her. Could she keep up? ``I tried to prepare before the class started by running,'' she says. ``I felt fine the first day, but the next morning I had Motrin for breakfast.''
One of the things about the acacedmy that impressed her most was the focus on officer safety, she says. ``They let you know that in any situation you can't help anyone if you're hurt. And one of the training officers used to say `Go home at night with all your parts!' A basic rule is to always let someone know where you are.''
Chesapeake Animal Control officers like Cooney get the same training as regular police officers and that includes qualifying on the pistol range. Even though she had never touched a firearm before, she now knows how to use the 9mm Beretta that rides her hip. ``The firearms staff was wonderful,'' she says.
And now she's on the street in one of the Animal Control trucks that patrol the city. If she had any illusions about the job, they're gone. ``Sometimes it's overwhelming,'' she says. ``The shelter is always full.'' Ask her about the experience of having to euthanize animals that haven't been adopted and the normal sunniness clouds over again. ``It's tough,'' she says. ``Tough.
``Like when we had to euthanize a litter of very sick puppies. I took one out and walked with it and held it for about an hour so it would know some affection before it died. `Euthanasia' is a Greek word meaning `good death' and our only comfort is knowing that injection with a lethal drug is a painless death for a sick or injured animal or one that we can't find a home for.''
Like just about everyone who works at the shelter, Cooney has taken home an animal herself. The lucky pooch is named Tobin, after Melanie Tobin, the animal control officer who rescued her. And what breed is Tobin?
``I call her a Chesapeake shelter terrier,'' Cooney says. That's as good a description as any. One of the nicest features of the city shelter on Cook Boulevard is its alumni board, full of photos and notes about dogs and cats adopted from the shelter. There's Tobin looking bright and sassy, but certainly not breed specific.
Tobin had a hard time before she landed in the clover of Cooney's home, and Cooney knows there are a lot of other dogs and cats out there who suffer from neglect. ``I see a lack of respect for animals and for the quality of life they deserve. I realize that some of it is ignorance, not willful cruelty, but certainly people should know that a dog can't live on a very short chain and that animals need shelter, food and some attention.''
She quotes the famed Indian leader Mahatma Gandhi to make her point: ``You can tell a lot about a society by the way it treats its animals.''
Sometimes there are bad days, and she offers a reasonably sure-fire cure for grim moods. ``Fishing,'' she says. ``I take Tobin and go fishing. I stare out at the water and cast my line. With every cast, I feel like I'm casting away some of the stress.'' by CNB