Hero of the week: Mariah Mountanos: you're never too young to save a dog's life

Bart is a Yellow Lab/Boxer mix

Meet Mariah Mountanos. At the age of twelve, five years ago, Mariah decided it was time she took action and put her love for dogs to the test.

In conjunction with her school’s program for community service, Mariah asked to work with the Ukiah Shelter in Ukiah, California. But what could such a young girl do to truly make a difference?

Ukiah did not have their own website and worked through Petfinder to promote their adoptable animals, so Mariah created a website for them, Paws to Adopt, to showcase the special animals up for adoption. How did Mariah decide that a new website was most needed?
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Chad, a Retriever/Shepard is also available

“Ukiah is not a very populated community. Yet, the Ukiah Shelter is filled with more animals than can be adopted out in the area. So, getting people up to Ukiah from other areas is one of the greatest challenges. With the website, the awareness of animals in the Ukiah Shelter has greatly increased. With more exposure through the internet, more animals are adopted from the Ukiah Shelter and find forever homes.”

She particularly loves pits and shares information about training with the Pit Crew and has been instrumental in finding homes for several pits. Under the guidance and support of Sage Mountainfire, Adoption Coordinator, Mariah has worked with Ukiah every Wednesday for the past several years, currently volunteers at the Wasson Memorial Veterinary Clinic and hopes to attend UC Davis in 2010 s an Animal Science Major, on her way to veterinary school.
 

Mariah with Buster and a new puppy

Mariah’s own dog, Youwho, is blind and deaf and this led her to delving deeply into the special training methods needed for animals with unique challenges. Her dream is to establish a Rescue Center that can serve as a model for rural communities and one that can tackle the hard-to-place and special needs dogs.

What motivates Mariah to give so much of her time and energy to a volunteer effort?

“Seeing the dogs find forever homes, watching their wagging tails and big smiles as they leave the shelter. And the happiness of the adopter with their new companion. Also, I receive e-mails from around the world from people using my Blind/Deaf resource on my website and telling me how much it has helped them with their special needs dog.”

And how did Mariah react to winning the 2004 American Humane Association’s Be Kind to Animals Kid Contest?
 

“Well, to be honest, I did not think I deserved to win, because I do what I do because I love the animals and I love doing it. There is nothing more rewarding than seeing that dog who has been waiting for months walk out of the shelter with a smile on his/her face and a family by his/her side. And that’s all I need to continue finding homes for dogs. Winning was like the icing on the cake, I did not need to win to continue doing what I love, but it was incredibly amazing. I felt honored and touched that I was getting an award for helping animals that deserved a second change. It showed me that I am making a difference, even if it’s small, it’s something to be proud of.”

As to future plans, Mariah has a lot to look forward to:

“Hopefully, my website will someday get a national forum to be used as a tool for all shelters in the U.S., to inspire the next generations and to create attention to spay and neuter programs and also to teach others how wonderful and amazing special needs dogs are.

As my website slogan says Don’t Paws For Another Second…Adopt. ™”

Yes, young people can make a difference and Mariah is leading the way for many generations to follow.

If you found this article helpful, please read these prior columns
Photos provided by Mariah Mountanos
 

For more information about the Ukiah Shelter and Mariah's dogs: visit www.pawstoadopt.com

Mariah's Blind/deaf dog resource