Girl Scouts Unveil Expanded, Reopened Shelter Dog Agility Course

PECONIC, NY — Four-legged friends were thankful Wednesday as members of Girl Scout Troop 1474 presented their "Paws & Claws of Course" Silver Award project at the North Fork Animal Welfare League's animal shelter in Peconic.

Girl Scouts Sidney Brewer, Mackenzie Conroy, Samantha Hildesheim, and Emily Nicholson each worked between 50 to 60 hours on the project, which involved improvements to, and the reopening of, the expanded canine agility course at the animal shelter.

The Silver Award is the highest honor a Girl Scout Cadet can achieve; a minimum of 50 hours of work is needed to complete the project.

The Girl Scouts worked hard all summer renovating the agility course, adding a few new pieces, making dog and cat collars, socializing the animals, utilizing social media to enhance community outreach —and even helping some pets find their forever homes.

In addition to refurbishing and adding on to the course, the girls made more than 40 cat and dog collars, adoption gifts for pets going to their new homes and families — each with tags that read "Sometimes the small things take up the most room in your heart" — took photos of the cats so the shelter could use them for a calendar and raise awareness, put donation boxes in local libraries, and posted photos of the homeless animals on social media.

"By sharing pictures on social media, one of our friends at school saw one of the kittens, fell in love with it — and now, the kitten has a new home," the girls said.

When asked why their project held great meaning, the girls said: "Our project matters because every animal deserves a home. We also created a safe place for the dogs to exercise. We helped our community become aware of the animal shelter and that there are animals at the shelter that need homes." The project, they added, was also sustainable and will get lots of use in the years ahead.

Before they cut the ribbon, the girls explained how their project was born. When visiting the animal shelter they noticed, at the agility course, that the paint was chipped and peeling and not all was functional. They reached out to the shelter, including NFAWL Executive Director Gillian Wood Pultz and Gabrielle Stroup and asked if they could help. In addition to painting all the pieces in new colors, yellow and white, to match the shelter's hues, they built two new structures for the course, a tire jump and a crawl tunnel for the pups.

The girls said they spent many happy hours painting and enjoying the dogs. "Our favorite part was socializing with the animals — in other words, playing with the animals," they said, adding that socialization is critical to helping homeless pets find new homes.

The girls thanked their Girl Scout co-leaders Nicole Brewer — who has been their leader since the girls were in kindergarten — and Tammie Hildesheim; they also thanked builder Amos Meringer and Arthur Brewer, who donated funds for the project, as well as staff at the NFAWL and local libraries — and Greg Williams, of County Time Cycle, for donating a tire for the tire jump they made.

The most challenging part of the project was painting and sanding, they agreed.

"I"m so proud," Brewer said. "Their time was all hard work and elbow grease time." Brewer added that the girls learned life lessons that will last long after Scouts and may even lead to lifetime careers. "The girls are a great mix of really creative, smart, funny, hardworking young ladies."

Hildesheim agreed. "The girls are all involved with sports — balancing not just this project but school, sports . . . and some have jobs — it's really amazing what they do."

Next, they'll journey toward their Gold Awards. "If they can do this together, I can't wait to see what they do next," Brewer said, adding that watching their futures unfold is deeply rewarding.

The girls' commitment to Scouts is inspiring — of their original troop of almost 25 years ago, only six girls remain, yet their dedication is unwavering.

Also at the event were Southold Town Supervisor Scott Russell, Town Councilman Bill Ruland and Southold Town Police Chief Martin Flatley.

"It was heartening to see such hard work performed by such a fine group of young ladies who actually improved what is already a wonderful facility. Their commitment to see the task through is commendable," Russell said.

Photos, video by Lisa Finn.