When the end of a month draws near, and Errin Hallford is running short of money for victuals, and it comes down to whether she or her dog will get something to eat, she sometimes shorts herself in favor of Odin.
“I think I depend more on him than he does on me,” said Hallford, a pseudonym for the Coulee Region woman because she preferred not to be identified.
That observation also might be expected, because Odin is a service animal who accompanies Hallford everywhere because of her autism.
Anecdotes such as Hallford’s redouble Michelle Hemp’s resolve to achieve, someday, her goal of collecting enough pet food so people who rely on the WAFER Food Pantry in La Crosse for a substantial portion of their food don’t have to make such an agonizing choice.
“My dream is to get enough to last all year,” Hemp said Friday as she and co-workers from Hillside Animal Hospital helped WAFER staffers and volunteers unload 4,800 pounds of dry and canned pet food collected during Hillside’s annual drive.
With another 200 pounds expected, the tally will reach a nice, round figure of 5,000 pounds, said Hemp, who spearheads the drive in addition to her job as practice manager at Hillside, at W5706 Hwy. 33 in La Crosse.
The first collection eight years ago accumulated 600 pounds, which Hemp said lasted about three weeks at WAFER, while the tally last year was 3,800 pounds — enough to make it through the summer.
“Every year, I’m getting closer,” she said. “Wouldn’t it be wonderful” to get a year’s supply every year?
The food donations come from the veterinary practice’s employees, clients and vendors, who also sometimes pitch in money to help buy the food for dogs, cats and other critters, said Dr. Robert Spencer, who founded Hillside in 1974.
“Our clients really stepped up this year,” Spencer said, underscoring the need for pets to eat nutritional brands such as Science Diet, Royal Canin, Purina and others being dropped off at WAFER.
Stories such as Hallford’s are more than anecdotes for those strapped for cash — and more common than one might expect, WAFER board President Taylor Haley said as the bags of food were being unloaded from several pickups in WAFER’s parking lot.
“I find that many clients would go hungry before letting their pets” go without food, said Haley, who is pastor of First Presbyterian Church in La Crosse.
Overall food donations for humans also “have been really good this time of year,” he said. “Our shelves and warehouse are well stocked.
“But all that will change in a couple of months,” Haley said of the post-holiday lag that traditionally leaves gaps on food pantry shelves.
As for Odin, just because he’s a 111-pound great Dane/German shepherd mix doesn’t mean Hallford lets him wolf down everything in sight.
“He’s not going to get any fatter if I can help it,” she said, as the trim, 6½-year-old dog sat attentively at her feet, because he was on duty.
“I weigh nearly twice what he does,” she said, although that seemed to be an exaggeration. “What you see walking down the street is a short, chubby lady with a tall, lanky dog.”
Odin gets two big scoops of dry dog food a day — one in the morning and one in the evening, she said. Sometimes, he gets canned dog food with gravy, and he likes chicken soup with ramen noodles.
He’s also fond of eggs, so Hallford often adds an extra egg if she’s making that for breakfast.
“I give half to him and half to me — that’s how I started eating more eggs,” she said with a smile.
Having dog food available at WAFER “helps out when it has his variety, she said, adding, “A dog of his size can have torsion — a twisted stomach if you switch what he’s eating too fast. That is very dangerous.”
Indeed, a twisted stomach, also common in cows and, occasionally, in humans, can be fatal if not treated.
“One month, money was so tight because I had miscalculated, and there were a couple days left,” she said.
“I called WAFER and said, ‘Do you happen to have’” his brand, but it didn’t, so she called the Coulee Region Humane Society, which she said came through.
Other times, “I’ve shorted myself toward the end of the month,” she said.
He also gets treats regularly, as that is part of service dog training, she said.
Hallford, who is on disability, would like to get a job if she could find one that fits her skillset. She is not able to work in the food industry because of restrictions on dogs in that sector.
Odin knows that he’s on duty when Hallford puts on his harness, although she can use a voice command to give him permission to greet someone before another command brings him back to work mode.
When off duty, Odin “is a couch potato,” she said, although he willingly shares the couch with her, and he’s usually fairly decent about equal territories on their double bed.
She has had Odin for three years and was inclined to name him Thor initially but opted not to because “Thor is so cliché,” she said.
Ironically, Odin, who is considered the oldest and wisest of the Norse gods, actually was Thor’s dad, according to ThorNews, a highly regarded chronicler of Norwegian culture.
His moniker is not to be confused with ODIN, the acronym for the Organization of Democratic Intelligence Networks spy agency.
Hallford complained that owners of service dogs often get a bad rap because people question whether they need the animals.
Part of that, unfortunately, results from the fact that many people are poseurs, disguising ill-behaved pets in the harnesses and labels of service dogs, which are no-nonsense animals who obey their owners’ commands.
“Odin and I behave in public, because we are ambassadors for service animals,” she said, dogmatically.
