Animal shelters across the country face unique challenges based on their location, funding, and community support. Some have state-of-the-art facilities with extensive resources, while others operate with bare necessities, relying on passion and sheer willpower to keep animals safe. No matter where you live, shelters in your own region may be facing similar struggles.
Recently, we visited Breckinridge County Animal Shelter in Hardinsburg, Kentucky, one of Happy Bark’s shelter partners. While every shelter has its own story, our time at Breckinridge County revealed important lessons about resilience, resourcefulness, and the power of partnerships in animal rescue.
Lesson 1: The Quality of a Shelter Doesn’t Always Reflect the Wealth of the Community
Driving through Breckinridge County, you’ll see well-maintained public buildings, new schools, and clear evidence of community investment. At first glance, one might assume that its animal shelter would reflect the same level of funding and infrastructure.
But that isn’t the case.
The Breckinridge County Animal Shelter is small and aging, with limited indoor space. When the shelter reaches capacity inside, dogs must be housed in outdoor kennels, a necessity that works but isn’t ideal, especially in extreme weather conditions. While the county has the means to invest in other areas with careful budgeting, funding for animal welfare remains a lower priority.
This is a common theme in many communities. A county’s financial priorities doesn’t always translate to robust support for its shelters. If animal welfare isn’t seen as a priority by local leadership, shelters often have to fight for every dollar they receive. Even though this county is the 6th largest in the state, there is still a budget crunch.
What This Means: No matter where you live, don’t assume that your local shelter is well-funded just because the town or county appears prosperous. Many shelters are struggling, even in wealthy communities.
Lesson 2: Leadership Matters More Than Resources
One of the most striking things about Breckinridge County Animal Shelter is Nicole Shor, the shelter’s director. Originally from Chicago, Nicole worked in large shelters before moving to a smaller, more hands-on operation. She brings a modern approach to sheltering, focusing on innovative partnerships and progressive solutions, rather than waiting for outside help.
"In a big city shelter, you’re part of a machine," she told us. "Here, I can actually change the system."
Under her leadership, the shelter has built relationships with not just rescues like Happy Bark but also local government officials, raising awareness about the need for better sheltering practices in the county. While funding is still limited, these relationships create a foundation for future improvements.
What This Means: A shelter’s success often depends less on the size of its budget and more on the vision and drive of its leadership. Whether in a small rural town or a large urban center, shelters need strong, forward-thinking leaders to create change.
Lesson 3: The Reality of Understaffed Shelters
Breckinridge County’s shelter operates with minimal staffing. Unlike some municipal shelters with many full-time employees, this shelter is limited, but while sharing property with the county jail, receives help from just one inmate per week. That means most of the work—cleaning kennels, feeding animals, organizing adoptions, coordinating medical care, and responding to strays—falls on a tiny team of dedicated workers. This amazing team has been with the shelter since 2020, showing a sustained group for the time being.
The staff’s ability to juggle these responsibilities is impressive, but it’s also unsustainable. Many shelters across the country face similar issues, trying to provide care for animals with limited personnel and overwhelming demand.
What This Means: If a shelter near you is struggling, understaffing is likely one of their biggest challenges. Many people assume shelters are fully staffed government operations, but in reality, most rely on small teams of overworked employees and volunteers.
Lesson 4: Shelter Conditions Aren’t Always a Choice
When people visit a shelter and see dogs in outdoor kennels or overcrowded spaces, they might assume the shelter isn’t doing enough. In reality, shelters like Breckinridge County are often forced to make difficult choices due to space limitations.
Nicole and her team don’t want to house dogs outside—they have to. With an aging building and no extra room inside, it’s the only way to avoid turning animals away.
Plans for a new shelter facility exist, but funding isn’t secured. Until then, the staff does their best with what they have, ensuring animals get proper food, medical care, and attention—even if the setting isn’t perfect.
What This Means: If you ever visit a shelter and feel the conditions aren’t ideal, consider why. Is it because of poor management, or are they doing their best with limited resources? Many shelters work miracles with what little they have.
Lesson 5: Rescue Partnerships Are a Lifeline
The biggest reason Breckinridge County is able to stay afloat? Rescue partnerships. Organizations like Happy Bark regularly pull dogs from the shelter, opening up space for new arrivals and increasing the chances of adoption.
Without these partnerships, the shelter would face impossible choices—such as deciding which dogs stay and which they can’t accommodate.
Nicole emphasized how much these partnerships mean:
"We rely on rescues because we just don’t have the resources to do it all. Knowing that some of our dogs are going somewhere safe, with a path to adoption, makes all the difference."
What This Means: Rescue groups are critical to the sheltering system. If you support an independent rescue, you’re also supporting the shelters they pull from.
What This Means for Shelters Everywhere
Breckinridge County Animal Shelter’s story isn’t unique. Shelters across the country face similar struggles:
Limited funding, even in counties not in crisis
Overworked and understaffed teams doing their best with limited help
Aging facilities that can’t accommodate growing needs
Difficult choices about how to house and care for animals
Reliance on rescue groups to prevent overcrowding
If you care about animal welfare, these challenges are happening near you, too. No shelter operates in a vacuum—each one is impacted by community support (or lack thereof), policy decisions, and available resources.
Final Thoughts
Visiting Breckinridge County Animal Shelter reinforced an important truth: sheltering isn’t just about resources—it’s about resilience, leadership, and partnerships.
Shelters across the country are in constant problem-solving mode, working with whatever they have to keep animals safe. Whether they’re struggling with space, staff, or funding, they share one common goal: giving every animal a chance.
So next time you think about animal shelters, look beyond the numbers and funding. Instead, ask:
Who is leading the charge?
What creative solutions are they using?
How are partnerships helping them stay afloat?
Breckinridge County may be just one example, but its story echoes across shelters everywhere. And as long as passionate people continue to fight for these animals, there’s always hope.