The creaking of the door makes me, and several of the dogs around me look up. Is it a potential family? It is!

A mom, a dad and two little boys. All the dogs around me stand up, we put on our cutest faces and begin wagging our tails as hard as we can.

The family walks down the aisle all looking into various cages. They stop in front of mine, and for a second, I think they are going to pick me.

Suddenly, the mom looks to her left and sees a tiny puppy just brought into the shelter. “Awww, look how cute!”

The family’s attention turns to the puppy. The rest of the dogs and I lie back down to wait for our next chance.

This story is often times the case at the Humane Society Calumet Area, located in Munster.

Currently, the shelter has approximately 430 animals.

“Usually we’re taking in more [animals] than we’re taking out,” Jackie Goralczyk, lab technician for the Humane Society, said.

The shelter has a general ratio of six adoptions a day to 20 take-ins.

“We’re very overcrowded,” Goralczyk said.

With overcrowding comes the need for supplies. Right now, the shelter mainly needs kitten formula and cat supplies, but they always need blankets, towels, laundry detergent and bleach.

Lake Central students themselves cannot adopt animals because the age regulation on pet adoptions is 21 years old.

Any teachers or parents who wish to adopt an animal have to go to the shelter, find an animal that they are interested in (it is suggested that the entire family meet the animal first) and fill out an application that asks them a few questions about how the animal will be cared for.

Once they fill out the application, an adoption counselor will meet with them to fill out the remaining paperwork.

Even though students cannot adopt an animal, many feel that the shelter is a necessity.

“I think the Humane Society is a really good way to put pets in homes,” sophomore Erin Myers said.

With overcrowding as the major issue, just taking an animal to the Humane Society is not an option.

“Animals are a lifetime commitment that you can’t just [get rid] of at the shelter because they do get depressed and sick,” Goralczyk said.

Animal shelters are scattered locally throughout the country and filled with animals that are in need of a good home.

So next time that $200 dog or cat from the pet store looks out with sad eyes, think of the 430 more at the Humane Society Calumet Area in greater need of care.

For more information on donating to the shelter, go to www.hscalumet.org.