The Nina Dix Dog Adoption Center hosted its first open house on Saturday, June 17, allowing visitors and supporters to view all of the amenities and services the building will provide to housed dogs in the near future.

The building has been meticulously planned to give the Rowan County Animal Shelter the chance to provide the best possible care and housing for the dogs that will be held there. The 11,600-square-foot building provides over 48 new kennels as well as new visitation rooms for people and families looking to adopt to privately and quietly meet with dogs.

The center is named after Dix, the chairman of the board of directors for Shelter Guardians, who raised the money for the new building. Shelter Guardians is a non-profit that aims to help homeless animals held at the animal shelter and the staff with Rowan County Animal Services that support those animals.

“The whole purpose of this building is this is not the pound. You cannot look at this beautiful building and say that’s the dog pound. This is a big, fat, green eraser. We’re gonna get that out of everybody’s head. This is no longer the pound, this is the animal shelter. We’re gonna make people believe, make people come and see that it’s better than it’s ever been. This is a wonderful place, come and get you a dog,” said Dix in a video of the event posted to Shelter Guardians’ Facebook page.

The building also has a central area that houses a laundry room, grooming area, food prep area, offices and other support areas. The center will also house a surgery area, a direct upgrade to the spaying and neutering area in the original Animal Shelter building. The area in the older building was a combined intake and surgery area which could lead to chaos when dogs were being checked in for vaccines or other procedures at the same time as an ongoing surgery, according to Animal Services Director Maria Pannell.

“This lady (Dix) right here just deserves absolutely so much credit for never giving up. She had the drive and the heart. This is the community’s building. We want you all to be a part of it. You all put in so much to get it here,” said Pannell.

The building will house dogs that are social and ready for adoption. Dogs that are not ready will remain in the dog wing in the original animal shelter building, said Pannell.

Construction of the building began in March 2021 and had some unexpected bumps as costs for materials and construction increased, but the building is fully constructed and simply awaiting state inspections so that it can be issued a full certificate of occupancy. Pannell estimated that the certification should arrive by the end of next week.

For more information or to support Shelter Guardians, go to www.shelterguardians.org.