SHERMAN, Maine — A dog dressed in human clothing with a growing Instagram following is helping its owner raise money to open a unique shelter for mostly abandoned and feral cats.
So far, the 9-year-old male Labradoodle has raised $18,000 for Waiting Whiskers animal rescue in Sherman.
On his popular Instagram page, Sheldon the Doodle dons some wicked cool clothing, lounges out in his silk robe after a busy day of letter writing with a bag of popcorn and even types on the computer with mysterious human hands in his blue hoodie. He’s had wild parties, Katahdin area hikes, and lots of long naps curled up with kittens.
“There isn’t anything Sheldon can’t do,” said Veronica Elwell, who adopted Sheldon from the Penobscot Valley Humane Society when he was 6 months old. “He is the coolest dog I have ever had.”
Elwell, president of Waiting Whiskers, has been dragging animals home since she was five. And when people in the area find an abandoned kitten or dog, she’s often the one they call, she said. Right now Elwell, Sheldon and her husband Mark Elwell are sharing their Sherman home with eight dogs and several cats.
The money Sheldon raises from his stamp club is helping Waiting Whiskers, a completely volunteer animal rescue, move into a permanent home on Church Street in Sherman that’s currently under extensive renovation.
Once completed, the Church Street location will become a no-kill, mostly cage-free home for the area’s abandoned and sometimes feral cats because the homeless cat population in the Sherman, Patten and Stacyville area is out of control, Elwell said, adding that they will place the dogs they get with foster families because dogs do better in a foster environment.
More people in this area want dogs than cats and some let their cats outside without spaying and neutering, she said.
The Waiting Whiskers Team recently worked on cleaning up feral situations in Stacyville with over 42 ferals and in Patten with over 40. They trapped them and had them spayed and neutered. Some were released, some rehomed to barns and others were socialized for adoption.
The Houlton Humane Society, Animal Refuge League and the Midcoast Humane Society worked with them to help adopt the socialized cats, she said.
They are currently working on another feral colony in Patten of 25 cats.
Waiting Whiskers owns the old home at 4 Church St. in Sherman. Initially, they removed all the horsehair plaster walls, basically gutting the first floor. It has been rewired and new sheetrock is up.
There is a big front room with beautiful windows that is light and sunny and that will be the open cat room for all the cats who can get along with each other. They will live there cage free. The emphasis is on couches not cages and creating a warm, home experience for the cats before they go to their new families. And they want the community to come and hang out with the cats, Elwell said.
“We will have a big tree in the middle and shelves on the wall for the cats to climb. It’s really going to be beautiful,” she said. “We want it to belong to the community. We want kids to want to stop in and see the cats. We want people or kids to go get a book at the library and come over and read it to the cats.”
Sheldon has had an Instagram account for years. He has 15,500 followers. Through Sheldon’s Instagram, Elwell met artist Amanda Elizabeth Cole, who said she would create some stickers Waiting Whiskers could sell to make money for the shelter.
The more Elwell thought about it, she remembered how getting mail was so important to her as a young girl.
“I thought, wow, if we mailed them and wrote a letter written through Sheldon’s eyes,” she said. And that’s how Sheldon the Doodle Sticker Club began two years ago. His letters to the kids are educational, fun and talk about things kids might worry or wonder about. Five or six stickers are included in each letter along with other treats like a paper doll of Sheldon dressed in a Halloween costume for October.
In his March letter, Sheldon wrote about Maine. He shared the state bird, he talked about lobster and moose.
“Maine has more moose per mile than all other states except one! Can you guess what
state it is?” Sheldon asked in his letter. “ It’s Alaska! Have you ever seen a moose? They are so big! Mom has seen many moose, but I’ve never seen one! I can dress up like one tho! Hahaha.”
Some of the kids write back to Sheldon, telling him about their day or something they just learned.
The goal is to get to 200 subscribers a month which would bring $1,000 a month to the shelter from each $5 a month subscription.
Elwell does not have a date for the shelter on Church Street opening, but they are currently working on the second floor with the first completed.
“My whole life revolves around animals,” she said. “It takes time and patience but once you earn their trust, their love is real.”
