Veterinary Economics magazine is a great source of information for good business practice. It talks about good client relationships and good team building within the clinic and with humane societies, too.

The March 2007 issue has an article titled “The 7 Deadly Sins of Practice” by W. Bradford Swift, DVM. While I was reading it, I thought the article applied not just to veterinary clinics, but everyone who has a business. Humane societies such as ARF that have a shelter, employees and volunteers can also benefit from this article.

Pride is the first sin and Dr. Swift defines it as “the excessive belief in one’s own abilities.” An example of this would be that one person claims full responsibility for a positive result when in fact it was a team effort. Does that happen at ARF? Kind of and sometimes. People applaud me and my efforts when, in fact, it is a team effort. I may be one of the founders of ARF and the “boss” as we jokingly say, but without the great caregivers, volunteers, veterinarians and donors, ARF couldn’t exist.

Envy is next, and that’s a biggy! “Envy is the desire for others’ traits, status, abilities or situation.” The example as it would pertain to ARF would be: Do we look at other humane societies and shelters and wish we could have what they have, whether it’s a bigger and better shelter, more adoptions and more funds to hire more people and be open more? We wish that every day. To help with overcoming envy is to be thankful for what we have. We do have a nice shelter; it’s clean, the animals are healthy and the care given to them by paid staff and volunteers is terrific. Good things do come our way.

Gluttony “is an inordinate desire to consume more than one requires.” This is another tough one but, as a humane society, we want to do as much as possible. We need to learn that we can only do so much.

Lust “is an exorbitant craving for the pleasures of the body.” We don’t really have a problem with this in boyfriend/girlfriend relationships. ARF has employees who become friends. That’s fine as long as it is a good working relationship. Friendships help, but you can’t take advantage of a friendship and try to get out of doing a job.

Anger “a strong feeling of displeasure and antagonism.” We do get angry. Why? Sometimes it’s the little stuff, but mostly it’s pretty big stuff to us. Someone wants to drop off 10 puppies from two litters and wouldn’t dream of spaying their female dogs. Then, they get upset when we say we can only take in one litter that day. They don’t understand why we can’t take in all 10 pups. And we can’t forget those who drop off the unwanted and say they have no money for a donation and drive away in a $30,000 car or truck.

Greed is “the desire for material wealth or gain.” ARF and other humane societies are nonprofit, so true greed isn’t there. What we have is wishful thinking. We need, we need, we need, and in order to maintain a certain standard, we need.

Last is sloth, which is “the avoidance of work.” Everyone at ARF works very hard. This goes with the friendship ethic: don’t take advantage of a friendship and try to slack off from the job. We’ve been there and it’s not a good work environment for anyone.

In essence, the article makes us want to go back to the basics and rethink our goals, motives and mission.

Spring is the perfect time of year for this. It’s the season of rebirth and growth. It’s the time to plant idea seeds and watch them grow into successful plans.

And speaking of which, don’t forget to spay and neuter your pets! We are already receiving your unwanted litters.