BrightSide Animal Center has been a community-supported nonprofit since it was founded in 1989. Many have donated time and money to help the Redmond shelter find homes for stray animals.

But the organization has slogged through plenty of changes in the last few years, losing many of the longtime volunteers who routinely took dogs for walks. Most of those volunteers drifted away from BrightSide after a trainer brought a stronger approach to discipline and training, one that many volunteers felt was cruel and unproductive.

Eventually the trainer was let go, but by that time many of the volunteers were already gone.

The episode is just one in handful of obstacles the nonprofit has had to navigate during and after a COVID-induced pet adoption boom. It has added new board members, new executive director, new paid staff and dealt with steady volunteer turnover, all while trying to find financial stability.

Why some volunteers left

Jerry Boysen was the volunteer coordinator at BrightSide and had been involved with the organization since 2013. He left in 2023 because he didn’t approve of changes happening at the place he knew and loved. He specifically pointed out a newly hired dog trainer’s methods as a motivating factor in his departure.

“The trainer was much more inclined to shape behavior with fear and punishment rather than reward,” Boysen said. “I saw him throwing water bottles that were full of rocks at dogs when they misbehaved.”

Boysen said BrightSide quickly went from a very nurturing and loving atmosphere for the animals to a cold and unfriendly place for animals and volunteers alike.

“It is a very difficult situation,” Boysen said. “It is a very emotional situation, because all the volunteers are there for one reason — because they love it. I had to quit. Because if I stayed on, then I was condoning the activities that were going on. I had to quit. Which really tore me up because of the poor dogs, through no fault of their own, were there. And now I can’t even go and help them.”

Boysen said 30 or so volunteers organized to oppose the changes at BrightSide, but eventually the situation became untenable and the dedicated group of dog walkers left.

“In the administration’s defense, we were a little hard to handle sometimes. Because we wanted the best for the dogs. If we saw something we didn’t think was right, we would tell the staff. And they got tired of hearing that sometimes,” Boysen said. “Administration would get tired of their staff coming to them and saying, ‘Those damn dog walkers are just bugging the crap out of me.’”

The trainer’s methods

Scott Elliot was the trainer that most of the volunteers didn’t like.

Elliott has made a career out of consulting with dog owners and working with aggressive dogs to reform behavior. He runs Nature in Play, a business in Bend that is dedicated to dealing with such dogs.

About three years ago, Elliott’s approach was incorporated into BrightSide’s operations.

Elliott said the center’s board approved of his program after a three-month trial period, though it caused an immediate stir among the shelter’s many volunteers. Some accused Elliott of animal cruelty and of negatively impacting the culture at the animal center.

Elliott claimed that before he even arrived at BrightSide, there was a lot of internal division among staff and volunteers. He recalled a good chunk of the volunteers who would consistently push back on professional recommendations from staff and veterinarians.

“They would constantly be going against and fighting what the shelter wanted. Because when you have animals, it is a very emotional thing. And so everybody thinks they know what’s best,” Elliott said. “I think this is where all the chaos comes from.”

Elliott argued his program brought order and structure to the shelter, which he said suffered from the chaos that led to frequent turnover in staff, administration and volunteers.

“I personally think people were mainly upset that they could no longer do what they wanted to do, because there was a lot more structure that I brought in. There were specific times and specific ways that things needed to be done. And it used to be a free-for-all,” Elliott said. “That is what started to create a lot of pushback because these people were upset because they could no longer do what they wanted. It is this lack of strong leadership that can unite everyone and make decisions to get rid of people.”

Elliot said he set up boundaries for the times and ways volunteers and staff could interact with dogs. There was now protocol and etiquette involved in the day-to-day operations at BrightSide, something he said the organization was not used to. Some volunteers rebelled. Elliott said he received threats and accusations for instituting the new rules.

“People want to do what they want to do. When I tell them they can’t do these things, they think that’s abuse. When I put muzzles on dogs to ensure the safety of people and other dogs while we move through … they think that is abuse,” Elliott said. “When I look to discipline a dog because it is doing something inappropriate that can ultimately get it killed, they say it is abuse. These dogs that are doing these things that are inappropriate ultimately will be killed. The biggest consequence is death.”

Elliot believes, especially in cases where dogs are overly aggressive, it is important to implement some discipline.

But some former volunteers said Elliott went too far. Some saw him throw objects at dogs.

“When we look at things, we have to see it from the dog’s perspective. When it comes to tossing something at a dog — yes, these things were done. Because some dogs need discipline,” Elliott said. “Just like with people that need to be disciplined. There is a reason behind it.”

Elliott said his program successfully reformed a number of dogs who were slated to be euthanized for being too aggressive.

He said that’s how he measured success, and said he is perplexed by the controversy that resulted from his presence at the shelter. He was eventually let go. And he said he continues to get threats as a result of his time at BrightSide — something he doesn’t understand.

“Are we here to actually help the animals? Or are we here just to fatten our pockets, keep our status and be able to emotionally dump our problems on these dogs?” Elliott asked. “This whole thing was very, very interesting and it has been so long and it has never ended.”

Long-term financial impact

By the time Elliott had been let go from from BrightSide, most of the volunteers — and former board members like Mark and Mary Crose — had left the organization or were planning to do so.

Mark Crose joined the board at BrightSide in 2011 and was elected president in 2013. He spent years turning the organization’s finances around before retiring from his position in late 2020. Mark Crose said many within the organization lost faith after Elliott implemented his program at the shelter.

“(Elliott’s methods) were controversial to all the people who were at BrightSide for a long time. They didn’t seem to meet the standard of loving the animals,” Mark Crose said. “Most anybody that has been at BrightSide has a deep affection for the animals and their care. He seemed more matter of fact, more strict. Harsh at times with the animals.”

Mark Crose said volunteers started to walk out the door as the culture began to change at BrightSide. It was no longer a cheerful place to be and he said many couldn’t stomach how the animals were treated.

Crose said that posed a long-term problem for BrightSide, which primarily relies on community donations and income from the center’s thrift store at 838 NW 5th Street.

“It is a volunteer-driven organization basically,” Mark Crose said. “You depend on volunteers. Because you can’t afford to pay staff for everything that needs to get done. You have a product where you lose money on every one of your items … the animals that come in, you lose money on every one. You have to have volunteers to get everything done.”

Mark Crose recalled how deep in debt the organization was during his time on the board. He said the shelter owed $1.5 million to the county for its new building at 1355 NE Hemlock Ave., and that it owed its vendors at least $200,000 more. Brokering a deal with Central Oregon Community College to offer a veterinarian technician program at the center and a number of Paycheck Protection Program loans — which were ultimately forgiven by the federal government during the pandemic — helped push BrightSide back into financial stability, he said.

“When I left, we had just short of a $1 million in cash reserves. We went from about $1.6 million in debt, to almost a million in cash reserves,” Mark Crose said. “That’s why I decided to leave. I said, ‘This is perfect. I think the shelter is in a really great spot right now. I feel pretty good about leaving now. I think we are going to be OK.’ For years, we worried about making payroll on the next Friday. It was tough.”

Mark Crose said he was concerned to learn that the organization’s new leadership planned to use those cash reserves to hire high-paid, upper-level staff to run the organization but not invest in or add to the staff who did the daily work necessary at a shelter — such as those who clean the kennels and do most of the physical labor necessary to run the shelter.

New positions added at the nonprofit in just the last few years include a new executive director, shelter manager, donor developer, volunteer coordinator and foster coordinator. He estimated those positions would increase payroll by at least $200,000 a year. He said he was concerned that those new salaries would deplete the organization’s reserves pretty quickly.

Mark Crose said it boils down to running a nonprofit like a nonprofit, not as a business.

“It’s different. It’s a different breed completely,” Mark Crose said. “You can’t lose track of what your real mission is. And the mission is the animals. That was our stated motto. Every animal that comes through the back door … deserves a chance to go through the front door to a forever home.”

Mary Crose has been involved with BrightSide for nearly two decades. She stuck around the shelter longer than her husband, but she too eventually decided to leave. She stepped away in October.

“We have been involved a long time and that is why it means so much to us,” Mary Crose said. “It got to the point where I was having so much anxiety about the way things were being run, the lack of care for the animals, I just couldn’t take it anymore.”

Mary Crose said animals were not being properly cared for and kennels were left in unsanitary conditions. She also said she did not like seeing the dogs being muzzled and rarely being let out of the kennels. She said noted that was all under a previous regime, and she said she hoped the current management has improve.

She and her husband have since gone back to BrightSide hoping to get involved again, but didn’t really feel welcome.

Current management

The shift in culture and procedure at the shelter eventually resulted in a major overhaul of both staff and volunteers at BrightSide. Taylor Campbell was hired as executive director of the organization in July 2023. She said staff have worked to create a new culture at BrightSide and rebuild the shelter’s volunteer base and community connection.

But BrightSide has moved away from the volunteer-driven, community-led protocols under which the organization was founded. BrightSide now requires volunteers to undergo special training and certification in order to interact with animals at the shelter.

Campbell said the protocol, which focuses on anxiety-reducing tactics, requires a more systematic approach to animal care. Campbell said the “fear-free” animal trainer certification is common at shelters across the nation.

“With us, it is more of a process we have here from when I’ve taken over,” Campbell said. “Safety is always our No. 1 thing. For the people, for the animals. Fear-free is really important. This way we are setting everybody up for success.”

Campbell said the shelter is always recruiting and onboarding new volunteers to ensure the shelter runs smoothly and the animals are properly cared for. She says the number of volunteers has been growing and BrightSide now leads two volunteer orientations every month.

But it’s no longer OK for a retiree to just drop by and take a dog for a walk when they have some extra time — which was a common practice many volunteers had grown used to.

“One of our biggest things is (that) we don’t want people just jumping in to walk and hang out with the animals,” she said.

Campbell said some former volunteers have come to understand the new system and returned.

As of March, she noted 172 volunteers on their roster, including 48 on the “dog enrichment” team. She said it only takes 30 minutes to take the online training required to become a certified volunteer.

“It is not super intense, but it helps set them up. Because a shelter environment is so different from having a pet in the home,” Campbell said. “It is about really trying to help them learn signs and be successful and do it safely.”

Campbell said each dog in the shelter has an indoor and an outdoor kennel and is regularly taken outside for fresh air and exercise.

“Each of them (the dogs) goes out in the morning for a quick potty break, to stretch their legs and to go to their outdoor kennel,” Campbell said. “Then usually all of them will get some type of enrichment, whether that is play yard, a walk, puzzle, office time, play group, or bathing.”

She said major focuses are the animals’ mental and physical health, and maintaining the cleanliness of the shelter.

“I am really proud of our team for coming up with those policies and procedures that I don’t think BrightSide ever had,” Campbell said. “Always, our priority, No. 1, hands down, is the animals. And to help our community. Our mission hasn’t changed.”