SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - Though picked for his cuteness to be the face of the NWT SPCA's bid to receive funding to build an animal shelter, the story of Cash, a six-month-old husky-cross, is an example of the service the volunteer-run organization provides.

Cash has been the face of the NWT SPCA's bid to get funding for the construction of an animal shelter. This picture was taken before the six-month-old pup was adopted on Sept. 30. - photo courtesy of Nicole Spencer

He appears in the picture used on the Aviva Community Fund's contest website for the SPCA entry, and on the Facebook group set up for the shelter fundraising efforts.

The animal shelter finished second in voting with 43,021 votes, and is now among eight groups across Canada to be judged for $100,000 to $500,000 in funding. The winners will be announced Jan. 25.

Cash was one of three sibling puppies found in Ndilo and brought into the Great Slave Animal Shelter's kennel earlier this year. He caught the eye of a veterinarian assistant named Jessica Fox, who adopted him with her boyfriend Matthew Kennedy on Sept. 30, less than a month after she started work at the hospital.

"First sight, first thing we're like 'yeah, that's ours,'" said Fox. "He's good, he learned tricks really well. He's a fast learner."

She said she's still trying to train him out of a few bad habits he may have picked up on the streets - he likes to look for goodies in the garbage, and "he definitely goes after his food like he was malnourished a bit" though he wasn't that skinny when he came in to the hospital.

She said there's a big variety in attitudes of animals coming in, but if they're treated right they can adapt to a loving household.

"We have some that come in well-trained, we have some who come in who are not trained whatsoever - they don't know what a leash is," said Fox. "We have some come in really scared, we have some come in really outgoing. It just kind of depends on where they were from and what kind of environment they're in."

Cash's siblings, Moscow and Siberia, were shipped down to a family in Nova Scotia, according to Nicole Spencer, president of the NWT SPCA. She said there's been an interest in NWT dogs from some faraway places in the last little while, though she doesn't know if that stems from the exposure that came with the Aviva contest, or if it's just because people are looking for dogs with some husky in them.

In the last few months, apart from Cash's siblings, one dog has been sent to British Columbia, and two across the border to Michigan and Florida.

"That doesn't happen a whole lot," said Spencer.

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