Retired Poundkeeper Recalls Her Career With Canines

By Andrew Gorosko

As Pat Anzellotti’s frisky Yorkshire terrier known as Daisy Mae scampers about her living room, the former town poundkeeper recalls her many years of service in watching over the dogs whom she and former animal control officer George Mattegat had retrieved while on canine complaint calls.

While serving as poundkeeper at the town’s animal shelter on Ethan Allen Road for 20 years, Ms Anzellotti estimates that she watched over 2,400 canines at one time or another. The town seeks adoptions for such impounded animals.

Ms Anzellotti, who lived in Sandy Hook for 33 years, now lives in Heritage Village in Southbury with her husband, Rudy. They have been married for 51 years.

To commemorate her departure from town service, Ms Anzellotti recently was feted at a testimonial at the local VFW Post that drew 60 people.

Of her two decades in town service, Ms Anzellotti said she will most miss caring for the many dogs who were impounded at the animal shelter. For the first 15 years of her tenure, she worked seven days a week to care for the animals.

Ms Anzellotti took over the poundkeeper’s post from her daughter Debbie in 1985.

“I met a lot of nice people,” Ms Anzellotti said of her canine control experiences.

Going into the field on dog calls with Mr Mattegat was an interesting aspect of the work, she said. Mr Mattegat retired as the town’s animal control officer last year.

Ms Anzellotti recalls one memorable situation in which her duties pivoted away from things canine toward things porcine.

Some years ago, Ms Anzellotti and Mr Mattegat received a complaint involving multiple straying pigs, which lived at a property on Old Hawleyville Road.

Those three pigs had a penchant for roaming.

The three pigs’ owner could not be located, so it meant that Ms Anzellotti had to visit the site dozens of times to care for the apparently abandoned porkers.

One pig was rather large at 300 pounds; the other two were about 100 pounds each.

Eventually, the pigs’ owner was located and reunited with the largest pig. The two smaller pigs, however, inexplicably disappeared, Ms Anzellotti said.

The former poundkeeper recalls another colorful call involving two roaming cows being pursued by an aggressive pit bull terrier, posing both canine and bovine control problems. That dog managed to bite off the ear of a cow, she said.

Besides dealing with errant dogs, a challenging aspect of her work involved calming down neighbors who became emotional over dog-related problems, she said.

Generally, Mr Mattegat and Ms Anzellotti would seek to resolve such problems without resorting to enforcement action. But in the case of chronic problems, infractions were issued, she said.

Although the canine control post had its moments, overall, Ms Anzellotti expressed satisfaction with the work.

“I loved it so much. That’s why I worked seven days a week for so many years,” she said.