What's Your Favorite...

Sampson & Kim Janzen

Piece of Furniure:
The couch. He’ll just stretch out like he’s in hog heaven. When he was a puppy, it was the bathtub because it was nice and cool during the summer.

Food:
Peanut butter. It’s like
doggy crack. He can’t get enough of it.

Toy:
A rubber, peanut butter-filled King Kong chew toy. I can’t give him a stuffed animal because he’ll absolutely annihilate it.

Holiday:
Any day that I stay home. That’s a holiday for him.
Trick:
A high-five. He can also shake. Oh, and he rings a bell when he wants to go outside.

Season:
Winter. He absolutely loves the snow.

Best Friend:
Murphy, my other golden retriever. They’ve become fast friends. You can tell
they miss each other when they’re apart.

Biggest Nemesis:
The neighbor’s lab, Riley. They’re in competition to be the neighborhood’s most handsome dog.

Activity:
Riding in my convertible. He loves coming to work with me. He typically visits my office two or three times each week.

Place to Take a Walk:
He loves walking around our Riverside neighborhood.

TV Show:
Sampson doesn’t watch much TV, but Murphy does. He’ll watch almost anything, especially Animal Planet. He’s really vocal, and he’ll whine and react while he’s watching it.

Place to Swim:
My friend has a pool, and for some reason she lets Sampson swim laps in it. We also went to Santa Fe Lake quite a bit during the summer.

More on Sampson and Kim:

Kim Janzen knows how fortunate she is to be head of the Kansas Humane Society. “I always thought it would be the greatest job in the world,” she says. “I mean, who in the world would quit this job?”

Yet this dream gig isn’t without its challenges. As the humane society has become more visible in the community with events such as this month’s Woofstock festival, the number of animals it houses has skyrocketed from 11,000 to 16,000 in the past three years.

 Janzen took over the post in 2003, in the thick of the group’s capital campaign for a much-needed larger facility. The new space, at K-96 and Hillside on the Wichita Campus for Animal Care, covers 40,000 square feet and will include a dog park when it opens early next year.

Janzen’s job requires far more interaction with people than pets. She briefs city officials, staff and citizens to educate them about Wichita’s pet problem. She says that former TV host Bob Barker’s adage—”Help control the pet population; have your pet spayed or neutered”—is the most important message she tries to convey.

Despite her busy schedule, Janzen makes time to bond with the animals. “I might be working on a Saturday, and I’ll find some lonely pooch and pet on it,” she says. At home, she curls up with her two favorite golden retrievers, Sampson and Murphy. That is, when she’s not dishing peanut butter. —J.M.