Companion Corner: Ollie at Berkshire Humane Society

By Breanna SteeleiBerkshires Staff
03:04PM / Wednesday, November 05, 2025Print Story | Email Story

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — There's a little dog with big energy waiting for his forever home at the Berkshire Humane Society.

iBerkshire's Companion Corner is a weekly series spotlighting an animal in our local shelters that is ready to find a home.

Ollie is a four-year-old mixed breed that has been at the shelter since September.

Canine caregiver and adoption counselor Simone Olivieri told us about Ollie.

"Just very sweet, very, very, very loving lap dog, and also a little adventure buddy. He's very confident and a great, great little buddy," she said.

He was dropped off at the shelter Sept. 30 after he was having a hard time fitting in at his home.

"He was having difficulties fitting in with the family," Olivieri said. "There were some young kids, and he was tending to escape and get out of the house quite a bit, and he would go on daily adventures around the neighborhood, and it was just becoming not very safe for him and a little bit too much for his owner to handle with the young kids as well."

Ollie needs a family who will be patient with him. Older children would be better as he can have a hard time warming up and occasionally likes his space. He enjoys being outside and needs someone who is going to let him explore the outdoors as much as he can.

"Ollie would love a family with, if there are kids, teens and up, he can be a little bit funny about being picked up and body handling. So he needs a family who's very patient and understanding, and once he trusts you, he actually does enjoy being picked up. So a family that would really spend a lot of time with him outside," she said. "He's used to being outside quite a bit, so he loves to use his nose and just follow his nose on 'sniffaris' out in the woods. He would love to go to new locations, different places each week, different hikes, different walks, so that he could really explore with his nose."

He likes the attention and would prefer to be the only dog but he can be in a home with other cats.

"He really likes being doted on and loved and kind of fussed over. He likes to be the center of attention," Olivieri said. "He has lived with a cat before. He had a really good relationship with a cat in the previous home, so he could go to a home with cats. Other dogs, I think he would prefer to be the only dog."

With how much Ollie likes being outside, it is important he keeps up with his vaccines and preventatives.

"I believe he was positive for Lyme disease, which is very common for most dogs. So as long as he keeps up on his flea and tick prevention and his Lyme vaccine, that's going to help protect him and keep him to stay safe, especially since he loves to be outside, he's going to get some ticks on him. So he just needs to stay on top of preventatives and preventative vaccines as well."

Ollie is house broken but has occasionally marked an area. The shelter doesn't think this is a chronic problem because it may be his being in a new area or a one-time thing. Potential adopters could do a trial period with Ollie to see how he behaves.

"He will sometimes mark in a new area. He is potty trained, but he might lift a leg on a couch or something in the home while he's marking his area, his new space," Olivieri said. "There are belly bands. We have some at the shelter we could send him home with, just to discourage that behavior."

Ollie does also guard his food; when he is eating he likes to be left alone to eat.

But Ollie would love to meet someone who will allow him to be on the couch or bed so that he can get in some snuggle time.

"He's a cuddler. He just wants to be with you, probably under those covers. So he's gonna make such a great little companion for someone," she said.

You can visit Ollie at the Berkshire Humane Society and read more about him on the website.

The Berkshire Humane Society is open Tuesday through Sunday. The adoption center is open 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday and Thursday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday, and 1 to 4 p.m. Sunday.

Tags: animal shelter, Berkshire Humane Society, dogs,

If you would like to contribute information on this article, contact us at info@iberkshires.com.

Fenton: Governor's Council Must Deliver for the Berkshires

Community submissionGuest Column
10:22AM / Friday, August 28, 2026

I am a Springfield lawyer running for Governor's Council and I am asking for Berkshire County residents to support me over an incumbent from North Adams.

Here's why: Last year I learned about staffing issues in our regional courts that I could not ignore. In 2025, it was reported that four of Western Massachusetts' 11 Superior Court judgeships were vacant, all at the same time. A few weeks later, that grew to five vacancies. This meant there were only six Superior Court judges serving all of Western Mass at a time when Berkshire, Hampshire, Franklin, and Hampden counties had more than 100 pending homicide cases.

Those numbers were alarming to me, so I started to engage with leaders in the community who work most closely with the court system and I came to learn that these vacancies were only the tip of the iceberg here in Berkshire County.

I learned that no Superior Court or District Court judge had been appointed from the Berkshires since the current incumbent took office. As a result, there is not a single Superior Court judge who lives in the Berkshires today, and several of the District Court judges drive in from other counties to support Berkshire courts in Pittsfield, Great Barrington, and North Adams. Court staff also informed me about severe staffing shortages at the Berkshire Clerk of Courts office resulting in other counties needing to loan staff to the Berkshires just so hardworking employees can take a brief and planned summer vacation. This is not normal. These issues are a reflection of genuine problems with the Berkshire County court system and show a lack of proactive attention from our Governor's Councilor.

Instead of focusing on regional equity, I watched as the current incumbent celebrated that she has voted against the governor's nominees more than any other councilor, without much explanation as to why. Most recently, she voted against two extremely qualified former prosecutors for the Parole Board. This was despite an in-person plea from the governor and a letter of support from all the three of the district attorney's from Western Mass. Those votes do not show independence or standing up for principles, they demonstrate naivete, and an unwillingness to work with the key stakeholders.

I had seen and heard enough. I decided to jump in the race and challenge the incumbent to address these problems head-on.

I am a partner of a regional law firm. I understand our courts and the importance of having qualified, fair and hardworking judges. And I know how important it is to have judges from the Berkshires serving the Berkshires. To achieve that, you need strong relationships with the legal community and local stakeholders. You need to know how to use the power of the Governor's Council to fight forcefully for our region. And you need to be laser focused on identifying vacancies before they occur so that they can be filled quickly with local candidates.

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