Santa Cruz County Animal Shelter: Dog Enrichment Grant Report

How did this grant help your organization and the pets in your care?

We credit many of our successful dog adoptions and reduced euthanasia rate to our enrichment program. Grant funds help us continue to provide activities and an environment that help keep the dogs mentally and physically healthy during their stay with us.

How many pets did this grant help?

100

Please provide a story of one or more specific pets this grant helped.

Vinny (first photo) is a pit bull mix who was found as a stray dog in a small town in the Santa Cruz mountains. Shelter life was undoubtedly frustrating for Vinny, and while in his kennel, he barked incessantly. Understandably, this discouraged many prospective adopters, who would rush past him, not realizing what a sweet and playful dog he was.

A couple of enrichment items funded by the Petfinder Foundation changed all that for Vinny! We tried several different toys and discovered that the Giggle Ball and treat puzzles, especially Toppls, provided fun activities for him and helped keep him quiet in his kennel. And prospective adopters loved to watch him play with the Giggle Ball and figure out how to get treats out of the puzzles.

We also discovered that Vinny loves the water, and purchased another rubber stock tank so that we now have a “pool” in every yard. This was good news for Vinny, who could splash around in the pool (second photo) and return to his kennel tired and content.

Vinny was recently adopted into a loving home, and we are certain that the enrichment activities made possible by the grant helped make this a very happy ending for him.

Winslow (third photo) is an 11-year-old beagle/dachshund mix who came to us from another shelter. This sweet dog had a broken leg and was limited to in-kennel care and enrichment while his leg healed — and then later to very short leash walks.

Critical to Winslow’s recovery were two new stuffed toys and various food-finding puzzles and games purchased with the Petfinder Foundation grant funds. He had one of the stuffed toys with him at all times while in his kennel and out on short walks.

Winslow is now almost completely healed and was adopted by one of our very own volunteers. We credit Winslow’s speedy recovery and healthy mental state during his in-kennel hours to these toys and puzzles.

Bruno, a 5-year-old border collie (fourth photo), was surrendered by his previous guardians after they were no longer able to care for him. We soon discovered that Bruno had cataracts, rendering him mostly blind. While he loved to chase balls, it was frustrating for him because he couldn’t clearly see when and where the ball was being thrown. So we purchased some balls with bells inside so Bruno could more easily track where they were being tossed. Bruno was later adopted by a couple with a 6-year-old border collie (fifth photo). Another great match!