Friends of the Santa Rosa County Animal Shelter: Dog Enrichment Grant Report

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

The Petfinder Foundation Dog Enrichment Grant allowed us to purchase 60 KONGs! We use KONGs daily to encourage dogs to lick and chew, which are both decompressing behaviors that help the dogs learn to self-soothe in stressful situations.

Providing additional enrichment and mental-stimulation outlets through KONG toys will allow the shelter to enhance the well-being of dogs in our care. The kennels are loud and can create what we call "kennel stress" for dogs. Teaching the dogs to be able to self-soothe in what can be a stressful environment is giving them a life-long skill that helps them when they get adopted, adjust to a new household, and experience other events in life such as vet visits. While KONGs are quite durable, we go through a lot of them every year!

How many pets did this grant help?

We service a little over 1,000 dogs a year.

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

Meet Dumbo. He is just shy of 2 years old, which means he can be very excitable! If Dumbo hasn’t had a walk yet or mental stimulation, he will jump on the kennel door, which tends to deter adopters.

Once out of his kennel, he does great! He is very playful but doesn’t jump on people. Using a KONG helps him relax as well as use his brain a bit, which means less kennel jumping and enables him to give potential adopters a more accurate representation of himself.

He is currently still looking for his forever family! You can view his profile here.