Foster Pet Outreach: KONG Toys Grant Report

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

For foster dogs in our program.

Many of the dogs who come into our program have separation anxiety and are very stressed. The KONGs are very good for them. We stuff them with peanut butter or KONG stuffing and freeze them. This gives them something to do to ease their stress levels. We stress the use of crates with our foster homes. Not all the dogs do well at first in a crate.

How many pets did this grant help?

So far we have had eight dogs who have used many of the different items we received.

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

Harry (first and second photos) is our famous little guy right now. I have attached a before and after of him. Harry started out very overwhelmed. He was neglected and never went outside. Everything was new to him. He loves the KONG chews and for some reason, the bigger ones are his favorite. Meet Harry: https://www.petfinder.com/petdetail/33927803

Biscuit (third photo) probably had the most anxiety we have ever seen. He was in a boarding facility for a few days in the beginning until we could get him into a foster home. He absolutely could not stand to be left alone. He chewed through metal fencing and a wooden door. Once in the foster home, a frozen KONG helped him to adjust to being left alone. He started to associate the treat with the foster leaving. He is now adopted and happy!

Mahoney (fourth photo) was adopted by one of our fosters. He is very hyper and not confident. The KONG helps him with his energy level.