Kansas City Pet Project: Play Group Training Grant Report
How did this grant help your organization and the pets in your care?
This grant gave our Behavior & Enrichment Manager an invaluable experience to sharpen her skills and bring new material back to the team that will better serve the dogs in our care.
We are currently bringing nearly 200 dogs out to participate in canine playgroups each day. Without these dogs going to playgroups, we would not be able to get through morning cleaning to be ready for adopters and the dogs would all have to be individually walked. Instead, they are able to enjoy time out of their kennels with other dogs and we gain behavior and play-style information about every dog every day.
In addition to playgroups, we have been able to revisit our dog-walking program protocols and make changes and additions to improve the level of knowledge for staff and volunteers. With better handlers, we can help even more dogs find placement.
How many pets did this grant help?
The valuable information learned through Dogs Playing for Life will impact every dog arriving at our shelter this year, which is expected to be more than 8,500 dogs.
Please provide a story of one or more specific pets this grant helped.
Sylvie is just one of many dogs who benefited from this grant. Sylvie came to us at the beginning of May when she was signed over by her owner in the field to our Animal Services Officers. She arrived with a large chain and padlock around her neck and eight little puppies in tow.
She was quickly sent to a foster home with her babies, but while in foster care, Sylvie had some behavior concerns arise that needed attention from our behavior team. She was fearful around new people, and was showing escape tendencies as well as some indications of separation anxiety.
After her puppies were weaned, Sylvie came back to our shelter. She started to participate in shelter playgroups daily to improve her socialization skills, and she continues to enjoy being around people and other dogs every day!
She learned the fundamentals of our dog-walking program: loose leash walking, working walk, sits with 3 D’s, and kennel and door routines. We were also able to implement a greeting routine and taught Sylvie “place” to set her up for success when meeting potential adopters.
Although Sylvie hasn’t been adopted yet, thanks to this grant and the mentorship opportunity, we were able to give Sylvie a much better opportunity to find a new home by showing off lots of new skills for her adopters! Meet Sylvie here.
