Orange County Animal Services: Dog Field Trip/Short-Term Fostering Grant Report
How did this grant help your organization and the pets in your care?
The grant funds we received from the Petfinder Foundation are being used to help with supplies for our Dog Day Out program. We’re excited to purchase items that we use daily for this program. We used the grant funding to purchase items like leashes, harnesses, and "Adopt Me!" vests. We would also love to supply people with treats, potty bags, and portable food and water bowls since most of our Dog Day Out adventures involve walking.
We only recently opened up this Dog Day Out program to the public, so the grant funds allowed us to purchase items and provide them to all the human adventure buddies. These adventures away from our shelter provide dogs with vital enrichment that improves their mental and physical health, and they also help our community members become more involved in helping our shelter animals and promoting them for adoption.
Field trips are fun, but field trips with dogs are even better! Field trips are a great way to help dogs engage with the community, reduce kennel stress, and learn social skills. People can also learn more about a dog's behavior and personality away from the shelter. Whether it’s a trip to Starbucks for a pup cup, a hike or a quiet nap on your couch – our dogs love to go on adventures with humans!
Our dogs often start to show signs of fear, stress, and anxiety when they are in out shelter for longer lengths of time. And, as is the case with many shelters nationwide, we are seeing our dogs are now staying at the shelter for longer periods of time before getting adopted. Our Dog Day Out program gives the dogs a chance to experience a different setting with different people, all while getting a nice break from their kennels. This kind of enrichment is very important for their mental and physical health. Getting out of a kennel setting for a few hours, all day, or even for a sleepover helps our dogs stay happy, healthy, and ready for adoption. And it’s fun for the humans, too!
We encourage everyone to send us photos and/or videos from their Dog Day Out trips with our shelter dogs. And we think those photos prove that the program works to help our shelter dogs. They always look so happy!
How many pets did this grant help?
We estimate this grant will help at least 200 dogs.
Please provide a story of one or more specific pets this grant helped.
Gracie originally entered our shelter in December 2023. As one of our dogs with a very long length of stay, she needed enrichment outside of the shelter. She’s a friendly dog with good manners, making her a perfect candidate for multiple field trips!
She was attentive to her adventure buddies and delighted about walks. On one of her adventures away from the shelter, her adventure buddy sent us some great photos of her in ADOPT ME gear and had these wonderful things to say about her:
“Gracie loved a three-mile hike through the meadows at the park. She was very good on the leash and did not pull. She clearly loved being out on the trails and checking out the new scents. She had such a happy attitude, it made the hike even more enjoyable for me and my husband.
“There were other people and dogs at the park and it was nice to see that Gracie was not reactive to any of the dogs. She just watched them quietly for a few moments before turning her attention to something else. Gracie was fun to be around and an excellent companion.”
We used the photos and insights to help Gracie get adopted and we think this program will also help other dogs at our shelter.
Thanks to the funds provided by the Dog Field Trips grant, we are excited to be able to provide shelter dogs with everything they need to show the world how amazing they are when they are out in the community.
