Pet Helpers: Dog Field Trip/Short-Term Fostering Grant Report
How did this grant help your organization and the pets in your care?
The Dog Field Trip Grant provided Pet Helpers with $1,000 to use towards purchasing brand new materials for our Doggy Day Out program. This program provides opportunities for our shelter residents to get out of their kennels and spend the day exploring the city and partaking in various activities with a volunteer.
This program not only allows long-time residents of our shelter to get some much-needed away time, it also provides an opportunity for these dogs to work on their socialization skills.
The materials purchased allowed us to provide volunteers with a brand new backpack full of materials that they will need during their day out, including water bottles, collapsible bowls, and potty bags. We were also able to purchase enough Adopt Me leashes and harnesses for each dog in our care.
Doggy Day Out has been a critical tool in some cases for some of our dogs to get much-needed time away from their kennels. Many dogs who remain in the shelter for extended periods of time see a regression in their behavior, making it a lot harder for them to be adopted out. However, many of these dogs exhibit completely different behavior in their kennels when frolicking on the beach or napping on the couch with a volunteer on a Doggy Day Out. For some dogs, being out of the shelter is one of the only times that their true personalities are able to shine. For these pups, they are much more likely to be adopted if they are seen out enjoying some doggy ice cream or a long walk with a volunteer than if they were huddled up in their kennel at the shelter.
The purchasing of these extra materials allowed us to expand this program, not only allowing us to frequently get long-term residents some more time outside of the shelter, but also to increase our adoption rates.
The ability to enhance this program allowed us to increase the likelihood of adopting out some of our longest residents, and has brought so much happiness to the staff, volunteers, and pets who participate. It has given our shelter staff and volunteers great joy to see our dogs enjoying some much-deserved time away from the shelter, letting their true personalities shine.
How many pets did this grant help?
50
Please provide a story of one or more specific pets this grant helped.
Our second longest resident, Steve, participated in several Doggy Days Out. Steve was a Pet Helpers resident for more than a year and was often overlooked by adopters due to his breed. He participated in several Doggy Days Out where his report cards always reported that he was a sweet and very well-behaved boy.
Steve was exposed to various potential adopters during these field trips and anyone who showed interest was given a business card detailing information about Steve.
In October 2023, Steve’s lucky day finally came! Just shortly after he participated in a Doggy Day Out in all his new gear (he was the model for our Petfinder Foundation Field Trip Grant thank-you post), Steve was adopted! It was such a joy for the staff and volunteers to finally see Steve get his happy ending, and we are so grateful to the Petfinder Foundation for allowing us to purchase materials that helped him get it!
