Wenatchee Valley Humane Society: Play Group Training Grant Report

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

The money from this grant was used to send our Animal Behavior Manager to the Mentorship II in October at the National Canine Center in Wellborn, FL.

Our biggest challenge is behaviorally challenged dogs. We have more of them than helper dogs, and getting a good mix of dogs for a stable playgroup can be challenging. We try to keep things safe and stable, while at the same time we want to make sure those behaviorally challenged dogs also are getting the socialization and training they need.

Karen attended the course specifically dedicated to this issue to help with the challenges our team faces when working in playgroups with these dogs. Our goal is to see a reduction in playgroup issues for these dogs and ultimately reduce their length of stay.

How many pets did this grant help?

To date, since this training, we have be able to serve 165 dogs with this program.

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

Jasper came to us a shy, fearful dog. He would not play and he was fearful of other dogs, relatively hesitant of all strangers, and was a flight risk, so he had to always be on-leash. With the skills learned at the DPFL mentorship training, Karen was able to work with Jasper to ensure that he felt safe and slowly introduce him to other dogs without an accidental encounter on the property before he was ready.

Because of the work that this team did with him, he was able to be adopted and is now visiting dog parks, playing with toys, and holding play dates!