The Dog Journal

SHELTER STARTS VOLUNTEER DOG WALKING PROGRAM - “[V]olunteers will have the opportunity to walk adoptable dogs in the shelter and provide much needed exercise and social interaction.”

The Muncie Animal Shelter in Indiana is starting a new program for volunteers to walk dogs currently up for adoption in the shelter. Volunteers must first complete a training program to participate. The program provides weekly exercise and a little training for the dogs, and also makes it easier for the dogs to be adopted. Here’s more from The Star Press:

Volunteers will walk the dogs between 9:30 and 11:30 a.m. each Saturday, and will even be encouraged to play with the dogs in the shelter’s fenced-in “play yard” after the walk. The idea is to have the dogs exercised and back in their kennels by the time the shelter opens for Saturday adoption hours at noon, Peckinpaugh said.

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Beyond the direct benefits to the dog of having a particular person who walks and plays with them and relates to them at least once a week, Peckinpaugh also hopes the new offering provides the shelter with “references” who get to know their assigned dogs. “I couldn’t tell you everything about every dog in the shelter,” but 30 or 40 volunteers who work with specific dogs regularly could get to know them well, and the shelter staff could refer to those volunteers when someone is inquiring about a dog they might adopt, he said, Peckinpaugh said.

Sounds like a great way to spend a Saturday morning. Click here for the full story and here for more about the Muncie Animal Shelter.

MAN TAKES SHELTER DOGS OUT TO LUNCH - “I can go for a burger any time. They can’t,” said Sanderson…Stopping for burgers became a regular part of his outings with the dogs. Lunch out is also another chance for him to introduce them to potential adopters.”

Sanderson, 46, started volunteering at the shelter last summer after the death of his dog Sadie, a 12 1/2-year-old Staffordshire terrier. She was struggling with hip problems and arthritis. Acupuncture, laser treatments and pain pills didn’t work; Sanderson had to have Sadie euthanized.

He needed something to take his mind off the loss. He went to the shelter and asked to volunteer. He quickly became a regular, walking dogs and more. When he pitched the idea of taking dogs out of the shelter on a rotating basis to play in the park and shake off some of the stress that comes from living in a crowded kennel where lights shine and dogs bark, staffers said yes.

Hamburger Jeff is a great example of how important volunteers are to the success of dog shelters and how they can improve the lives of shelter dogs. Click here for the full story and here for the Canyon Creek Shelter Facebook page.

A 2 year-old American bulldog mix saved himself from euthanization by doing tricks.  The dog, now named “Tricks” was on a list of dogs to be euthanized at the Claytom County Animal Control facility in Georgia.  However, a staff member noticed he was sitting nicely and then got him to perform other tricks.  Even as he was sedated, he kept up with the tricks.  Thankfully, his euthanization was cancelled.  Here’s the story from People Magazine:

“The volunteer started giving other commands and the dog started doing them,” says Hannah Wildner, who photographs adoptable shelter pets. “Because the dog was being so cute, they didn’t have the heart to euth him.”

In spite of his sweet demeanor, the pooch didn’t have much of a choice, and was taken to be euthanized a second time. He had been sedated, but continued to perform tricks for the shelter volunteers, and they spared his life a second time.

Wildner heard about the dog’s remarkable story and shared the tale on Facebook, where hundreds of concerned users mobilized an effort to remove the dog from the shelter. The day before he was scheduled for a third time to be euthanized, the dog, now named Tricks, was taken from the shelter and straight to the vet.

Thousands of other shelter dogs are not as fortunate as Tricks, who is now waiting to be adopted to a nice home, all thanks to his own efforts.  Please read the full story here and check out more photos of Tricks at photographer Hannah Wildner’s site here.  Please share this story to help raise awareness about the multitude of other dogs on death row.

Some shelters report a “Black Dog Syndrome,” where dogs with black fur are adopted at a lower rate than other dogs.  It’s a strange phenomenon that unfairly prevents beautiful dogs from being adopted.  Here’s the article from msnbc:

LOS ANGELES — Animal shelter workers in the United States call it the “Black Dog Syndrome”: Black dogs and cats are often the last to be adopted and the first to be euthanized.

There are no statistics, but there’s plenty of anecdotal evidence and many possible explanations, ranging from superstitions like the notion that black cats are bad luck, to a simple logistical problem: Black animals are hard to photograph well, and are therefore hard to advertise. To combat the problem, shelters have come up with a variety of creative measures, from reducing adoption fees to improving the quality of the photos.

“Overwhelmingly, we hear from the shelter and rescue groups that black dogs, especially the big black dogs, and black cats take longer to get adopted,” said Kim Saunders, vice president of shelter outreach for Petfinder.com, the country’s largest online pet adoption database.

In order to make black dogs more appealing, it looks like shelters are getting more creative in terms of photography and presentation.  Hopefully, people will give these dogs a chance, even if their photographs aren’t the best. Click here for the full story.