‘Dog Day Out’ makes county shelter dogs five times more likely to be adopted
Athena Jreij
SAN JACINTO, Calif. (KESQ) — As the Riverside County Department of Animal Services battles it’s overcrowding crisis, they’re pushing more volunteers to take dogs out into the community seeking adopters.
The program, ‘Dog Day Out,’ allows for one-day foster field trips where volunteers can give dogs a day of activities away from their kennel, which include walks to the park, a local coffee shop or mall for some.
“These outings are gamechangers: dogs get to exercise, socialize, de-stress, and show off their personalities—all of which help them shine for potential adopters. In fact, studies show that just one day out of the shelter makes a dog 5x more likely to be adopted,” the county says.
Volunteer Ashleigh Dunn has taken dozens of dogs out and with the help of social media promotion, she says nearly all have been adopted.
” I think it’s just important to kind of beat the stigma of shelter pets always having these issues like they’re all aggressive or can’t be placed in a family home when really they’re just like most other dogs,” Dunn said.
She says the difference in animals behavior when they get out of the shelter, is noticeable almost immediately.
“They’re usually 80 to 100% different from when they’re in their kennel. So when you take them out so and they’re barking at you in the kennel, and then you take them out and they turn into a normal dog, they just want to take a nap,” Dunn said.
It comes as shelters deal with critical overcapacity, with the San Jacinto Animal Campus at 286% over-capacity.
“In particular to San Jacinto, we do need to see more foot traffic here for the amount of animals that continue to come in. Fostering, adopting and making space in any of our kennels helps the other shelter systems, because that’s making space that we might not otherwise have,” Veronica Perez with RCDAS said.
Dog Day Out trips require appointments at the San Jacinto Animal Campus and the Riverside County West Animal Shelter. Walk-ins are allowed at the Coachella Valley Animal Campus.
If you’re interested in participating, visit: https://rcdas.org/dog-day-out