Homes Fur Hounds: Kia Pet Adoption Grant Report

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

The dogs that we pull from animal shelters are usually the least-adoptable dogs at the pound; they are diseased, malnourished, and terrified. Most have spent their entire lives living outside in a kennel. They often don't have names and are identified only by a number painted on their fur.

Because these dogs have never lived in a home and are somewhat fearful of people, they are hard to place. By giving a reduced adoption fee for these abandoned hunting dogs, we were able to find them homes more easily.

We also take in many senior dogs and many of them are bonded. We want to keep bonded seniors together, but it is difficult to find people willing to take on two senior dogs knowing there will be upcoming medical expenses. So we were able to reduce the fee for anyone adopting two bonded seniors, and that did help with getting them adopted.

How many pets did this grant help?

5-10, depending on the fee reduction

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

Sophia (first photo) was a hunting dog who had been found in the woods. She was very skittish and afraid of people. She had never lived in a house before, so she also was not housetrained. She was 8 years old, so that also made it difficult to find her a home.

We took her to several events, but she was always passed up. We did offer a reduced adoption fee for her and a wonderful person who had adopted from us in the past decided to adopt Sophia, so she now has a wonderful home (second photo).

Rocky and Roxy (third and fourth photos) arrived at Homes Fur Hounds when their owner was no longer able to care for them. Rocky was a cute shih tzu mix and Roxy was a Pomeranian. They were both 11 1/2 years old and had been together since they were puppies, so we wanted them to be adopted together.

They both had a few minor medical issues, so even though they were small and cute, we were not having any luck getting them adopted. They were very bonded so we did not want to adopt them out separately. When we received the grant, we were able to reduce the adoption fee and a very nice retired woman was able to adopt them both.