Central Missouri Humane Society: Dog Field Trip/Short-Term Fostering Grant Report
How did this grant help your organization and the pets in your care?
This grant made such a huge impact on the pets in our care! Due to the pandemic, our building has been closed to the public and everything has been done by appointment. We started working hard to really push our foster program and offer options such as short-term fostering to get more animals out of the shelter and into temporary homes.
Because we are closed to the public, our volunteer opportunities have been limited to dog-walking and event support. However, there has been a lot of demand in the community for more volunteer opportunities.
Thanks to this grant, we revamped our Doggy Day Out program and offered it as a volunteer opportunity. We were able to purchase so many cool supplies for our volunteers, such as new "adopt me" vests, easy-walk harnesses, doggy water bottles, and even portable doggy paw-washers to use after walks and before and after getting in the car with a volunteer.
Our volunteers were thrilled about the new gear and commented specifically about how cool the water bottles and portable doggy paw-washers are. We created an online "report card" to be filled out by the volunteers after a "DDO" (doggy day out) and we upload those details and photos to our website. This information has been fantastic for when we are matching potential adopters with pets.
Last Saturday, we had nine volunteers sign up for DDOs -- yay! The success of this program would not have been possible without the generous grant from the Petfinder Foundation. Thank you so much for supporting the animals in our care!
How many pets did this grant help?
100
Please provide a story of one or more specific pets this grant helped.
This grant has impacted many pets! Casper (first and second photos) is one of the pets who has benefitted from this grant. Casper is a big, goofy bully breed whom we have had since September of last year. Animal Control agents picked him up when he was running loose and acting aggressively.
After getting to the shelter, he warmed up quickly with our staff members. He ended up being the biggest love bug! He’s a silly guy who has no idea how big he is and thinks he belongs in your lap. He’s definitely a little shy with new people and needs a home that can give him some extra TLC and socialization.
We have had a hard time placing him into a home, as he is nervous around men and doesn’t warm up to them quickly. Thanks to our DDO program, Casper has been out of the shelter many times and had adventures around town. He’s received some much-needed socialization and is getting better with strangers. He’s also learning skills such as patience and riding well in the car.
A high-energy guy like him has really benefitted from our DDO program and gotten some additional exposure out in the community. He is still available for adoption and looking for the perfect home!
