Vanderburgh Humane Society: Dog Field Trip/Short-Term Fostering Grant Report

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

We were able to purchase collapsible water bowls and "Adopt Me" leash sleeves for our Mutt's Morning Out program! The water bowls are durable plastic instead of some very worn fabric ones we'd been using, and they are collapsible with carabiners rather than having to be wadded up inside bags.

The leash sleeves are easier to manage than vests. One cool aspect of the leash sleeves that we hadn't considered is that since we had our website printed on them, rather than just our name, people can take photos of it if they see a dog out on Mutt's Morning Out. Then they know exactly how to find the dog they saw if they're interested in adopting -- they just type in our website!

Looking back, I don't have any photos of Zoey wearing the leash cover from 2022, but I can get some on our next few MMO outings and we will post them on social media!

How many pets did this grant help?

About 300

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

Zoey is a shepherd mix who went on Mutt’s Morning Out nearly every weekday that she was with us.

One of our dedicated volunteers, James, does MMO every week. He will choose one dog that he’ll devote a lot of time to, and take out every day, until they get adopted. In late summer and fall 2021, Zoey was that dog (first photo)!

Zoey arrived on Aug. 13, 2021, from a partner shelter and was adopted by a beloved local bakery owner on Nov. 21, 2021. Having James spend time with her on Mutt’s Morning Out each day provided so much enrichment for her during her time in the shelter.

(She was also heartworm-positive and we provided treatment, so having a volunteer take her out for more leisurely walks in the park really helped fill that gap in physical activity caused by her heartworm exercise restriction when she first arrived!)