The SPCA Tampa Bay does an incredible servide to Dog-Kind by housing and facilitating the search for new loving families for thie residents. Sometimes it takes longer than anyone would like for a dog to find that special someone, and extended times spent in the kennels can be very stressful on a dog. It is best all around if they spend as little time there as possible.
There are many reasons a dog may take longer to adopt, black dogs for example are typically in kennels longer than lighter colored dogs… Puppy’s of course are adopted right away, but sometimes older dogs are not so lucky. Some breeds, like pitbulls or American Staffordshire terriers, or any of the bully breeds also can sometimes stay in kennels longer. Even thought in many people opinions, mine included they are the best dogs out there.
Besides all of this, some dogs just do not give a good impression when people come to adopt them. They don’t “show” well. They may be high energy and of course they are not getting enough exercise in the kennel, so they appear to hyper to perspective adopters. The stress of the kennel just gets to some dogs more than others, so they might seem aloof or dis-interested when adopters meet them.
These are the cases that we try to work with. My wife Kristy and I bring the dogs into our homes for a Doggy Weekend Adventure away from the stresses of the kennel, so we can really see what the dog is like, and how they behave in a home environment. We do some training with them and video them as they intract with our dog and two cats, as well as how they behave in regular day to day activities like taking baths or going for walks.
We have been releasing these videos on YouTube and linking them to the SPCA Tampa Bay Website. We also Prepare a mini photo/biography/story about the dog which we put on their kennel to draw even more attention to the animal from foot traffic in the shelter. Overall, the success of these videos has been overwelming. With the help of all the volunteers at the SPCA who distribute these video to others or Like them on faceboook or distribute them through other social networks. All of the Dogs we have featured have been adopted.
I will post all the videos on this blog and I will create a special web page to highlight each induvidual dog and their story… They have all been awesome.
