Maricopa County Animal Care and Control: Play Yard Renovation Grant Report

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

The money was used for the construction of a play yard consisting of five pens with connecting gates.

This grant for the construction of the play yards has helped our dogs enormously by giving them a chance to run off tension and excess energy in a safe, monitored environment. The play yards also provide an opportunity for dogs to socialize with other dogs, which enables employees and volunteers to make more accurate behavior assessments of these animals. Potential adopters are also able to view the dogs interacting in a more relaxed environment, making them better able to judge a dog's character and personality. Many dogs have been adopted straight out of the play yards.

How many pets did this grant help?

The number of pets that this grant has helped is literally hundreds, if not several thousand, since they were constructed. All able dogs are introduced to the play yards on a rotating basis, so the yards are constantly in use.

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

Rogue is just one of the animals helped by this grant. Rogue is a large mastiff mix who was dumped by her owners. She was, at first, very aggressive with people and unfriendly to dogs. During playgroup sessions, and with the supervision of an employee who took an interest in her, Rogue became a superstar. She is now very friendly to people and interacts playfully with other dogs in playgroups. Rogue even became the play-yard mediator, calming other dogs when they became too rambunctious. She was adopted by a family with three other large dogs and has adjusted extremely well. Rogue is now vacationing with her new family, and according to updates from them, they are all having a grand time.