AdoptMe Bluegrass Pet Rescue: KONG Toys Grant Report

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

The pets in our care at Adopt Me! Bluegrass Pet Rescue (AMBPR) get hours of human interaction every day, but also have lots of alone time between those interactions.

With 300+ dogs and puppies going through our system each year, finding affordable enrichment opportunities between human interaction sessions is often cost-prohibitive. Thanks to the 25+ KONG toys received through the Petfinder Foundation Kong Toy Grant, we were able to provide these durable and safe toys to our rescue pets.

Three canine groups benefited. First, our puppies who rarely had rubber enrichment toys until now are happily enjoying something new. Second, the adult rescue dogs benefitted from using the KONGs as both a chew toy and, when volunteers would add a spoonful of peanut butter, a healthy snack activity.

Finally, because of the generous number of toys, we were able to give a KONG to each dog in our Paws Behind Bars prison training program. There are a dozen or so adult dogs who benefit from trained, consistent human interaction and loved a new toy. And the inmate handlers were THRILLED to have such a nice toy to give their canine roommates, coinciding as it did with the holiday season.

How many pets did this grant help?

300

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

Tawney was one dog who benefited immensely from the KONG toy grant. She was an owner-surrender, from a nice but older couple who couldn’t handle her high energy. Because of her history, we wanted to make extra sure her adoptive family would be able to meet her energy demands to reduce the chances of her return.

For that reason, AMBPR chose to extend her stay with us longer than some other dogs’. And we made sure she had KONG toys at the ready to help her learn to properly dispel that extra energy!

Thankfully, she loved the KONG toys. Because of your generous donation, and the KONGs’ durability and ease of cleaning, Tawney always had a KONG toy available. She is now in her loving fur-ever home after almost two months of rehabilitation with our rescue. Happy tails, Tawney! And thank you, KONG, for helping to make her adoption possible.