The Humane Society and Animal Rescue of Muskegon County: Orvis Dog Enrichment Grant Report
How did this grant help your organization and the pets in your care?
We used the funding to purchase dog enrichment toys/puzzles in order to keep our dogs mentally and physically happy and healthy while they wait to be adopted.
The dogs in our care have a length of stay ranging from a few days to just over a year. Whether they are just arriving or are a long-stay animal, we make sure they keep their minds and bodies active. The shelter setting can be very stressful; that is why we are so thankful this grant has allowed us to buy puzzles and enrichment toys that will take our dogs' focus off the stressful environment. Mental and physical enrichment is vital to a dog's health while in our care, and it directly impacts their adoptability. This grant helped enrich the lives of our dogs and increased their adoptability.
How many pets did this grant help?
30+
Please provide a story of one or more specific pets this grant helped.
This grant helped our sweet girl Smooch get adopted! She was with us for just over six months. She’s an absolutely wonderful dog; her only flaw was that she would get too excited when she came into the visiting rooms for meet-and-greets. She would come in so excited that she’d knock the potential adopters over, sometimes jumping up and head-butting them in the face. We would run her in the yard daily, take her for walks, and have her in dog playgroups, but she would just get so amped and stressed in her kennel that she always came out too hyped for the adopters’ liking. Once we received this grant, we started her on an enrichment schedule in her kennel that included different puzzles and toys multiple times a day, every day. We immediately noticed a difference in her behavior with the increased mental stimulation she was receiving along with the physical exercise she had been getting already. Smooch had a wonderful visit with a family shortly after and she MADE IT HOME JUST IN TIME FOR CHRISTMAS! Thank you for your support in making this possible.
