Brother Wolf Animal Rescue: Dog Field Trip/Short-Term Fostering Grant Report
How did this grant help your organization and the pets in your care?
With the grant funds, Brother Wolf purchased 10 harness and leash kits that say "adopt me," 10 treat pouches, 10 dog-treat bags, and 100 business cards (second and third photos). We outfitted our volunteer dog walkers with these things, and as they go out and about in downtown Asheville, they have this business card ready for anyone who asks about the dog they're walking! With these materials, Brother Wolf is building sleepover kits and is planning on having approximately five animals go on sleepovers each week, or approximately 20 per month.
With five animals going on sleepover field trips each week, Brother Wolf plans to help 250 animals annually with these kits.
These sleepovers have a positive impact on the dogs in our care. Giving dogs a break from the shelter allows them to decompress, get a good night's rest, and recharge for another week in a shelter environment. Many dogs show signs of decreased stress levels after returning from a sleepover, and are more likely to be adopted!
This grant also helps improve our foster retention rate and improve the experience of our foster families. These sleepover kits help set our fosters up for success, and give them opportunities to observe behaviors and take photos, which can all help in the adoption process, decreasing the time dogs spend in care at the shelter.
How many pets did this grant help?
250 annually
Please provide a story of one or more specific pets this grant helped.
We just recently got the sleepover program up and running, with plans to open the program up to full capacity in December. We had one dog test-run the program, and we saw how successful it was! His name was Jarvis (pictured), and he was excellent on-leash.
Giving Jarvis a sleepover opportunity and taking him into downtown Asheville was great for us to understand his personality in a different environment. It was also great for him to get a break from the shelter!
It was the photos taken during that sleepover and downtown excursion that helped get him adopted. After his day out, his photos were uploaded to his online profile. After we explained what the Dog Day Out program was, Jarvis’s adopter saw him as a sociable dog who could be well-behaved walking through town.
That was the result we were looking for, and we believe we can achieve this same outcome for hundreds of animals annually thanks to this grant.
