Castle of Dreams Animal Rescue: Orvis Dog Enrichment Grant Report

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

To assist in our efforts to ensure our rescue dogs are a perfect match for their new families, for our dogs who need a little extra TLC, we offer free in-home training sessions for adopters. This is a win-win. The adopter understands the dogs' needs and is willing to attend in-home sessions and reinforce the training techniques and suggestions offered by a professional.

The grant helped to offset our costs of training and caring for rescued dogs who may need a little extra TLC to ensure they are ready for a new family. By assessing their needs and behaviors, our volunteers can write descriptions of them an appropriately screen applicants that would match the needs of the rescue dogs. The grant allowed us to hire a professional trainer to work with adopters in their homes. Not being able to handle a dog and his/her behaviors is one of the top reasons dogs are surrendered to shelters. This is a measure that we can offer some adopters for our harder-to-place dogs. Thanks to the grant, we were able to offer free in-home training.

How many pets did this grant help?

3

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

Leo is a 3-year-old cockapoo who was pulled from a local shelter in New Jersey where he was reportedly found as a stray. In his foster home, he was very skittish and afraid to approach his foster family. It appears Leo had been abused based on an observation and analysis by our behaviorist. He needed a bit of TLC to learn to trust. He prefers to hang out in his quiet home with just his foster family around him. The trainer is working with his foster family on limiting his stress levels so Leo feels safe and at home. Although he loves attention from those he knows, he is more of an introvert. He would prefer to cuddle on the couch as opposed to going to the dog park.

Meet Leo: https://www.petfinder.com/petdetail/31342752/