Humane Society of Taos, Inc. DBA Stray Hearts Animal Shelter: Play Yard Renovation Grant Report

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

Construction of fencing/gates for more play areas in order to expand our Dogs Playing for Life program.

The grant helped to better establish and broaden our Dogs Playing for Life program. We now operate the program at least two days a week (Tuesday and Friday) and more dogs are participating. We believe it has directly led to more pet adoptions since the dogs are less stressed and more sociable.

How many pets did this grant help?

At any given time, about 50% of our dogs participate in playgroup. Since our average dog census is about 60 dogs, approximately 30 dogs participate in a given week.

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

Tamira was an older puppy who came to us at about 6 months of age. She had never been socialized and was very shy and fearful of other dogs. She initially was put in a playgroup with only one other dog who was an older, gentle dog. As her confidence in interacting with this dog grew, she was moved to a more active group of older puppies who actively played. She then advanced to a mixed-age dog playgroup. Shortly thereafter, she was adopted into her forever home. We believe the three playgroups that she participated in over a two-month period made a huge difference in helping her to be adopted.