Parma Animal Shelter: Play Group Training Grant Report

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

The $1,000 grant was used to pay my tuition for the Dogs Playing for Life mentorship at the Longmont Humane Society in Longmont, Colo., in August.

This grant enabled me to learn how to conduct successful playgroups and also basic dog-training tips. This has greatly benefited our organization because we are able to have playgroups with the dogs to get them outside and exercised more. It allows us to better assess the dogs' personalities and how they will behave with other dogs. Also, with the training tips I learned, I can pass those along to other volunteers so the dogs can receive more training reinforcement. The public also enjoys watching the dogs play together. It gives potential adopters a chance to see the dogs in action.

How many pets did this grant help?

This grant will help almost every dog that comes into our shelter, which is about 400 annually. Each dog will benefit from playgroups and learning some basic training.

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

Many times at our shelter, people will label dogs as “aggressive” with other dogs. They’ll say the dogs do not like other dogs and we should keep them away from each other. By having playgroups, we have been able to quash these untrue labels. Once in the playgroup, dogs come alive and love playing with each other. Volunteers have seen the difference in the dogs and have become more interested in playgroups and how they work. I’ve already conducted one training session with volunteers and we are planning another one. Many dogs have benefited from playgroups. Murphy, the brown-and-black dog in the photos below, has been available for adoption for a while now; he has become my helper dog. He gets along with and tolerates all the other dogs and so he’s been my assistant! Meet Murphy: www.petfinder.com/petdetail/39285336