Rebel Rescue, Inc.: Dogs Playing for Life Mentorship Grant Report

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

Part of the grant money paid my tuition to attend a Dog's Playing for Life Mentorship Program. The money also paid for supplies so that we could build a few agility-type play items for the yard.

Having play yard equipment is keeping the rescue dogs more engaged and curious. We see this bring out more happiness and have seen dogs who had been timid come out of their shells to play more. This has made them calmer and more interested in play.

How many pets did this grant help?

We have 52 dogs right now and the play items help them all.

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

Pepper (first photo) has been passed over for adoption because of his super-charged energy and his tendency to play in a dominant way. Now that he is using toys and obstacles, he is being challenged more and appears to be having a MUCH better time! He is now playing in groups and not making the other dogs mad. Meet Pepper here.

In the second photo you will see Cowboy and Jude. These two love digging in rocks and burying each other. It is hilarious! Both are dogs who didn’t like other dogs and were getting passed over for adoption. With structured introductions and play, they built confidence and eventually became friends and loved to play with the others.

If you look in the background of the third photo, you can see the A-frame and the hoop jump we built. In the fourth photo, you can see the catwalk in the background.

Today, Jude and Cowboy are adopted. Pepper is still waiting for his family to find him. He is still full of energy, so we have to wait for a family that plays together. We tell him the right family will come for him one day.