Advocates for Abused and Abandoned Pets: Grant Report

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

Thanks to this grant, we were able to purchase an agility kit consisting of several jumps, hurdles, weave poles, and hoops. Additionally, we obtained place tables with non-skid mats, a wobble board, and paw pods!

Using agility equipment in conjunction with our Canine Good Citizen (CGC) and Trick Dog training allows us to provide a variety of enrichment activities for our students. Agility is a perfect way to provide mental and physical exercise and stimulation, build confidence (especially for the fearful students), and to have fun. Each piece of equipment serves a different purpose, such as the pods, which teach balance and build core strength, or the place tables that allow an owner to provide distance training. When pets fall into rhythm with their handler during jumps, weave poles, cones, etc., seeing them work as a team is truly rewarding.

Pet owners are always telling us how well their pet sleeps after the training sessions, and we love it!

How many pets did this grant help?

Approximately 15 during the last training season.

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

Delilah (first photo) is a beautiful and loving but highly energetic girl. She learns commands very quickly, but her energy makes it hard for her to focus. Working on the agility equipment between CGC training allows her to expend energy while focusing on the task at hand. Redirecting her back to her CGC training then becomes easier. She will earn her CGC certificate soon.

Dash (second and third photos) is a fear dog — he’s afraid of pretty much everything. Pet owners often confuse fear with shyness and fail to realize that, without socializing or building confidence, their pet may remain fearful for a long time, if not forever. Teaching “up” is a great way to help fear dogs gain confidence. Jumping on a couch is different and until a pet owner sees that, they don’t understand. You can see in the pictures that Dash is still hesitant to get “up,” but once he did it and was praised for doing such an awesome job, he was quickly able to do it with more confidence.

Both Delilah and Dash have been adopted.