{"id":27063,"date":"2024-06-20T23:11:41","date_gmt":"2024-06-20T23:11:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/animal-shelter-holds-doggie-day-out\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T05:50:28","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T05:50:28","slug":"animal-shelter-holds-doggie-day-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/animal-shelter-holds-doggie-day-out\/","title":{"rendered":"Animal shelter holds Doggie Day Out"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Elodie
Elodie is an 11-month-old shepherd cross available for adoption at the Farmington Regional Animal Shelter. (Brad Ryan\/Special to Tri-City Record)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Elodie has called the Farmington Animal Shelter her home since May 8, when she was taken in as a public drop-off. She is one of 74 dogs being kenneled at the shelter.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce we hit 60, we know things are getting pretty tight,\u201d said Animal Shelter Director Stacie Voss. \u201cIt\u2019s not unheard of to have 100 dogs in our care.\u201d<\/p>\n

With all these dogs, it is difficult for staff to give them affection and attention. This is why the shelter started a new program aimed at providing dogs with a day outside the facility.<\/p>\n

The Doggie Day Out allows potential adopters or volunteers to take a dog out of the shelter for a day, or even a sleepover to provide it with one-on-one attention.<\/p>\n

Elodie had her day out in Berg Park on June 18. She went on a one-hour walk through the park and showed off her calm and somewhat nurturing personality. She was happy smelling the plants and hearing the river run by. She also was intent on watching a child playing on a bicycle.<\/p>\n

\"Elodie
Elodie is walking on a leash with an adopt me tag on it. (Brad Ryan\/Special to Tri-City Record)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

This is just one example of what a Doggie Day Out could be, according to Amber Francisco, community program manager at the shelter.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey can be gone anywhere from an hour to all day long. We do offer sleepover events,\u201d Francisco said, adding in order to participate a person has register online. \u201cIf they sign up, they\u2019re not taking a dog that day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Francisco said there is planning the goes along with the day out. Participants are provided with everything they might need to care for the dog. \u201cWe send them with a harness, poop bags. We have adopt me things that go over the back of their leashes,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Dogs are fitted with adopt me bandannas and a bag of treats. \u201cWhatever they need, we\u2019ll send with them,\u201d Francisco said.<\/p>\n

\"These
These are some of the items that go out with a dog, when it is participating in the Doggie Day Out program at the Farmington Regional Animal Shelter. (Brad Ryan\/Special to Tri-City Record)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

The hope is that while a dog is out and about someone might be interested in coming to the shelter to adopt it, so the participants are provided with postcards or business cards with the dogs name on it.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo if somebody is interested in adopting a dog while they\u2019re out, they can hand them that and say here is our information,\u201d Francisco said.<\/p>\n

Shelter staff has worked to get creative in ways to find homes for the animals. This can include discounted adoption prices, spinning a wheel to adopt a kitten and winning a discount, fostering and now the Doggie Day Out, Voss said.<\/p>\n

Voss added that COVID changed the \u201csheltering world\u201d with the shelter being 90% to 95% full all the time.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe dogs are staying longer, and transfer hasn\u2019t been an option as much, because it\u2019s a nationwide problem,\u201d Voss said. \u201cDogs are staying here longer, and with the cat situation, we\u2019re in the middle of kitten season.\u201d<\/p>\n

Francisco said both the Doggie Day Out and the shelter\u2019s Foster to Adopt program offers people a chance to see if the dog is good fit for them and their family. While the day out is a short visit with the dog, the \u201cfoster to adopt\u201d allows potential owners to take an animal for up to two weeks.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey can see if the dog likes cats, because that\u2019s something we can\u2019t 100% guarantee here at the shelter,\u201d Francisco said. \u201cSo it just gives them another opportunity to get the dog out in a home.\u201d<\/p>\n

If the dog doesn\u2019t work for that potential owner, the dog comes back to the shelter, \u201cand then we have a little bit more information about that dog for the next potential adopter,\u201d Francisco said.<\/p>\n

And what happens if a person doesn\u2019t return the dog or pay the adoption fee? Well, Voss said in the interest of an animal finding a home. \u201cThat sense of control, we\u2019ve had to let go of a lot in the last few years.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s why we expanded the foster program and why we\u2019re doing this because like if they decide to keep it, OK, it\u2019s in a home,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Voss said they prefer that people come back and fill out the paperwork and pay the adoption fee, but all animals that leave the shelter are all spayed or neutered, have had their first vaccinations and they are microchipped.<\/p>\n

To participate in the Doggie Day Out program, apply online at FarmingtonNM.gov\/DayOut.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

New program gives dogs a day outside of shelter, reduces crowding<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":27064,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[28],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-27063","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-headlines"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27063","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27063"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27063\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":79641,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27063\/revisions\/79641"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27064"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27063"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27063"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27063"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=27063"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}