ALAMO HEIGHTS, Texas – Alamo Heights Animal Care Services believes it has a brand new answer to an old downside of unfastened dogs and overcrowded shelters.
Alamo Heights ACS has teamed up with a canine daycare to assist stray dogs turn into beloved pets.
Larissa Lyons, operations supervisor at Dogtopia, mentioned the aim of this system is to assist stray dogs socialize higher and study to belief people to allow them to discover a new home.
“A lot of people want a dog that can go into their home and blend into the family really easily. And a lot of times that’s really difficult for dogs if they’ve never had any foundation training,” Lyons mentioned.
Two months into this system, Alamo Heights ACS supervisor Jennifer Stewart mentioned the pilot program goes into everlasting mode.
“The first dog that we boarded at Dogtopia had a complete turnaround. Within the first week of him being there, we could see the difference, and then a couple of weeks later, he got adopted,” Stewart mentioned.
Stewart mentioned that in 2022, Alamo Heights ACS impounded 150 dogs. So far in 2023, that quantity has dropped to 70.
“It’s not necessarily an Alamo Heights situation. But it is a San Antonio situation. San Antonio does have a loose and stray dog problem,” Lyons mentioned.
Lyons mentioned the coaching covers the doggie fundamentals: sit, keep, and lay down. But extra importantly, it’s the human interplay the dogs get all through the coaching.
“Just to make sure he’s OK with me being around his face and his teeth. And then the other things that I do during this time is like touching his paws,” Lyons mentioned.
Lyons hopes to broaden this system to different cities to assist scale back the stress on shelters and provides strays a leg up come adoption day.
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