Adoption might be difficult for man’s finest pal, and Virginia Tech researchers are exploring methods to make the method higher for dogs in animal shelters and enhance neighborhood involvement.
With a grant totaling greater than $135,000 from PetSmart Charities, researchers within the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences’ School of Animal Sciences will work in collaboration with a PetSmart. During the day, the dogs will keep in one in all PetSmart’s Everyday Adoption Centers to be available for adoption by the general public, and they’ll go home at evening with their foster households.
“A barrier to recruiting and retaining foster caregivers is the commonly held belief of the time commitment involved in fostering,” mentioned Lisa Gunter, assistant professor within the School of Animal Sciences and venture lead. “By providing daytime care at a PetSmart Everyday Adoption Center, that barrier to participation is greatly reduced. Caregivers can drop their foster dog off during the day and return in the evening to pick up their dog on their way home. In all, hybrid fostering offers a unique opportunity to increase the visibility of shelter dogs and improve their quality of life while awaiting adoption.”
Previous analysis by Gunter and colleague at Virginia Tech and at Arizona State University in regards to the optimistic results of short-term foster applications on shelter canine adoptions and the stress-reduction advantages of home fostering stays led Gunter to conduct the research along with addressing limitations about why individuals are hesitant to foster shelter animals.
“We hope that a successful hybrid fostering program could be rolled out to all of PetSmart’s Everyday Adoption Centers,” Gunter mentioned. “As for bigger implications, ideally this research would inspire shelters to try out hybrid fostering programs in their communities to help improve the welfare of dogs awaiting adoption and increase foster caregiving in their communities. Now more than ever, shelters need the help of foster caregivers to save the lives of homeless dogs.”
