No one should ever be forced to spend the holidays alone. This is especially true of shelter dogs. Why shouldn’t they have the chance to enjoy all of the trappings of Thanksgiving? Christie Chipps Peters works as the director of the Richmond Animal Care & Control organization. She came up with a great idea to help all of the shelter dogs that are looking for a home cooked meal.
While everyone else is out making plans with their friends and loved ones, these dogs are left behind the walls. They are forced to wonder if anyone will ever actually care about their needs and many of them may struggle to find forever homes. Peters started to think about this and felt very sad. She figured that people would want to invite them over for dinner.
As it turns out, she was correct. She let the community know that the dogs were available to come over and before long, she received 35 replies. This was the first year of the program and now they are on their fourth go round. Many of these animals are also adopted as a result of this program. We know that we would have a hard time sending a lot of these pups back!
Whether the families themselves adopt the dogs or their friends and loved ones take them home, this program is definitely helping out in a number of ways. The number of participants this year is on the rise and we hope that these families are able to take home the dog of their dreams. What a clever idea from Peters. More shelters should follow her lead.
This is a great twist on the usual fostering tactics. The shelter is able to offer any and all supplies that are needed so that there are no worries to deal with. What a smart way to make sure that it is incredibly difficult to send the dog back to the shelter after the meal is over. After all, how can you send the dog back when they are already so cozy?
This year, the shelter is planning on sending some of their favorite senior animals out for a nice meal. We hope that these pets are given the chance to reside in a forever home as soon as possible. Every pet deserves a warm, happy place to spend the holidays. Be sure to pass this story along!
