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Mutual Rescue Doggy Day Out encourages people to take dogs from local shelters on outings and field trips in the community. Common Doggy Day Outs can include a hike, a trip to a beach or lake, a sleepover in a home or even a nice dinner in a pet friendly restaurant. These outings help shelter dogs manage kennel stress, burn off energy and get more exposure in their communities.
Doggy Day Out only requires minimal training commitments for participants. This encourages members of the public, who normally wouldn’t have time to volunteer, to engage with their local shelter and advocate for the animals. It's a great excuse to get out and get some exercise or explore with a canine sidekick.
Learn how Doggy Day Out got started.Here are some shelters with Doggy Day Out-type programs. Since all shelters are unique entities, some have different names for their program and some may require an Orientation or Training Program to participate. Please contact the organization directly for their specific requirements.
Grove Hill, Alabama 36451
Sacramento, CA 95818
Milpitas, CA 95035
Ukiah, CA 95482
San Martin, CA 95046
Milton, FL 32583
Orlando, FL 32839/Sanford, FL 32773
Columbus, GA 31907
DeKalb County/Chamblee GA 30341
Fulton County/Atlanta GA 30318
Puunene, HI 96784
Jasper, Indiana 47546
Des Moines, Iowa 50313
Hattiesburg, MS 39401
New York City, NY 10029
Greenville, NC 27858
Austin TX 78703
Doggy Day Out also helps you reach a new segment of your community. Most people only interact with a shelter to surrender or adopt a pet or if they have time to volunteer. Doggy Day Out invites the community to engage with your organization and become advocates, adopters and donors.
Download Toolkit & Get StartedDoggy Day Out can help
Day foster trips for dog have been around for a while. Pima County Animal Care Center Director Kristen Auerbach, who was working at Fairfax County Animal Shelter in Virginia a few years ago, read an article about a shelter allowing people to take dogs out on hikes. She decided to implement it at the shelter in Virginia on a larger scale in 2014.
The program was very successful there and Kristen began presenting at conferences. Maddie's Fund began advocating for it as well. Across the country, other programs sprouted up including the incredibly successful programs at Fredericksburg SPCA and Louisville Metro Animal Services. Based on Kristen's presentation and Maddie's Advocacy, Humane Society Silicon Valley started a program, too. The program was so successful that Mutual Rescue, a national initiative of Humane Society Silicon Valley, endeavored to help spread the program to other shelters and help make it a nationwide movement.
With help from shelters with successful existing programs, like those at Fredericksburg, Louisville, Maui Humane and others, Mutual Rescue created a toolkit that contains all the manuals and forms a shelter needs to start their own program. We consulted with a diverse group of shelters with robust programs to create resources and support that would allow any shelter, regardless of size or area, to implement this program.
Mutual Rescue also helps grow new and existing programs through our Doggy Day Out program directory and social media outreach, using the nationwide social media audience garnered by the popularity of the Mutual Rescue films and book to let potential participants know about programs in their area.We drive PR at the national and local levels to create momentum for the programs and encourage the public to interact with their local shelters. We provide additional support for shelters starting programs through workshops, forums and one-on-one support.
These programs don’t just benefit the animals, they’re also life-changing for the people who participate. Read about one participant’s journey with Doggy Day Out in chapter five of Mutual Rescue: How Adopting a Homeless Animal Can Save You, Too. Now available where books are sold.
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