If you have ever been interested in adopting a pet, but are unsure what it takes to adopt one, the San Diego County's "Dog Day Out" program can help.
The Dog Day Out program helps match you with a shelter dog that you'll be able to take out for part of the day.
“So the person gets a backpack and the backpack is filled with, like, dog treats, towels, some wipes. It gets also a doggy report card. So it kind of tells us, like, 'Yeah, it did great here. It did great there,'" said Manny Salazar with the County of San Diego Department of Animal Services. "Like a sleepover."
The program also serves to help dogs socialize, exercise and also promotes the dog for adoption by having them wear an "adopt me" vest while out.
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"Dog's Day Out was a program designed for dogs that are just kind of kennel stress or aren't doing well in the kennels. It's for people to come out that aren't ready to foster or aren't ready to adopt. But to come out and select a dog. We have dogs on the list that they can choose from. And then we pair them up with the right match," Salazar said.
In October, 43 people participated in the dog day out program at both their locations, according to the county.
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"The success story for us is we've had really extreme, like, hyper dogs find great homes because we found out that it does do well at the ocean. It's a water dog," Salazar said. "In the kennel it's super stressed. It does do fantastic when it's out of the shelter and we've noticed that through the Dog's Day Out program, we've actually had a couple of adoptions that totally were a success because of that."
The program is still in its pilot stage but the county hopes it will become permanent. For more details, click here.
The San Diego Humane Society also participates in "Dog Day Out." They also just expanded the program to all of its campuses.
