Panhandle Animal Shelter: Play Group Training Grant Report

How did this grant help your organization and the pets in your care?

The $1,000 grant was used to pay the tuition for the Dogs Playing for Life Mentorship Program held Dec. 5-8, 2017, in Austin, TX, at the Austin Pets Alive! facility.

The grant made it possible for me to attend the mentorship training. The training gave me hands-on experience in running playgroups from highly experienced trainers.

How many pets did this grant help?

We currently have 20 dogs available for adoption at our shelter. The training the grant provided will help these dogs and future dogs coming into our facility.

Please provide a story of one or more specific pets this grant helped.

J.J. is 1-year-old hound mix (first and second photos) who has been with us since Nov. 10, 2017. By mid-December, his behavior started to change to where he tugged and pulled on walks and barked at anything and everything in his kennel and outside. When he was first introduced to playgroup, he’d nip at and grab at the other dogs in the group and they’d respond by correcting his behavior. The training taught me to let that happen. Lots of teeth, lots of noise, then lots of play. Staff and volunteers have commented on his behavior improvement in and out of his kennel. He is becoming a much more adoptable dog because of participation in playgroup. Meet him: www.petfinder.com/petdetail/39960634