Hounds get a day on the town with new Seminole program
For dogs in a shelter, days are spent mostly in an enclosed space surrounded by dozens of barking canines and waiting to be adopted.
So to give the pooches a break, Seminole County will soon launch its “Hound Around Town” program, in which trained residents take shelter dogs out to play at a local park, stroll along a trail or relax at a nearby restaurant’s outdoor dining area.
It’s a way for the county’s Animal Services department to showcase the tail-wagging animals and hopefully get prospective adopters interested in taking one of them home for keeps, along with reducing the shelter’s population.
“It’s to change their atmosphere and give them a chance to socialize,” said Diane Gagliano, volunteer and events coordinator for Seminole County Animal Services.
The initiative also helps shelter staff learn how the hounds behave around people and in the outside world. That information can then be passed along to someone wanting to adopt a dog.
Before the program begins Tuesday, the county will hold a training session at 9 a.m. on Saturday for volunteers interested in being assigned a canine.
Each dog in the program has been fully vetted, to make sure they don’t have a feisty or cranky demeanor, Gagliano said.
The volunteers then are allowed to take the leashed animal for two hours to a predetermined spot, such as Big Tree Park in Longwood, the Seminole-Wekiva Trail in Lake Mary, or an eatery with outdoor seating in downtown Sanford.
Call it a field trip for Fido.
Volunteer caretakers must be adults and cannot take the dogs to their homes.
Even though Seminole’s animal shelter off Eslinger Way in the county’s Five Points Complex is not at full capacity, officials said, it faces the same issues that animal shelters across the country are experiencing. Rising inflation has led to a surge in dogs given up by families unable to afford them.
In Orange County, for example, officials with its Animal Services division started waiving adoption fees for dogs this month to ease crowding at its kennels.
Then this week, Orange stopped taking appointments for pet owners to give up their animals at its shelter on Conroy Road near the Mall at Millenia. This came after the county’s kennel population soared beyond capacity to 216 canines, according to officials.
“It’s an issue we’re seeing nationwide,” Gagliano said about the increasing number of dogs and cats being turned in. “They can’t afford the animals, or they’re moving, or they’re too busy with school starting up again.”
To ease its increasing number of animals, Seminole recently began offering discounted rates for adopting sterilized dogs at $20 and sterilized cats at $10.
To register for the Hound Around Town training, individuals should call Animal Services at 407-665-5201 or visit seminolecountypets.com. As of Friday morning, there were 20 slots available.
The next training sessions will be Sept. 10 and Oct. 1.
“It doesn’t do the dogs any good to be locked inside [at the shelter] for so long,” said Andy Wontor, a county spokeswoman. “This will help them get outside and become more adoptable.”
