DV: The CNYSPCA is looking for ways to help dogs find their “fur-ever” home.
Adoption fees are down to just 50 dollars for animals like Cashew, a three-year old pitbull mix.
Any animal who has been at the shelter for at least six months is eligible to be in the program.
Director Troy Waffner explains why the timeline is a perfect fit not only for people but also the animals.
TW: “Somewhere around the six month mark, they start getting very antsy and very jumpy, so it just seemed like a natural progression to get people to look at those dogs.”
DV: Cashew is one of four dogs in the program along with Lila, Snoopy, and Gunner.
DV: Pitbulls make up the majority of the program’s population and also a large portion of the shelter’s population. They have gathered a rather negative reputation, largely due to media portrayal. This is one stereotype Waffner would like to see change as soon as possible.
TW: “We get a lot of pit mixes here, and there’s a very unfortunate stereotype about pitbulls. Tthey’re mean, they’re cranky, they’re grumpy, they’re going to bite you,’ which anyone who’s ever owned a pitbull, and I own one myself, and it’s just a big lap dog at the end of the day. You know, doesn’t care if a robber breaks in or not, it just wants to be loved, it wants to play, and it wants to do that. People never get by the headlines which are ‘pitbull bit a young child’ or something, but pitbulls overall are wonderful dogs.”
DV: The shelter hosts monthly open houses for people to come in and check out the available animals and takes the dogs who have been there for a while to public events in hopes of finding them a home.
Waffner adds that this program is all about getting the animals out of the shelter and into a home with a loving family.
Reporting in Syracuse, I’m Drew VonScio for NCC News.
SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC News) – The CNYSPCA is inventing new ways to make its animals have better odds of getting homes.
The “Time To Go Home” program was designed for animals at the shelter who have been there for at least six months. Currently the program has four dogs in it right now: Cashew, Lila, Gunner and Snoopy.
The animals have their adoption price reduced down to just $50, a reduction of 75%. The timeline of six months for the animals to have their price reduced is a perfect fit for them.
“Somewhere around the six-month mark, they start getting very antsy and very jumpy, so it just seemed like a natural progression to get people to look at those dogs,” said Troy Waffner, CNYSPCA director.
Three of the four dogs currently in the program at the CNYSPCA are pitbull mixes, a breed that has gathered a negative reputation since the 1990s for being “aggressive.” Pitbull mixes make up a large portion of the shelter population, and changing the perspective about the breed is important to help them find homes.
“We get a lot of pit mixes here, and there’s a very unfortunate stereotype about pitbulls,” said Waffner. “’They’re mean, they’re cranky, they’re grump, they’re going to bite you,’ which anyone who’s ever owned a pitbull, and I own one myself, and it’s just a big lap dog at the end of the day. People never get by the headlines.”
Dogs in the shelter get large amounts of exposure, even those that are outside of the program. Monthly open houses are designed for people to come into the shelter, and external events allow the dogs to be taken into public and advertised.
The shelter’s biggest priority, though, is ensuring every animal gets its “fur-ever” home.
