BY KARI KUH

DBCHS

This week our featured pets are Sadie the dog and Lacey the cat, available for adoption through the Danville-Boyle County Humane Society (DBCHS) Home To Home™ program.

Home To Home™ is a unique, direct-to-adopter program for pet owners looking to re-home their animals. It gives potential adopters a chance to learn more about the animals directly from the people who know them the best.

Plus, research shows that animals experience high levels of stress in a shelter setting, so direct placement reduces animals’ anxiety by keeping them in a home.

Recently Lisa Gunter, Ph.D., MA, CBCC-KA, and Maddie’s Fund Research Fellow at Arizona State University, studied the impact of doggie sleepovers at shelters all around the country. Here’s an excerpt from The Association for Animal Welfare Advancement Blog:

“Gunter and her fellow researchers studied one- and two-night sleepover programs at five shelters across the United States; the dogs’ urine was tested for cortisol before, during, and after the sleepover.

“Researchers study cortisol levels as that is the most widely used physiological stress marker,” says Dr. Gunter.  “Going out significantly reduced the dogs’ cortisol levels, and upon return to the shelter, they went back to baseline shelter levels.”

The dogs at four of the shelters also wore health-monitoring collars to measure how long they slept. Researchers saw significant increases, going from 140-190 minutes of uninterrupted rest to, in some cases, 280 minutes during the sleepover.

More importantly, shares Dr. Gunter, “There was a bit of carryover effect,” with the dogs getting more rest than they had before the sleepover; some shelters reported the dogs seeming less anxious in general.

Dr. Gunter also pointed to a study that compared dogs in homes and in kennels and found that when they were in a kennel setting, the dogs had cortisol levels that were three times higher than when they were in homes.”

DBCHS is committed to using our resources to help people keep pets out of the shelter with safety nets like Home To Home™. Since we debuted the program in February, we’ve helped place almost 40 pets in new homes without ever stepping a paw into the shelter!

Now let’s do the same for our Pets of the Week, Sadie and Lacey.

Sadie is a happy shepherd-lab mix puppy who enjoys being outside and playing ball. Kids love her cause she loves them! Her favorite treats are bacon strips.

Lacey is a 6-year-old domestic short-haired cat who likes to sit in your lap and snuggle. Her ideal companion would be someone who spends a lot of time at home.

Visit https://dbchs.home-home.org/ for more information and to contact Sadie or Lacey’s current home.

The Danville-Boyle County Humane Society is a non-profit 501 (c)(3) established in 1972 that promotes the humane treatment of animals through compassionate care, education, and support.

To donate, please visit DBCHS.org/give or mail a check to DBCHS P.O. Box 487, Danville, KY 40423-0487. Your monetary gift will make a difference in a pet’s life, and we appreciate every contribution. Thank you for your support!