Friends of Berrien County Animal Services has received a grant to help reduce overcrowding at the Berrien County Animal Shelter.
Friends board member Katherine Francis tells us the Best Friends Animal Society has awarded the group $20,000 to operate a foster program at the shelter. That way, dogs can go live with families temporarily while awaiting adoption.
“Something we haven’t really had in the past is a robust foster program,” Francis said. “What we want to do is get animals out of the shelter and into homes.”
Francis says going hand in hand with the new foster program will be the hiring of behavior training expert to work with the less well-behaved dogs.
“So if we can work on the behavior of some of the dogs, get them some training, be able to assess their behavior and help get them to be better fits for the families, we can hopefully increase our adoptions and decrease our return rates.”
Francis says a pilot foster program was tried over Thanksgiving weekend with four dogs being sent into homes. It was a success, with three out of the four being adopted by their foster families. So, the program at Berrien County Animal Services is also a way for potential dog owners to try it out before committing to an adoption.
Francis says anyone who wants to foster a dog can contact Animal Services. She adds Friends of Berrien County Animal Services has also donated $10,000 of its own to the shelter so it can find a volunteer adoption coordinator.
