Dogs at Play
By Ethan Mathews
Parking lot of the Humane Society for Greater Savannah adoption center, located on Sallie Mood Drive
Animal shelters across the country are working to maintain steady adoption rates and avoid reaching capacity. For the local non-profit adoption center, the Humane Society for Greater Savannah (HSGS), finding new ways to increase the quality of stay for dogs has had a profound effect on this very problem.
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By breaking down the barriers of dog-to-dog interactions in a controlled and supervised environment – what many shelters refer to as “playgroups” – HSGS has seen an increase in their dogs’ mental and physical wellbeing, gained more accurate assessments of temperament and personality, and achieved an overall boost in morale.
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While letting dogs play together may sound like a simple solution, this change did not happen overnight. Mary Kelly, the Canine Behavior and Enrichment Department Coordinator at HSGS, says that this is the culmination of months spent perfecting the process and ensuring the safest possible environment for the dogs and handlers.
“It was difficult at first, and I had my own reservations because this was the first time I had ever worked in a shelter where I was building up the playgroups,” said Kelly. “Part of my issue was not wanting to put the dogs in situations where they might not get along with another dog and have that set them back.”
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Through nearly a year of trial and error, HSGS staff and volunteers have developed a system for safely matching dogs and building on the size of the playgroups. A big part of that, Kelly said, was stepping back and letting the dogs learn social skills from one another. “It’s gotten a lot better now – it’s easier for me to look at the shelter dogs and focus on figuring out who we think they’ll do best with.”
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Today, HSGS is able to run playgroups five days a week – sometimes twice a day with the weather cooling down. According to Kelly, the payoff is worth the hard work that goes into it.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​
“I definitely see a boost in morale for staff and volunteers. We’re seeing bigger personalities from the dogs, so we’re getting more information than if we were just taking them for walks and seeing how they interact in their kennel with people,” said Kelly. “It has really opened us up to who these dogs really are, and of course, it’s always fun to watch dogs playing together.”​
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Kelly said one dog in-particular, Tang, serves as an example of the impact playgroups can have.
Mary Kelly running a playgroup of small-medium size dogs.
“When he came in, he was terrified in his kennel, sitting in the corner shaking. He came from a shelter that offered very little playgroup opportunities, but he still found comfort in dogs,” said Kelly. “The playgroups helped him come out of his shell and trust people. Seeing other dogs interacting with people helped build that bridge for him.”
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Last Saturday, October 14, Kelly and her team had their first opportunity to showcase these playgroups to potential adopters at the annual HSGS Fall Fair. Visitors were able to watch from behind the fence as the dogs enjoyed their usual playgroup routine.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​
“We had eight dogs get adopted. Five of them were ‘Lonely Heart’ dogs, which means they were here long-term. When people saw them out in playgroups and were able to see more of their personality, they got a lot of interest and that was the result,” said Kelly.
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In addition to expanding the program through public events, Kelly and her team are helping other local rescues and adoption centers start programs of their own. “I think every shelter should be doing this. One local shelter was already doing playgroups, but they weren’t quite sure what they needed to be doing – what behaviors to look for, how to match dogs, etc.
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Once they observed us, they were able to take all of that back to their shelter and their playgroup program has grown.”
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Kelly is hopeful that the HSGS playgroups will create a more positive experience for potential adopters and overcome the often disheartening expectation of visiting an animal shelter.
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For more information on adoptions or volunteer opportunities, visit humanesocietysav.org.
