Several dogs at the Toronto Animal Services are patiently awaiting their furever homes, and the shelter is now waiving adoption fees to help the furry animals find a paws-itive owner in an effort reduce capacity.
The initiative is part of the Dogs Made In Canada Event launched by Toronto Animal Services earlier this month and will run until July 20.
The goal is to help reduce numbers in the shelters which have quickly begun nearing capacity by encouraging people to adopt dogs that are 100 per cent Canadian.
“When we’re at capacity, it means that other animals that are in need can’t access our care, and we never want to be in that position,” Elana Trainoff, manager of Partnerships and Animal Services for Toronto Animal Services, told Now Toronto.
Trainoff says the city runs three animal shelters and says some dogs have been in the facility for more than 100 days, and despite the constant promotion, the shelters have been struggling to find them a home.
One of those dogs is Chico, a two-year old American Bulldog who’s smart, affectionate, and has a “heart as big as his smile,” the shelter says.
“When we get close to being at capacity, you know, it triggers us needing to find creative ways to get people to come to our website and look at the dogs that we have available,” she said.
Trainoff says that adoption fees for the animals are considerably low in comparison to other shelters, with the fee only being $185 for a male dog, and $215 for a female dog. Despite this, she says finances can still be a barrier to adoption, and the waived fee is meant to help relieve those pressures.
“For people in general, it’s just the cost of owning a pet, veterinary care is not cheap, and it’s something that people really do have to consider. It’s probably a reason why people don’t adopt,” she said.
Trainoff says financial pressures are part of the reason why more and more people have surrendered their pets post-COVID, but luckily, the shelter offers low-cost services such as spaying, neutering, microchips, and vaccinations.
“Our real holistic goal here is to keep pets with their families and to help support that and when they can’t,” she said.
While the shelter takes pride in caring for the animals and making connections with them, Trainoff says staff can often be saddened by the animals staying at the shelter.
“They’re sleeping and living in a kennel, as opposed to sleeping and living on a sofa in somebody’s home with family. So, we want to get them out as quickly as we get them in,” she said.
This can sometimes be made difficult when people looking for dogs to adopt are searching on third party websites, but Trainoff says she’s optimistic dogs like Chico will find their home.
“There are some amazing dogs in our shelters now that are so ready to be perfect family pets,” she said.
