'Doggy Day Out' Connects Volunteers With Furry Friends

MILPITAS, CA -- It might be a dog's life, but it can mean a long haul for some dogs if they end up in a shelter or worse yet over the Rainbow Bridge.

But there's always hope. Dogs' lives are so intertwined with their companions, it's difficult to ascertain life without them. A dog's love is precious on many levels. It can be a level of commitment that varies as well, especially if a person can't have a dog or is too grief-stricken to want to.

That's why the Humane Society Silicon Valley incubated a program at its Milpitas shelter called Doggy Day Out, which is designed to bridge the gap between the shelter life and full adoption. Doggy Day Out encourages people with few restrictions and limitations to take dogs from local shelters on outings and field trips in the community. A hike, trip to a beach or lake, a sleepover in a home or even a nice dinner in a pet-friendly restaurant are common outings that help shelter dogs manage kennel stress, burn off energy and get more exposure in their communities.

More than 6.5 million cats and dogs still enter animal shelters each year — and 1.5 million are euthanized. Of the roughly $410 billion Americans give to charities, only 3 percent goes to animal-related and environmental causes combined.

So far, 31 shelters in 21 states are participating in Doggy Day Out. The program stands as part of a toolkit assembled by Mutual Rescue, a national nonprofit organization dedicated to animal welfare. The three-year initiative's president, Carol Novello, also serves as the Humane Society Silicon Valley's leader.

"We believe saving animals saves people," Novello told Patch.

Novello drew parallels between people and the dogs they give their time to. When people walk the dogs, it reduces the stress on the kenneled canine and the person caring for the animal. Both get more exercise.

"We find it gets them adopted more quickly," Novello said.

She cited a statistic out of the Fredericksburg SPCA in which the program reduced the length of time for dogs to get adopted by 20 percent. The outings calm the dogs and gives them a change in scenery.

"They get cabin fever like we do," she said.

Take Frosty, a white pit bull mix, who was the test subject that launched Doggy Day Out.

Frosty is a high energy dog, commanding time out of the shelter. Novello said the shelter tried to focus on adoption, then continued with hoping he'd be a foster dog until graduating to a trial period in which people could took him off the grounds on outings.

"We were flooded with interest," Novello said.

Ultimately, Frosty was adopted to a family in Tucson, where the shelter has been told: "He's happy as a clam."

Of course, he was puzzled by the recent snowfall. Still, he apparently continues to "hog the bed, hang out next to the pool with his dad and steal oranges that he doesn't eat but enjoys shredding," according to an email. He's at home in his new home, perfectly comfortable wearing sunglasses.

Another benefit to Doggy Day Out lies in extending the reach of the shelters to those who may not become engaged if volunteering requires a greater commitment. It just requires a driver's license, signed release and a meeting to hear a talk about the dos and don'ts.

Since spawning the program a year ago, the Milpitas shelter has booked out its 20 to 40 volunteers it sees per month weeks in advance. More than 350 volunteers have taken out 200 dogs.

"The name of the game is expanding the reach," she said. "We think this is our big opportunity to shift the conversation to an integrated approach in the community."

Novello feels so strongly about it she wrote a book due out April 9 titled "Mutual Rescue: How Adopting a Homeless Animal Can Save You Too."

The Doggy Day Out represents an ideal program for those who don't have the means or inclination to take on a dog full time -- including those who have done so and experienced the loss of their pet.

Mutual Rescue released two tribute films dedicated those who have loved and lost a cat or dog companion.

When these heartwarming films were shown, Humane Society Silicon Valley Board Chairman and Doggy Day Out volunteer Kurt Krukenberg said Mutual Rescue staff handed out tissue packets at one of its events to tell its story for the national film festival initiative. Mutual Rescue offers film festival hosts a reduced price on Novello's forthcoming book, “Mutual Rescue: How Adopting a Homeless Animal Can Save You, Too." (If ordered by April 8, 10 percent of the purchase price will be donated to local shelters and rescue programs across the country.)

Krukenberg said he's proud of the program's accomplishments, a stark contrast to when he first set foot in the Milpitas shelter expecting a dreary, uncaring atmosphere. It's a new day and age.

"I was afraid of what I'm getting into," he said. "But it was a welcoming, uplifting environment. It feels like family and a community."

The San Jose man signed up to serve on the board two years ago, and in half that time decided to be a volunteer for Doggy Day Out. Even with three dogs of his own, he's hooked -- admitting to fearing a different outcome of wanting to fill the house with dogs.

"I struggle with it all the time," he said.

He takes the dogs on trail walks, to the hardware store and sometimes to Starbucks.

Krukenberg wonders what it will be like when his own dogs pass on to the other life. He's grateful to have the program to rely on for support.

Grieving for his English bulldog, Haig, poet Robinson Jeffers wrote a timeless message of comfort in Haig's voice.

"I’ve changed my ways a little: I cannot now
Run with you in the evenings along the shore,
Except in a kind of dream: and you, if you dream a moment,
You see me there.

So leave awhile the paw-marks on the front door
Where I used to scratch to go out or in,
And you’d soon open; leave on the kitchen floor
The marks of my drinking-pan.

I cannot lie by your fire as I used to do
On the warm stone,
Nor at the foot of your bed; no, all the nights through
I lie alone.

But your kind thought has laid me less than six feet
Outside your window where firelight so often plays,
And where you sit to read—and I fear often grieving for me—
Every night your lamplight lies on my place.

You, man and woman, live so long, it is hard
To think of you ever dying.
A little dog would get tired living so long.
I hope that when you are lying

Under the ground like me your lives will appear
As good and joyful as mine.
No, dears, that’s too much hope: you are not so well cared for
As I have been,

And never have known the passionate undivided
Fidelities that I knew.
Your minds are perhaps too active, too many-sided....
But to me you were true.

You were never masters, but friends. I was your friend.
I loved you well, and was loved. Deep love endures
To the end and far past the end. If this is my end,
I am not lonely. I am not afraid. I am still yours."