Forty-five wet noses have found new homes in recent weeks, thanks to the efforts of San Martin Animal Shelter.
Shelter supervisor and animal control officer Jeremy Selbach said that of the 95 dogs they’ve taken in as strays since Nov. 26, 40 had been successfully reconnected with owners as of Dec. 19.
“We do what we can on this end to find the original home,” said Selbach.
Separate from their regular campaigns, the shelter offered earlier this month to lower adoption fees to $20 for all animals through Dec. 31—an effort the Selbach hopes will make it easier for people to invite a new pet into its forever home during the holidays. The adoption fee covers spay/neuter surgery, microchip ID implantation and registration, vaccinations, de-fleaing and deworming, and FIV/FeLV testing for cats.
The shelter receives pets on a daily basis, said Selbach. He said since some of the dogs are scared about being at the shelter, they started a program in the spring to help.
“They need more time outside of the shelter, so we implemented a program to foster dogs that need a little extra socialization,” said Selbach. “We ask people to come to the shelter, pick a dog, and take them on their outing for a day.”
Selbach calls this a foster field trip.
“I like to treat the animal shelter as if it’s summer camp for the dogs,” he said. “We’re setting them up for activities here at the shelter as well as off site. We ask volunteers our summer camp ‘counselors’ that are interested to take them out for an outing.”
People interested in bringing home Fido for the holidays should visit the shelter before year-end. Not ready yet? Consider a foster field trip.
The animal shelter is located at 12370 Murphy Ave. in San Martin and can be reached at (408) 686-3900 or sccountypets.org. Operating hours are Monday-Friday, noon-6pm and Saturday and Sunday, noon-5pm. To view animals ready to adopt, the public can visit bit.ly/2wLHvXd.
