There鈥檚 a message on the chalk board at the entrance to the Horry County Animal Care Center at 1923 Industrial Park Road in Conway: 鈥淵ou can鈥檛 change a dog鈥檚 past, but you can rewrite their future.鈥
And you can start by opening your door to a shelter dog this Christmas through the care center鈥檚 third annual Home for the Pawlidays foster program.
Fosters can pick up pets for a test drive Dec. 19-21, and return them on Dec. 27-30. They鈥檒l receive a foster bag that includes food, treats and other items.
Fostering a pet is as easy as filling out an application.
鈥淭he hardest part is going to be picking out which animal you want to take home,鈥 Kennel Supervisor Naomi Jenkins said.
The Horry County Animal Care Center has hundreds of dogs available for adoption or fostering. During the holiday season, the county starts a "pawlidays" campaign, asking for county residents to foster dogs and cats so they don't spend Christmas in the shelter.
There will be dozens of dogs, as well as cats, in all shapes and sizes to choose from. They鈥檙e vaccinated, spayed or neutered, microchipped, and looking for love.
And if the dog or cat makes your days merry and bright, you can arrange for an extended stay, or adopt them forever for free.
Even those who are returned benefit from the experience, which Jenkins compared to a 鈥渧acation."
Shelter life can be rough, she said. 鈥淭here鈥檚 always a dog barking.鈥
And when one dog barks, others generally join in.
鈥淎ny time they get to go out to a regular home setting there鈥檚 less stress,鈥 she said, noting that dogs that are fostered are likely to spend the first couple of days 鈥渄ecompressing."
"Most of the time when a foster dog leaves the kennel, they鈥檙e gonna spend the first one or two days just catching up on their sleep,鈥 Jenkins said.
The Horry County Animal Care Center has dogs and cats available for adoption or foster and has been at capacity for years, according to county officials. Each December, the county asks for volunteers to foster animals at their homes in their annual聽"pawlidays" push.
But the animals get more than just rest and relaxation. Exit interviews with the fosters help care center staff learn more about the animals, information that can be added to their resumes and help them get adopted.
鈥淲hen you foster a shelter pet, even for a short time, you鈥檙e enriching their lives in a way that鈥檚 beneficial to them finding their forever home,鈥 said Horry County Police Lt. Kevin Cast, who works with the shelter. 鈥淭hrough this program, we hope to give our available shelter pets a new experience this holiday season.鈥
鈥淭hey get a vacation out of the shelter, and we get to learn a little more about the dog,鈥 Jenkins said.
Most dogs in the shelter have gone through basic training in their interactions with staff and daily trips to the outdoor play area.
Dogs and cats are available for adoption or fostering free of charge at the Horry County Animal Care Center on Monday, Dec. 9, 2024.
The dogs know how to walk on a leash. Those who have spent some time at the care center can follow basic commands. And all of them are friendly.
鈥淲e wouldn鈥檛 send out any dog that鈥檚 not going to be good with people,鈥 Jenkins said.
And many are house-trained, but accidents can happen.
鈥淲e tell fosters that it鈥檚 not going to be all sunshine and rainbows. [The animal] will have to figure some things out,鈥 Jenkins said.
The Home for the Pawlidays program was also held over the Thanksgiving holiday, but only four dogs were fostered.
Care center staff are hoping to increase those numbers at Christmas.
鈥淥ur goal is have as many of our shelter pets in foster homes during the Pawlidays as possible,鈥 said Adrianna Seals, the animal care center鈥檚 public information officer.
(1) comment
Here in Surrey (B.C., Canada), there are an estimated 36,000 feral/stray/homeless cats, very many of which suffer severe malnourishment, debilitating injury and/or infection. That number was about six years ago. I was informed four years later by the local cat charity (Surrey Community Cat Foundation) that, if anything, their 鈥渘umbers would have increased, not decreased鈥 since then.
Their TNR program is/was the only charity to which I鈥檝e ever donated, in no small part because of the plentiful human callousness towards the plight of those cats and the countless others elsewhere.
Yet that city's municipal government, as well as some aware yet uncaring residents, did little or nothing to help with the local non-profit trap/neuter/release program, regardless of its (and others鈥) documented success in reducing the needlessly great suffering. Clearly, along with individual people, society collectively can also be cruel toward felines.
Meanwhile, I was greatly saddened when told by the non-profit via email that, 鈥淥ur TNR program is not operating. There are no volunteers that are interested in trapping and there is no place to recover the cats after surgery鈥 without a feeding-station site.
And then leave it to classic human hypocrisy to despise and even shoot or poison those same suffering cats for naturally feeding on smaller prey while municipal governments and many area residents mostly permit the feral cat populations to explode 鈥 along with the resultant feline suffering within!
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