Undermanned, underfunded, and overcrowded. No, I am not talking about the shoddy California prison system; I am referring to the embarrassing state that animal shelters across the country are facing these days. Shelters are hammered into the ground with huge loads of animals and don’t have enough resources to take care of all of them. About 7.6 million companion animals enter shelters every year and when comparing that to the meager 13,600 active shelters in the USA, things look pretty bleak. When doing the math and spreading out the load, each shelter in the country would be receiving over 500 animals a year! Finding homes for that many animals is tough and definitely puts a strain on conditions in shelters.

Numbers are just numbers though and I don't expect you to be swayed by just petty statistics. No, I can do much better. In 2011 at Tennessee's Memphis Animal shelter, conditions were so bad that they prompted a  high profile sheriff raid. Investigators found half starved dogs, dehydrated cats, and terrified pups being dragged - literally dragged by their throats- to their final moments in the euthanasia room. It gets worse. In Chesterfield North Carolina a shelter has come under investigation for their… questionable euthanasia practices. Staff members reportedly shot and killed dogs under their care at the shooting range and left them to rot in shallow graves. Lovely.

The main problem with shelters in general is the fact that they can’t get animals out fast enough to make room for more. The burden of taking care of so many animals at the same time with strained resources breeds the apathy and neglect that you have seen in the aforementioned cases. The reality is that if the shelters can't find willing adopters they have to resort to putting animals out of their misery and the procedure for killing a lot of animals humanely isn't cheap either. In 2015 LA animal services had to put down over 5,000 dogs alone and the costs mount up considering lethal injection is the most commonly used practice by shelters. Drugs aren’t cheap folks. Overall, adoption is the best way to clear space for new arrivals but attracting potential owners is the real issue.

A new solution to this complicated problem may lie in the growing field of therapy and emotional support animals. For those of you who don’t know, a therapy support animal is any pet - most commonly a dog - that is trained to provide comfort and assistance to anyone who feels the need for some unconditional compassion. In a published report on therapy dogs, Michele Morrison of William Paterson University of New Jersey pointed out that animal assisted treatments have been used throughout our modern history with countless accounts of success. Additionally, there are so many organizations like Paws For People and the American Kennel Club who all staunchly advocate for the benefits of animal therapy. Animal therapy does seem to work but the real question remains. What does this have to do with getting animals out of shelters? Well, taking shelter dogs and turning them into therapy dogs is what this is all about. 

Therapy dogs are used just about everywhere these days; be it a hospital room or a school classroom these dogs are there to keep a calming presence. Some hospitals are even opening permanent programs for therapy dogs in  their pediatrics wing! With so many uses for therapy dogs the demand is understandably high and thus giving us a great opportunity to give shelter dogs a new home.

Ideally, we would take able bodied dogs from kennels and give them the training they need to be certified as therapy and support pets. Then, we would offer them up to be adopted by individuals and organizations; pretty much anyone who has a use for them. It's a way to serve the community while alleviating some of the stress from the kennels and shelters. Now this definitely sounds far-fetched. I know. But you may be surprised to hear that something similar to this is already going taking place. Shelter to Soldier is a 501c3 nonprofit that takes shelter dogs and trains them to be “psychiatric service dogs to post-9/11 combat veterans suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) and/or other psychological injuries associated with traumatic service experiences.” They are doing a service for veterans while also getting dogs out of the system thus taking out two birds with one stone.

Now the perfect plan would be to do what Shelter to Soldier does except with therapy dogs. Therapy dogs don’t need to be trained as much as service dogs and the costs associated with certifying therapy dogs are much less than that of service dogs. The only limiting factor would be money and as therefore such a program would run upon the donations and good will of benefactors in order to train these dogs.

All things considered, I believe  transforming these shelter strays into support pets is the right way to tackle the overpopulation issue. Spreading the kindness and support of an pet’s affection while saving the lives of other animals… what could be better than that?