Celebrating the 2 Year Anniversary of Dog Dog Day Out Program!

The national statistics for young large breed dogs languishing in our animal shelters is overwhelming. Locally, in Santa Clara County, hundreds of beautiful, healthy large breed dogs are waiting to be noticed and adopted. Unfortunately, there is a definite shortage of adopters, especially those who are able to provide for large breed dogs who are energetic and need training, enrichment and exercise to thrive. With the ever expanding list of breed restrictions at rentals, even fewer families are able welcome a large dog into their home. 

In 2018, Silicon Valley Pet Project opened Pup Plaza, a temporary space we called Silicon Valley’s first dog community center. Along with other programs, we initiated a Dog Day Out program partnering with the San Jose Animal Care Center to welcome small adoptable dogs to hang out with dog-loving volunteers for the day. Until COVID restrictions ended this program, many small dogs enjoyed a weekly break from shelter life. 

As COVID progressed, the demographics of the adoptable dogs at San Jose Animal Care Center changed - fewer small dogs, many more young large breed dogs crowding the kennels. In response to this change and at the request of the shelter, Silicon Valley Pet Project redeveloped our Dog Day Out Program to suit the needs of the shelter’s large dog population and built a team of dedicated skilled volunteers to take these kennel-stressed dogs on outings to hiking trails, shopping malls, Starbucks, neighborhood walks - each outing lasting several hours. Our dedicated volunteers take photos and complete a DDO Report Card after each outing, which are used to promote these dogs to the public.

Beautiful Olive enjoys the great outdoors!

Researchers at Virginia Tech and Arizona State University, recently studied the effects of outings of just a few hours and fostering stays of one to two nights on dogs’ length of stay in the shelter and their adoption outcomes. The results? Brief outings and temporary fostering stays increased dogs’ likelihood of adoption by five and more than 14 times, respectively! 

Silicon Valley Pet Project’s program allows these shelter dogs a break from shelter life in the real world and for our volunteers to be able to witness the type of dog they are - something that is almost impossible to do in a stressful shelter environment. Given that many of these dogs have unknown history, it is critical to provide the public with some details about these dogs outside of the kennel so their true nature can be seen and appreciated! 

SVPP Volunteer with Olive on hiking adventure!

In February 2024, SVPP’s Shelter Dog Day Out Program for large breeds is celebrating 2 years and 700 outings! We are sincerely grateful for the dedicated, skilled volunteers who help us show these fabulous dogs to the public, and who work hard to shine light on these overlooked shelter pups. If you are looking to adopt a large breed dog, please consider the more than 200 dogs at the San Jose Animal Care Center waiting to be adopted.

Silicon Valley Pet Project has been a rescue partner to San Jose Animal Care Center for nearly 10 years. In addition to the Shelter Dog Day Out Program, our flagship Foster Program takes in the most vulnerable dogs - many who are senior and have advanced medical issues, and some who have significant behavioral needs that only a dedicated foster home with training support can help heal. We are always in need of committed foster homes for large dogs as we receive urgent pleas every day to rescue more. 

For more information about Silicon Valley Pet Project’s programs, please refer to our website here.