BALTIMORE — You could call it a blind date.
A three-year-old mixed breed named ‘Jazzercize’ is about to head out for a day of fun with Insurance Agent Cyndi Kuhn, along with four of her colleagues who each will be going on a field trip with a four-legged friend.
“They’re going to all fall in love. I know this for a fact,” said Kuhn, “They’ve already been thinking about where they’re going to go. What they’re going to do. Who they hope they get."
The hope is that through a new pilot program called “Dog’s Day Out," the Baltimore Animal Rescue and Care Center or BARCS will be able to make some adoption or foster matches to help ease the canine population at the shelter, which is currently at capacity.
“Not only do we want to get them out in foster and out to adoption, but we need to get them out just for the day,” said Bailey Deacon, BARCS philanthropy & communications director, “There’s way to many dogs here at our shelter for our staff and typical week-day volunteers to walk and take care of.”
Early indications are that the community is overwhelmingly buying into this new field trip program.
Since the shelter first placed “Dog’s Day Out” on its social media page, all 30 slots have been filled for this weekend, as well as a total of 200 over the next two weeks, but it’s still encouraging people to sign up for future dates.
“The dogs don’t show their true personalities here,” Deacon told us, “When you get them out into a different setting, that’s when you get to know them.”
And if it’s not a perfect match, you’ve given the dog a great day when those may otherwise be tough to come by.
