UPDATE 05/06 2:45 p.m.
We received an update from Monica Gault, who adopted Maya from the Pima Animal Care Center!
She writes:
"She's a wonderful girl. We renamed her Gertie and she's a perfect fit for our family. Thank you for the wonderful segment. It was great to see her in action during the pajama party.
"I hope more people take the time to do this with the pups at PACC. It really does help them."
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The Pima Animal Care Center is at critical levels with over 450 dogs in kennels right now.
And while there is an ever-growing need for more foster families, PACC has been offering other methods to help get those dogs back into loving homes.
“We're really looking for fosters and adopters, right now we're especially looking for short term fosters So something as short as two weeks or even a little bit shorter if that’s what you can handle,” says Kayleigh Murdock, public information officer at PACC.
One of those shorter options are day trips and Pawjama parties.
Day trips can be as short as an hour or as long as a whole day.
Pawjama parties usually last a night but sometimes can last several days.
“Typically people will take them for one night, but sometimes we have extended pajama parties where people keep them for three or four days. All of those things are amazing, anytime out of the shelter is really beneficial for them,” says Murdock.
The process is simple, you fill out some paperwork and pick a dog out of a binder.
All dogs that are in the binder have been pre-screened by PACC for things like aggressiveness.
The benefit behind these operations work for the dog and for PACC.
"When an animal has had this experience, we can tell you this dog loves car rides. We had a dog that came back from a foster trip recently, where they let us know that, 'Hey, this dog really hates vegetables, they will not eat vegetables of any kind,'" said Murdock, "That kind of funny stuff is enough to help an animal stand out. All of that really helps people to understand a little bit more about the pets as an individual and can help them stand out more."
But it also helps the dog get out of the stress of a kennel and have time to relax.
Details on how you can become a foster or get involved with a day trip at PACC can be found here.
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Blake Phillips is a reporter for KGUN 9. Originally from St. Louis, Mo., Blake grew up in Sierra Vista. During his college tenure at the Missouri School of Journalism, Blake worked for the NBC affiliate KOMU-TV in Columbia. He is excited to return to a place he calls home and give back to the community in which he grew up. Share your story ideas and important issues with Blake by emailing blake.phillips@kgun9.com.
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