Beyond the Shelter

If we brag a lot about our Field Trip program, it’s because it never stops amazing us. Trips to the beach, hikes in the redwoods, and snack-filled urban adventures combat the very real challenge of shelter stress, a common occurrence in dogs experiencing longer stays in this transitional environment.

Shelters are busy. East Bay SPCA has the opportunity to provide expert care at every stage of an animal’s stay, from early Behavior & Training support to complex veterinary treatment, and careful adoption placement. Even with our dynamic programming compassionate, individualized care, animals in the shelter face hurdles. One of the biggest is the stress of an extended stay in a hectic and unfamiliar environment.

Research shows that even the shortest journeys away from the shelter can have a huge impact in mitigating shelter stress, by creating the ideal scenario for decompression. Freedom to sniff and explore provides the novel stimuli canine brains need.

For dogs like Freckles, time spent near water and in other natural spaces allows them to ‘be dogs,’ helping them to regulate their nervous systems naturally. Equally important are the one-on-one bonds formed between shelter dogs and volunteers. Where a nervous dog might be hesitant to interact in the shelter, in a more peaceful, enriching environment, they may be more receptive to socialization and skill-building.

Back in our care, that valuable decompression leads to accelerated adoption pathways by allowing dogs to have calmer, more successful meet-and-greets. Foster field trips also offer our team helpful intel on a dog’s preferences and character; both our field trip handlers and our overnight fosters relay detailed reports back to our team. For animals whose histories can be murky as best, our foster community is integral to helping us compile information used in pet bios for potential pet parents.

Become a Field Trip foster today: eastbayspca.org/foster

Our fosters change lives every day by bringing animals into their homes. Still, there are those who aren’t able to provide overnight care, either because of current pets or prohibitive schedules. With a long-line leash and a sense of adventure, field trip fosters expand East Bay SPCA’s capacity to save lives, one outing at a time.