Way back in October, also known as last month, we celebrated Adopt A Rescue Dog month. But we didn’t just celebrate with the usual balloons and encourage others to adopt deserving dogs.

Instead, we did some adopting of our own.

We adopted an entire rescue organization. And, based on this year’s experience, we may just have to do it again next Adoptober.

If you don’t recall, we adopted the Animal Protective Association or APA of Missouri. And we are very proud to report the results of our efforts including:

  • We featured four dogs for adoption at The Watering Bowl for doggy daycare, and two of those four were successfully placed in loving homes. You can hop in this little time machine and read all about Rocco, formerly known as Soldier, who went from featured rescue to regular client.
  • We helped the APA create play pairs. Prior to Adoptober, the organization was able to develop three play pairs of dogs. Play pairs, for those who aren’t familiar, are dog friends who are approved to play with one another without risk of injury. With our help, the APA now has over a dozen play pairs. As an organization built on socialization, we take special pride in this achievement and hope we can help them do even more.
  • Our costume contest raised $350 for the APA. And we got to see some pretty impressive get-ups during our Howl-O-Ween Costume Contest.
  • And, we were thrilled to bring three large trash bins full of toys to the APA from our Adoptober toy drive.

It was an amazing and rewarding experience. Our founder, Jeremy King, even got caught up in the Adoptober excitement and brought home Aspen, a Chocolate Lab rescue.

We hope you enjoyed it, and we appreciate all of the involvement from our cage-free canine community who made all of this possible. Thank you.

 

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Adoptober: A Full Month of Helping Rescue Dogs

Instead of adopting a dog for Adopt-A-Shelter-Dog Month, we decided to adopt an entire shelter. So, for the month of October, we are raising awareness of shelter dog adoption, raising money for the Animal Protective Association and generally helping to raise some very deserving dogs.
As far as we know, our initiative to adopt an entire shelter is unprecedented. So, we thought you might like to see how it works. And if you’re so inclined, you can participate in the effort.

First of all, you are invited to assist in the greatest game of fetch. Simply drop any new or gently-used toys into collection bins at each of our locations, and a more than deserving pup will get your money’s worth and more out of it.

The Watering Bowl 2016 Toy Drive

But we’re not only relying on our extended community to help us adopt the shelter.

We are also volunteering to help the volunteers of the APA. Our staff will be spending time at the APA to help facilitate play groups for the shelter dogs. Since we are firm believers in the power of positive play at our doggy daycare, this seemed like a great way for The Watering Bowl to help out.

Our very own Tracy Pritchard is participating in the APA’s seminar on group play and helping to lead hands-on play groups.

We’re also hosting a costume contest with proceeds going to the APA. You’re definitely going to want to participate in that. Check out the poster for details.

The Watering Bowl 2016 Costume Contest

And on top of all of that, we are featuring a rescue Pet of the Week, each week in October. Our first featured pet was Soldier, and you can read all about his story here. We are proud to say he found a loving home almost immediately. And you can keep up with additional featured pets through our Instagram and Facebook feeds.

If you’re looking for more ways to get involved, we highly encourage you to reach out to the APA—or any rescue organization for that matter. Stray Rescue and the Humane Society would love to introduce you to their dogs and any needs they may have. You’re welcome to reach out to us in the comments below or when you stop by one of our locations.

We consider ourselves fortunate to be able help rescue dogs find great homes. And we appreciate the participation of our cage-free canine community in this important effort.

Now, see if you can come up with a winning dog costume.

 

 

 

 

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