Skylar Plourde and Tank enjoy the new dog run at the Lethbridge Animal Shelter, March 15, 2024. (Photo: LNN)

By David Opinko

Outdoor dog run opens at Lethbridge Animal Shelter

Mar 15, 2024 | 1:33 PM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – Dogs at the city’s animal shelter now have a new outdoor play area.

The Lethbridge Animal Shelter has opened a 420-square-metre fenced dog run.

Director of Services for Community Animal Services Skylar Plourde says there are a lot of benefits to allowing dogs to run more freely.

“The biggest thing is the exercise. It’s large enough that the dogs can get moving quite a bit and allows them to interact with their environment a bit more naturally,” says Plourde.

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Another major advantage to this space is that is makes the animals more adoptable.

Plourde used Tank as an example. Tank is a two-year-old Mastiff cross who, as of this week, has been a resident of the shelter for a full year.

According to Plourde, Tank tends to be shy when he is in his kennel, so it can be difficult for potential donors to see how friendly and playful he really is. When the dog is allowed to run around in the dog run, however, Plourde describes it as a night and day difference.

“When we’re not using it for adoption introductions, we can use it for other dogs in the shelter,” says Plourde. “Depending on where they are in the process, it allows us to provide them with more enrichment, which makes them more adoptable, some basic training when our staff have the time and resources to do that.”

He added that it is great to have something that improves an animal’s adoptability because there has been a substantial increase in the number of cats and dogs that they have in recent years.

“Coming out of the pandemic, where there an excess of breeding during that time because there was a high interest in taking in pets. Then we basically slammed right into a terrible economy, so now, all these excess animals have nowhere to go, people can’t afford to keep them. All shelters, all rescue organizations are seeing massive increase,” says Plourde.

Pre-pandemic, he explained that dogs would stay at the shelter for an average of 12 days. Now, it has tripled to 37.5 days.

City Councillor John Middleton-Hope was a major part in the creation of the dog run.

He started walking dogs with his granddaughter, but noticed that it was difficult to give the dogs enough exercise without having to take them for lengthy excursions along the busy 43 Street North.

After he introduced a motion in council, members voted to approve a budget of $30,000 for the project in November 2023. Hope says the dog run was not only completed ahead of schedule, but it also came in under budget at just under $18,000.

A list of the dogs and cats available for adoption can be found on the Community Animal Services website.

READ MORE: Lethbridge News Now

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