Playgroup provides dogs with quality outdoor exercise and the opportunity to socialize with other canines and humans while staying in the shelter
Playgroup is resource-intensive, requiring the efforts of dozens of employees and volunteers at The Animal Foundation every day, but the payback is priceless. Play builds trust, confidence, and coping skills. This crucial quality time outside of the kennel improves not only the social skills of the dogs, it improves their mental health as well by decreasing stress, resulting in calmer, better behaved, and therefore more adoptable dogs.
a dog playstyle involving relatively quiet, mutual play with frequent starts and stops and minimal physical contact. These dogs may become nervous with rough play.
Dog playstyle involving chasing, driving, and heeling. These dogs are motivated by movement and play can get noisy due to demand barking. This style of play is sometimes but not always mutual and can be antagonistic to others.
Dog playstyle that is rooted in prey drive and involves role-playing (predator and prey). This style of play may not look mutual to people and is often noisy (growling and squealing).
Want to adopt a playgroup dog?
If you already own a dog and are looking to adopt that matches their playstyle, you can ask an adoption counselor about a dog’s playstyle at the shelter.
While they’ll still require proper introductions to new dogs, adopting a dog that goes to shelter playgroup typically means they’re better acclimated to meeting new dogs!