I've worked at cat shelters and I can tell you just about everyone wants a kitten or young, playful cat. Although cats may exhibit it differently than dogs, they get depressed being in a shelter for long periods of time - no matter how wonderful that environment may be.

Perhaps all shelters should adopt this strategy...
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When schools partner with local nonprofits like this Albuquerque animal shelter, good news will not be far away.

Teachers at Polk Middle School in the Albuquerque’s South Valley reached out to the Bernalillo County Animal Care Center with an idea for how to bring attention to long-term dogs at the shelter so they can get adopted into loving families.

The wonderful collaboration began in the Fall semester when the shelter sent photographs and notes about each of the hard-to-place pets to art students in Ms. McCrady’s class and to writing students in Ms. Arriaga’s class.

The art class created portraits of the pooches, and young writers in language class came up with first-person appeals, written in the voices of the dogs.

The artistic and literary works were posted by each of the dogs’ kennels, visible to all the visitors to the shelter.

This Spring, Mr. Beverly’s 7th grade gifted class went a step further, after shelter staff provided folders of notes about the dogs and students crafted their “resumes.”

The mission was to list all the skills and tricks that would make each dog a suitable family member: Uses doggie door, stays when commanded, comes when called.

Thanks to the students, by May 17 six of the dogs had been adopted!

According to Animal Protection New Mexico Education Director Sherry Mangold, it was the Polk students’ empathy and concern for shelter dogs that delivered so many of them into new ‘fur-ever’ homes.

WATCH the local news coverage from KOB-TV 4…

SOURCE: https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/students-craft-stellar-resumes-for-long-term-shelter-dogs-and-6-get-adopted/