Diners, Drive-Thru’s & Dogs aims to serve up forever homes for rescue pups

FARGO — Cindy Holtan was just another customer in a Fargo drive-thru, fighting boredom while awaiting her coffee order.

Then she had an idea. It was the type of idea so obvious and simple that she wondered why no one had thought of it before.

“This would be so much more pleasant if I only had something to read or look at,” thought Holtan, a 4 Luv of Dog Rescue volunteer. “I’d just walked a dog for 4 Luv of Dog, so as I was thinking about it, I was like, ‘What if there was an adoptable dog in the window? I wonder if businesses would be interested in something like that?’ ”

That inspiration would spark Holtan’s Diners, Drive-Thru’s & Dogs program, which increases the visibility of 4 Luv of Dog Rescue’s adoptable dogs by asking businesses to display posters each month of available pups in high-visibility spots like their drive-thru windows.

After getting 4 Luv of Dog’s blessing, she launched the program last February. She named it after the well-known Guy Fieri TV series, as she envisioned many of the posters could be displayed in drive-thrus, coffee shops or eateries. Within days, she was able to recruit 31 different businesses to display posters of a new rescue pup each month.

Each “pupster child” is a dog that has more challenges finding a home, often because it’s too large for apartment living, is older or can’t tolerate another pet in the household.

“I stick with the dogs who have been waiting the longest because those are the ones who are waiting for a home,” she said. “It’s so sad, the amount of dogs that sit there and have no interest.”

One example is this month’s poster pup,

Fleetfoot

, a 2-year-old German shepherd cross who has been in a 4 Luv of Dog foster home for over 400 days. Fleetfoot loves people and gets along with other dogs, but requires daily medication for obsessive-compulsive-type anxiety.

Holtan’s program seems to be helping these longer-term fosters. She said all but two of the 10 dogs featured since the program started have found forever homes.

Recently, several of the program’s participating businesses have announced plans to close, which prompted Holtan to immediately search for new establishments to fill that gap.

“I didn’t want to hurt the dog’s chances. I wanted a good number of businesses to be involved because it helps get faces on these dogs,” she said.

As soon as she posted a plea on Facebook looking for more program partners, businesses stepped up. Diners, Drive-Thru’s & Dogs is now at 50 businesses, ranging from automotive repair shops and tattoo parlors to dog-boarding facilities, hair salons and insurance companies.

“Now it’s just basically a cutesy name, and that’s all it is,” Holtan said. “People get confused sometimes. It’s not just about diners and drive-thrus anymore.”

Nicole Jacobson, who co-owns

Vampire Penguin

, a shop specializing in shaved snow, boba tea, coffee and sweet treats at 4600 17th Ave. S., Fargo, is one of the program‘s business partners.

She said the program is popular with businesses because they can help another community organization without investing all kinds of time and money.

“It’s such an easy concept. From a business standpoint, it’s not asking us a whole lot. The space is right there,” Jacobson said. “Plus most people like furry friends.”

Jacobson said all her team needs to do is reserve space in Vampire Penguin’s pick-up window for a poster or two. Customers interested in a featured canine need only scan a QR code or follow a link to read all about the dog.

In fact, many businesses don’t just like the program; they love it. Some have purchased special bulletin boards and decorated them to display the posters.

The owners of one participating business,

Black Cat Bakery

in Moorhead, liked the program so much that they reached out to other rescues in the area so they could also post adoptable dogs and cats from those rescues in their place of business.

Holtan said she aims to do more than find forever homes for the program’s pupster children. She wants to also plant the seed that pet adoption is a good idea.

“I figure, even if it’s not that dog, maybe it’s a subliminal message,” Holtan said. “Maybe I don’t realize I want a dog, and now that I see one, maybe I do.”

A case in point is former poster pupster Petunia, who was rescued from a hoarding situation, along with many siblings. Petunia not only found a forever home, Holtan said, but all of her siblings did, too.

Holtan personally understands the difference that dogs can make in someone’s life. After she first started volunteering at 4 Luv of Dog Rescue, she realized life would be easier if she could be around dogs all day.

So she switched her career from retail to managing

Wags Stay N Play Daycare and Boarding

in Moorhead.

“I love it so much,” she said. “I always work holidays and a lot of weekends. People don’t understand and I’m like, ‘I get to be around dogs all day. This is the perfect thing.’ You can’t even explain it.”

When she isn’t working, she spends a lot of time volunteering for Diners, Drive-Thru’s & Dogs. Holtan is so dedicated that she distributes all the posters herself, sends email updates on newly posted and just-adopted dogs, and pays for the printing and lamination of posters out of her own pocket. She doesn’t seek donations to defray the cost.

“I’m happy to do it myself if it gets these dogs into a home,” she said.

Even so, she believes she’s not the hero of this story.

“This program is nothing without the businesses. I could drive around town and wouldn’t have anything happen, but it’s because of them that this works,” she said.

To contact Diners, Drive-Thru’s & Dogs, go to

www.4luvofdog.org

and click on the “Contact us” tab to access Holtan’s email.

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