There’s a message on the chalk board at the entrance to the Horry County Animal Care Center at 1923 Industrial Park Road in Conway: “You can’t change a dog’s past, but you can rewrite their future.”
And you can start by opening your door to a shelter dog this Christmas through the care center’s third annual Home for the Pawlidays foster program.
Fosters can pick up pets for a test drive Dec. 19-21, and return them on Dec. 27-30. They’ll receive a foster bag that includes food, treats and other items.
Fostering a pet is as easy as filling out an application.
“The hardest part is going to be picking out which animal you want to take home,” Kennel Supervisor Naomi Jenkins said.
The Horry County Animal Care Center has hundreds of dogs available for adoption or fostering. During the holiday season, the county starts a “pawlidays” campaign, asking for county residents to foster dogs and cats so they don’t spend Christmas in the shelter.
There will be dozens of dogs, as well as cats, in all shapes and sizes to choose from. They’re vaccinated, spayed or neutered, microchipped, and looking for love.
And if the dog or cat makes your days merry and bright, you can arrange for an extended stay, or adopt them forever for free.
Even those who are returned benefit from the experience, which Jenkins compared to a “vacation.”
Shelter life can be rough, she said. “There’s always a dog barking.”
And when one dog barks, others generally join in.
“Any time they get to go out to a regular home setting there’s less stress,” she said, noting that dogs that are fostered are likely to spend the first couple of days “decompressing.”
“Most of the time when a foster dog leaves the kennel, they’re gonna spend the first one or two days just catching up on their sleep,” Jenkins said.
The Horry County Animal Care Center has dogs and cats available for adoption or foster and has been at capacity for years, according to county officials. Each December, the county asks for volunteers to foster animals at their homes in their annual “pawlidays” push.
But the animals get more than just rest and relaxation. Exit interviews with the fosters help care center staff learn more about the animals, information that can be added to their resumes and help them get adopted.
“When you foster a shelter pet, even for a short time, you’re enriching their lives in a way that’s beneficial to them finding their forever home,” said Horry County Police Lt. Kevin Cast, who works with the shelter. “Through this program, we hope to give our available shelter pets a new experience this holiday season.”
“They get a vacation out of the shelter, and we get to learn a little more about the dog,” Jenkins said.
Most dogs in the shelter have gone through basic training in their interactions with staff and daily trips to the outdoor play area.
Dogs and cats are available for adoption or fostering free of charge at the Horry County Animal Care Center on Monday, Dec. 9, 2024.
The dogs know how to walk on a leash. Those who have spent some time at the care center can follow basic commands. And all of them are friendly.
“We wouldn’t send out any dog that’s not going to be good with people,” Jenkins said.
And many are house-trained, but accidents can happen.
“We tell fosters that it’s not going to be all sunshine and rainbows. [The animal] will have to figure some things out,” Jenkins said.
The Home for the Pawlidays program was also held over the Thanksgiving holiday, but only four dogs were fostered.
Care center staff are hoping to increase those numbers at Christmas.
“Our goal is have as many of our shelter pets in foster homes during the Pawlidays as possible,” said Adrianna Seals, the animal care center’s public information officer.
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