Tired of dating apps? Have Companion Animal Alliance set you up on a ‘date’ with a dog.

For many students, moving out for college doesn’t just mean a new bedroom or making new friends, it’s also about the family — and pets — they leave behind.

Peyton Heck, a junior at LSU, is from Colorado, and she grew up with pets. She even came into college wanting to be a veterinarian, but when she moved to Louisiana, she had to leave her pet dog and cat at home.

She currently lives in an apartment, but one of her roommates is allergic to dogs and doesn’t want one. Heck really wants a dog, but she doesn’t feel right leaving it in a cage all the time while she’s in class.

Earlier this year, she found the Date-a-Dog program through Companion Animal Alliance. It’s a part of their volunteer program. The program started in 2019 and allows people to check out shelter dogs for the day and bring them wherever they want. For people like Heck, or those who can’t have dogs due to dorm/rental policies or financial reasons, this provides an alternative to getting some face time with pets. It’s also good for the dogs.

“The reality is even with our volunteers coming to walk as many dogs as possible every day, there’s still some dogs that could spend a majority of their day in their kennel,” said Heidi Wetherbee, communications and events senior manager for CAA. “That leads to fear, anxiety and stress. And can lead to mental health problems with the animal, and it makes them less adoptable.”

At CAA, they prioritize finding happy adoptions for animals, she explained, which means making sure that animals are properly socialized so that they can be happy in their new homes when they’re adopted. The “dates” allow dogs to get out, socialize with humans and take a break from the kennel environment.

Haylie Loyd, CAA volunteer manager, curates and updates the list of 20 dogs for the program every day. The dogs she chooses for the list are always adoption ready. They have their shots, they’re spayed and neutered, they’re usually older than 6 months. If the “date” goes really well, the dog could go home with you.

Loyd prioritizes the dogs who have been there the longest, are showing some signs of stress or just need some extra exercise. As of late October, their volunteers logged 1,164 hours of dates with dogs.

To date a dog, participants need to be 18 years old and go through CAA’s volunteer orientation. Volunteers are expected to serve six hours a month, but that could be accomplished on a single date. After orientation, volunteers can check out a dog and go wherever they want, and CAA gives volunteers everything they need for success: poop bags, a leash, treats, etc.

There’s no time limit on the dates, and if you’re ready for a little more commitment, you can sign up for what is jokingly called a “one-night stand,” where you can take the dog out overnight and bring them back in the morning.

For Heck, dogs are a support system.

“They’re always going to come up and cuddle with you,” she said. She thinks they sometimes have more of an emotional sense than humans do, to notice when people are sad and then offer comfort. “They’re not going to go out and betray you or anything. A person might leave you and go do something else, but a dog is always going to be by your side.”

She misses that feeling when she doesn’t have her pets by her side, and while taking a dog out for a few hours isn’t the same as having a pet, it’s a source of comfort for her, and she likes knowing she’s doing something good for the dogs.

On a recent date with a dog named Rolo, they went around the capitol building and to Starbucks for a pup cup.

Like dates, not all of them go as expected.

“Where are some dogs that are crazy, but I put up with it because I want them to get out of the shelter,” she said while walking Rolo. She believes that taking the dogs out of the shelter allows their true personalities to shine through in a way people might never see inside the shelter.

When she went to pick Rolo up, she was told that he was very energetic and might run a lot.

“When I was in his kennel trying to put on his collar and his leash, I was like ‘OK, he’s got some energy,’ but once we got out of the shelter, he was just super calm,” she said. 

Rolo was a shockingly well-behaved dog that liked to chew on sticks and sniff around outside. But people might not have known that if he never had the chance to leave the shelter and walk around.

According to Wetherbee, Date-a-Dog has a dog for everyone. If you’re a student, you can take your date to a study session. If you need to train for a marathon, they have more active, high-energy dogs who would make good running buddies.

“If you want to take them to your house and just take a nap on the couch and just have somebody to be a couch potato with, great. We love that too,” she said. “As long as you bring them back before we close by the end of the day.”

After the dates, CAA has volunteers fill out a survey to describe the date and how it went. Did the dog interact well with others? Did they chase squirrels? How did they do in the car? All of this information helps the CAA team build a more accurate portrayal of the dog’s personality for future adoption.

Rolo and Heck ended their date back at her apartment playing with some toys.

“He literally laid in my arms,” she said. “He just went to sleep.”