Mississippi hotel lets guests foster a dog during their stay — so far over 60 have been adopted
Across the country, animal shelters are often filled to capacity. This has led to many dogs being euthanized, with shelter staff looking for an answer to curtail their overcrowding problem. And while special promotions and adoption drives help, in many cases more drastic measures are needed. One hotel has taken a new approach to increase dog adoptions and shrink shelter overcrowding.
A unique solution to a big problem
Home2 Suites by Hilton, in D’Iberville, Mississippi has been getting a lot of press among dog lovers lately for its unique solution for the problem. The hotel, which is located north of Biloxi, started allowing hotel guests to foster a dog during their stay in 2018. Guests can also choose to adopt the dog when they check out. So far, the program has resulted in over 60 dogs getting adopted.
Fostering Hope
The program, called Fostering Hope, is a partnership with the Humane Society of South Mississippi. Dogs from the Humane Society shelter are brought to the hotel’s lobby. Once there, guests checking in are allowed to take a dog back to their room where they foster them during their stay.
Filling a void for hotel guests
The idea was the brainchild of the hotel’s sales director, Teresa Johnston. “We’re an extended-stay Hilton branded property. We have a lot of extended-stay guests with Keesler Air Force Base, Ingalls Shipbuilding and other supporting industries. I could see that our guests were lonely, and I wanted to fill a void for them and at the same time help our community,” she told Bored Panda.
Adopting the fostered dog is an option
And, if at the end of their stay, guests wish to adopt the dog they have been fostering, the process is pretty easy. All they need to do is can pay a $50 fee and fill out the required paperwork to make their dream of a new pet a reality. Of course, the Humane Society does reserve the right to deny an adoption if they feel the fit is not quite right.
The adoption process
In those cases, the shelter usually invites the interested party to visit their facility on another day and hopefully find the pet that is right for them.
“We keep doing what we’re doing, our families during the summer love the program and our servicemen and women love the program all year long,” Johnston said.
Making the program a reality elsewhere
Johnston feels that other hotels could make this type of program happen. All it takes is someone with the drive to pull it off. And of course, any program needs to have a strong commitment to a local shelter to supply the dogs.
For more on Homes2 Suites by Hilton in D’Iberville, MS, check out its Facebook and Instagram pages, as well as its Website. Watch this video to learn more about the dog fostering process and why you should foster a dog before adopting it.
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