MUSKEGON, Mich — Another local animal shelter is feeling the pressure this holiday season, having been at or over capacity for the entire year. Pound Buddies in Muskegon has taken in 13 puppies over the last month.
The shelter doesn't even know where three of those pups, named Mario, Luigi and Bowser, came from.
"They were left actually in a box out in our parking lot," says Lana Carson, executive director for Pound Buddies. "They were literally hours old. They were less than a day old."
This weekend, ten more puppies only a few days old arrived at the shelter, adding to Pound Buddies already over capacity total of 117 dogs.
"We see boxes of puppies that are being dropped off," says Carson. "We haven't seen things like this in a decade."
While the shelter needs help finding forever homes for these pups, they still have standards for where the dogs can go.
"We still responsibly have to home these animals, it's not just, you know, get them out," says Carson.
And one place they won't go is to homes that just want to give a pet as a Christmas gift.
After the holiday season, Pound Buddies says the spring is always busy.
"We see in shelters in March, it's a very high intake month for us," says Carson. "And the puppies that tend to come in are right around that five, six month mark. And so we know that those are the Christmas puppies."
To avoid that, they make sure prospective adopters know a dog is a lifelong commitment. The shelter suggests that people come out to volunteer with the dogs first, taking them on walks or just playing with them.
A win-win situation for the dogs, the adopter and the shelter.
"Have that hands on time. It does help shelters out too," says Carson. "So when people are looking for that, yes, they do get extra attention with the animals and that people can get a really good feel for that animal."
To learn more about volunteering at Pound Buddies, click here.
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