99 dogs from humane society fostered over Christmas

DELAWARE, Ohio (WCMH) -- The Humane Society of Delaware County (HSDC) says they’ve pulled off a holiday miracle, after finding foster homes for all of their dogs. 

The HSDC is a little quieter now that all their dogs are with foster families this holiday season. On Christmas Eve, all 99 dogs were out of the kennels and in homes across central Ohio.

“I mean, she's confident, she's happy and she's going to be able to be a dog and live a long life. And that's why we do what we do,” Kelley Leddy, a foster mom, said. 

The Leddy family recently fostered Dorothy about one week ago. Kelley and her family are long time fosters. In three years they’ve fostered more than 70 dogs. While some days are harder than others, she says being able to work with these dogs and help them find their forever home is worth it. 

“I think dogs have the ability to change lives and it's really cool to see that,” Leddy said. 

Kelley says that if Dorothy had been adopted right away, she may have had behavioral problems down the line. Now, with the progress she’s made, she thinks Dorothy will be available for adoption in the coming weeks. 

“The fosters are very important because you learn things about the dogs that you wouldn't have known in a shelter environment,” she said, “With her, she wouldn’t come out of her crate. We realized a key to getting her out of her crate is if you rub under her chin she gets really excited and she wants to come out for more.”

The HSDC offers a holiday sleepover program around Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s day. Jana Cassidy, the executive director for the HSDC, says that fostering 99 dogs is monumental and unusual. However, just because the dogs are with a foster family, doesn’t mean the work for her staff stops there. 

“When the animal leaves, it goes with its food, beds, and crates, you know. Anything that animal needs or the foster needs so that it’s successful in their home, we send it with them,” Cassidy said. 

Cassidy says her staff works tirelessly to ensure that each dog has a cozy place to spend Christmas. She says this all wouldn’t be possible without the families that agree to take these dogs in for a sleepover. 

“If you think about it, it exponentially increases your ability to help more animals by having a foster home for dogs. It saves the life of the dog that’s in a foster home, plus the one that’s sitting in a shelter setting. So, exponentially it increases your capacity to help more animals,” she said. 

Cassidy also wants to make it clear that just because this event focuses on getting dogs into foster families, doesn’t mean they’ve forgotten about the other animals in their care. For example, she says cats this year have just gone through the roof. In a matter of a week, the HSDC brought in 37 cats. However, Cassidy says that they handle cats very differently than they do with dogs, but she adds that her staff makes sure that they have everything they need. 

The HSDC is hosting one more holiday sleepover event for New Year’s day. If you’d like to help foster, click here.