In the United States, this holiday season is a very important time for everyone and even animals. Most people go on road trips to visit friends and family, some even decide to stay over because these are people they don’t to see a lot every other day.

As everyone is spending time preparing for the holidays, planning and vacations, planning the Christmas menu, going shopping for gifts and winter clothes and rarely having time for anything else.

So what happens to the dogs at the animal shelters?

Individuals working in animal shelters put most of their time to rehabbing shelter animals. But during the holidays, because they also want to spend time with family and friends or go for a planned vacation, they have limited interaction with all the shelter animals, making the animals in the shelter lonely for a long period of time, all through the holiday.

However, in Ohio a dog shelter is starting a special program to change this holiday. In Columbus, Franklin County Dog Shelter and Adoption Center has decided to host the first ever holiday shelter program called The Holiday Sleepover. The shelter animals in this program will be put in potential homes for three days to spend the three big holidays which can actually lead to the host adopting them.

With this program the shelter will be able to see which home the dogs fit in the best and know if they can cope in a home totally different from the shelter’s environment. The participants of this program after the shelter dog’s visit are given the chance to share with the dog shelter their experiences with the shelter dog.

To the local news, Kaye Dickson, the shelter director said that the participants will be given a small report card where they can put down information about the shelter dog that the shelter might not have before and that the shelter hopes this information will help the dogs get adopted more quickly. He also mentioned that the dogs being in a home is a happier environment than the shelter dogs being stuck in cages in the shelter. The dog shelter hope the host families enjoy the company of the dogs and fall in love with them, and become willing to adopt the dog.

If you are interested in adopting a pet, you can ask the animal shelters around you to know if they run any program that lets you keep a shelter animal for few days like The Holiday Sleepover Program by The Franklin County Dog Shelter. With such programs you will be able to test run a pet animal you have always dreamt of owning and the animal also will get to have a good time with a great family for a short period of time

Remember, it is way better for you to adopt a pet than to shop for one. So adopt a pet animal